Pubdate: Tue, 22 Nov 2005
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Stephen Cauchi and Nassim Khadem
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

NGUYEN FAMILY FLIES OUT TO BID FINAL FAREWELL

THE mother and brother of the Melbourne man condemned to hang have 
flown to Singapore to see him one last time as hopes of a reprieve fade.

As last-minute political and legal manoeuvres to save the life of 
Nguyen Tuong Van were explored, Kim Nguyen and her son Khoa, Nguyen's 
twin brother, silently braved the media pack waiting at Melbourne Airport.

A fragile Kim Nguyen, flanked by her son's friends, Kelly Nguyen and 
Bronwyn Lew, and lawyers Lex Lasry, QC, and Julian McMahon, had to be 
supported as she made her way to board the 7 1/2 hour Qantas flight. 
Khoa was stoic and silent.

It will be the first time that Khoa has not seen his brother since 
his arrest almost three years ago while trying to board a flight to 
Australia with 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his 
hand luggage.

It was allegedly to repay the legal debts of Khoa, a former drug 
addict, that Nguyen had tried to bring the drugs into Australia. 
Asked yesterday whether he felt responsible for his brother's plight, 
Khoa said nothing.

It was left to Mr Lasry to defend him; he said it was Singapore not 
Khoa that would kill Nguyen.

"His brother mustn't be allowed to carry a higher level of guilt on 
the basis of our client's execution," Mr Lasry told The 7.30 Report 
last night. "That's being done to him by the Government of Singapore."

Unless last-minute efforts to save him are successful, Nguyen will be 
executed on December 2. His family will be allowed to visit him in 
Changi prison but they will not be allowed to touch him.

As behind-the-scenes political lobbying continued, Mr Lasry yesterday 
met Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to ask the Federal Government 
to appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to save 
Nguyen's life.

But Mr Downer said it was unlikely the court would even hear the case 
unless Singapore recognised the court's jurisdiction.

While Singapore recognises the court, and has used it to fight 
territorial disputes, it did not acknowledge the court's jurisdiction 
in all areas.

"There is something called the second optional protocol to the 
international covenant on civil and political rights which bans the 
death penalty but of course it is an optional protocol, a number of 
countries like Australia have signed it, Singapore hasn't," Mr Downer 
told ABC radio.

He said the chance of Singapore agreeing to a case being brought 
before the ICJ was "fairly obviously remote" given the position it 
had taken on Nguyen's execution. Singapore has rejected all appeals, 
as well as a public campaign seeking clemency for the convicted drug 
trafficker.

If the case proceeds, Mr Lasry said Nguyen's legal team would argue 
that the mandatory death penalty breached international human rights law.

But Mr Downer, who will lobby his Singaporean counterpart George Yeo 
one last time, did not hold out any hope.

"I've said throughout this case I feel very pained and very saddened 
by it but I am definitely not going to hold up false hope to people," he said.

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello was also pessimistic that Nguyen 
could be saved.

"Singapore is a sovereign country, Singapore makes its own laws and 
carries them out," he said. "You can attempt to lobby sovereign 
countries but you cannot have them overturned by world bodies, any 
more than you can have the decision of an Australian court or the 
Australian Government overturned by a world body."

Mr Costello said a boycott of Singapore would not influence the 
outcome of Nguyen's case and was not "an appropriate response. I 
don't think that is going to cause the Singaporean Government to 
change its mind for a minute."

Prime Minister John Howard also ruled out using trade relations as a 
lever to influence Singapore. "That is not sensible and it's not 
going to serve any good purpose," he said.

Nguyen's impending execution comes as the Howard Government faces 
strong lobbying by Singapore Airlines -- owned by the Singapore 
Government -- for the right to fly the lucrative trans-Pacific route 
from Sydney to Los Angeles.

Federal Transport Minister Warren Truss is next month expected to 
receive a report from his department on the possible impact of 
opening up the route to the airline. The matter will then be decided 
by cabinet.

Several senior ministers including Mr Truss, Mr Costello, Mr Downer 
and Trade Minister Mark Vaile are believed to be sympathetic to the 
idea, believing that competition on the trans-Pacific route would be 
good for consumers.

A spokesman for Opposition leader Kim Beazley said last night that 
while economic and trade sanctions would not work, "the Singapore 
Government has to keep in mind the depth of feeling that Australians 
have about the Nguyen case".

He said that even if Singapore did not recognise the jurisdiction of 
the ICJ, the Government should appeal anyway as a message "about the 
extent of our seriousness".

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said there were "legal 
complexities" involved but Mr Howard and Mr Downer had to do all they 
could to save Nguyen, an Australian citizen. "I believe where there 
is life there is hope," he said.

But an Australian-based academic who is a close observer of Singapore 
politics, William Case, said Singapore would never agree to allow the 
ICJ to rule on Nguyen's case.
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MAP posted-by: Beth