Nguyen family, friends head home

Friends and relatives of the executed drug trafficker Van Nguyen are making their way back to Australia from Singapore.

Nguyen's friends Bronwyn Lew and Kelly Ng led a campaign for clemency.

They are arriving back in Melbourne this morning, along with Julian McMahon from his legal team.

Nguyen's family will follow with his body later today.

Before he left Mr McMahon said the family was coming to terms with the ordeal.

"The family is doing very well, they've been surrounded by people who love them and they've been able to grieve openly in the arms of people who care about them and that's the best way to deal with what's happened," Mr McMahon said.

Acceptance

Mr McMahon has also paid tribute to officials from Australia's High Commission in Singapore, for their help to Nguyen's family over recent weeks.

He says Nguyen's mother, Kim, is beginning to accept the execution - helped by the presence of Nguyen's body in an open coffin during a mass at a local convent.

"It was a beautiful ceremony and she was greatly comforted by it," he said.

Mr McMahon revealed that Nguyen wrote a large number of letters to friends and family, which have been handed over by prison officers after his execution.

He says the letters will be passed on to their intended recipients in coming days.

'Too slow'

Singapore's Opposition Leader Dr Chee Soon Juan says the Australian Government was too slow off the mark in exerting pressure to prevent the execution of Nguyen.

Dr Chee has contrasted his country's treatment of Nguyen with that of American and German offenders who have fallen foul of Singapore's justice system in recent years.

He says Singapore's Government has reduced sentences under pressure in the past.

"You had this Michael Fay instance where, under pressure, the Singapore Government reduced his sentence and there was another situation where German girl, Julia Bohl - after pressure from the German Government - had a charge reduced," he said.

"She would have hanged if she was found guilty of smuggling the amount of drugs she had originally carried."

Death penalty

Human rights organisation Amnesty International says the campaign against the death penalty must be supported by stronger government policy.

Amnesty spokesman Tim Goodwin says the Government's support for some executions of non-Australians contradicts calls for clemency for Australian citizens facing the death sentence.

Mr Goodwin has told the ABC's Lateline he is overwhelmed by the support expressed by Australians who took part in candlelight vigils protesting the execution of Van Nguyen.

But he says the Government must be consistent in opposing the death penalty if it wants neighbouring Asian countries to change.

"This message has not been lost on the region that the Australian Government has signalled its approval for particular executions, while seeming to pull out all stops to defend an Australian citizen," he said.

"It's a double standard and fatally undermines Australia's credibility."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 3 December 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
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Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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