Singapore Hangs 25 Year Old Drug Smuggler

(Singapore) "CONVICTED drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van showed courage going to his death, his lawyer said today.

The 25-year-old was executed in Singapore at 6am local time (9am AEDT), while his mother Kim grieved with friends and relatives at a nearby church at the scheduled time of the hanging.

'I know that he died the courageous death that he planned for himself and died as an optimistic young man, making us all extremely proud of him,' lawyer Lex Lasry QC told ABC radio.

Mr Lasry said he thought the case would have a long-lasting impact.

'This case and its impact is going to have a significant effect here in Singapore, there's more feeling than people realise in this country about this sort of thing,' he said." Singapore has executed more than 100 people for drug-related offenses since 1999, saying its tough laws and penalties are an effective deterrent against a crime that ruins lives. By contrast, Australia scrapped the death penalty in 1973 and hanged its last criminal in 1967.

While Australian leaders lashed out at the death sentence as "barbaric" and pleaded for clemency for Nguyen, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had ruled out a reprieve.

"We have stated our position clearly," Lee told reporters in Berlin on Thursday after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "The penalty is death."More...

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