Timeline: The life of Van Nguyen

1980

August 17: Van Tuong Nguyen and his twin brother Khoa are born in a refugee camp in Thailand. The family moves to Australia.

2002

December 12: Nguyen is arrested while transiting through Singapore's Changi Airport en route from Cambodia to Melbourne.

He is found to be carrying 396.2 grams of heroin.

2003

November 24: Nguyen's trial commences. He maintains he was couriering the drugs in order to raise money to pay off debts incurred by Khoa.

2004

March 20: The Singapore High Court sentences Nguyen to death under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The amount of heroin he was carrying was 25 times the amount that attracts an automatic death sentence. Australian Government says it will seek clemency.

October 20: The Singapore Court of Appeal dismisses an application for clemency.

2005

October 21: The Singapore Government rejects an appeal for clemency from the Australian Government.

October 31: The Australian Parliament passes a motion requesting clemency for Nguyen. The results of the ballot are passed on to Singapore by the Speaker, David Hawker.

Mr Hawker receives a letter from the Speaker of Singapore's Parliament, which says the sentence will not be commuted.

November 3: Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs, George Yeo, writes to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Labor's Kevin Rudd, affirming the Singaporean Government's commitment to apply the death penalty.

November 8: Anti-death penalty activists in Singapore stage a rare rally in support of Nguyen.

November 15: Prime Minister John Howard meets with Nguyen's mother, Kim.

November 17: Nguyen's family receives a letter informing them that he will be hanged on December 2.

At the same time, Prime Minister John Howard makes an unsuccessful appeal to Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

November 18: Nguyen's lawyers, Lex Lasry QC and Julian McMahon, visit him in Changi prison to inform him that a date for his execution has been set.

The lawns of the State Library of Victoria are covered in messages of support for Nguyen as part of the 'Reach Out' campaign.

November 22: Kim and Khoa Nguyen arrive in Singapore. They visit him daily, sharing the allocated times with his friends.

November 24: Victoria's Attorney-General makes an unsucessful plea for clemency to Singapore's Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Ho Peng Kee.

Meanwhile, Mr Downer rules out using trade sanctions against Singapore.

November 25: Mr Downer rules out action in the International Court of Justice as Singapore does not accept the court's jurisdiction.

November 27: Both Mr Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark raise the Nguyen case at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

November 30: A candlelight vigil is held for Nguyen outside Parliament House in Canberra.

At the same time, Singapore's High Commissioner to Australia, Joseph Koh, says there is no chance of a last minute reprieve for Nguyen.

December 1: Lawyers request to see the Singapore Government in a final effort to save their client from being executed.

December 2: Nguyen is hanged at 6:00am Singapore time.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 2 December 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/