Death penalty in Asia: Going to my Father's house

Father Gregoire van Giang was with Nguyen Tuong Van during the last minutes before his execution for drug trafficking.

“Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.” (Luke 15:4-7)

***

“I don’t want you all to be sad [and] there’s no need to blame anyone.” This was the final message Nguyen Tuong Van had asked Sister Gerard Fernandez, rgs, to share with the congregation that he believed would assemble later that day at his funeral Mass.

Sister Gerard, Coordinator for the Roman Catholic Prisons Ministry, was with him that Dec 2 morning, the day of his execution at Changi prison for drug trafficking. He was aged 25.

Nguyen had wanted to thank everyone for all their prayers, caring and love, Sister Gerard told the almost 400 people gathered at the Good Shepherd Convent at Marymount, Thomson Road, for Nguyen’s funeral Mass just hours after he was executed.

He had requested the congregation to celebrate that he had gone to meet the Lord in a
peaceful and happy way, Sister Gerard continued.

This proved too much for some in the congregation to bear and many wept openly.

Father Gregoire van Giang, from Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, recalled how Nguyen was smiling and joyful even in the last minutes of his life. He spoke of how touched he was by Nguyen’s readiness and zeal in the faith.

“His last words to me were, ‘This is just a goodbye. I’m going to our Father’s house and I expect us to see each other again’,” he said.

Father Gregoire had visited Nguyen in prison for the last three years and had baptised him on Aug 17, 2004, on his 24th birthday. He was at the execution.

“I am very proud of his strong faith,” Father Gregoire added. “He told me, ‘If I have the opportunity, I will dedicate my life to go all over the world to share my experience with all the youths’”.

Father Gregoire addressed Nguyen’s Vietnamese family and friends in their native language before finally exhorting all present to “Celebrate! Celebrate his new life!”

The atmosphere was emotionally charged as the congregation attempted to do just that despite their grief.

This ability to mourn and rejoice at the same time was nothing short of a “mystery of our faith” said Father Paul Pang, CSsR in his homily.

“In the flesh we mourn, but in the spirit we rejoice!” We rejoice for Nguyen, who had come to believe in Jesus as his Lord, he said. Father Pang told the congregation how Nguyen was called to be baptised a year ago, when Sister Gerard Fernandez had held his hand and sang the “Ave Maria” on a visit. This gesture moved him so profoundly that he started to cry and asked to be baptised as a Catholic.

Nguyen took the name Caleb at his baptism, after a biblical figure in the Book of Numbers who had invincible faith in God’s promise that he would give the Promised Land to his people, despite obstacles that seemed to loom threateningly.

“Even before today, our brother Caleb had through faith reconnoitered the Promised Land, not of Canaan but of heaven. Caleb, by his faith and courage in the face of death, like the biblical Caleb after whom he is named, is urging us not to be afraid to enter into eternal life,” Father Pang said.

He remembered Nguyen’s mother, Kim, in his homily as he gently comforted her and urged her on to approach Mary, the Mother of Sorrow.

“No one can fully feel with you, your sorrow… except another mother, Mother Mary. She understands fully your pain,” Father Pang spoke.

Although Kim had suffered much through Nguyen’s last days, she appeared collected through the Mass. As the congregation bade farewell to Nguyen, they were reminded not to take too long so that she could spend a little more time with her son.

Where the media had carried the much-debated issue of the death penalty before, there was no mention of it at the Mass. As Father Pang said, the people were gathered simply to celebrate Nguyen’s conversion to become a better man in Christ.

An observer noted that Nguyen has fulfilled the lyrics to his favourite song that was played – “Better Man” by Robbie Williams. One can almost imagine him singing as the words echoed through the chapel, “As my soul heals the shame, I will grow through this pain. Lord, I’m doing all I can, to be a better man.”

Seek alternatives to death penalty (CN26/05, Dec 25)

(This is a press statement issued by Sister Susan Chia following the hanging of Nguyen Tuong Van in Singapore for drug trafficking.)

TODAY, WE ARE with Kim Nguyen and Khoa in their deep sorrow at the execution of Van. As we try desperately to soften a mother’s pain at the loss of her son, we grapple with the reality of the death penalty. The death penalty is cruel, inhumane and it violates the right to life. Each life is always precious, even when punishment is required. While we want to make our streets drug-free and safe for our children, should it be at the expense of terminating the life of a person? Punishment and justice must always include mercy. We join the many voices throughout the world in appealing to our leaders to search for alternatives to the death penalty.

Sister Susan Chia
Province Leader
Good Shepherd Sisters
Province of Singapore-Malaysia

Singapore Catholic News

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wednesday, 01 February 2006
Source: Spero News
Author: Father Gregoire van Giang
Website: http://www.speroforum.com/

Thomson: Howard's warmth not meant for display

AT the beginning of the festive season, Melbourne Catholic Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged in Singapore. Was it right and proper then, during Advent, to greet our friends with an invitation to share in merriment, to say "Merry Christmas"? Perhaps such salutations would have revealed an ugly lack of feeling. In a recent David Marr article in the Fairfax press, "Death of compassion", the subheading read: "There were vigils and calls for a minute's silence. But in the end Australians applauded the hanging of Nguyen Tuong Van."

Federal Liberal backbencher Bruce Baird had agitated for a minute's silence to give Australians an opportunity to "express their compassion for Nguyen and opposition to the barbaric sentence". Prime Minister John Howard did not accede to calls for a minute's silence.

Perhaps, it may be argued, our diminished capacity to feel correctly has been imposed on our nation by that man Howard and his "relaxed and comfortable" supporters. But what then are we to make of this: "We're not as harsh on welfare as the Americans are. I would never want us to be. Their jail populations are testament to the failure of some of those harsh policies."

John Howard said this during his address to the National Press Club on October 7 last year, just before his re-election. In response there were no "Howard slams Bush" headlines. Yet it surely was a brave call. The Australian Prime Minister, an enthusiastic member of the coalition of the willing, was stating in plain language that callous welfare policies in the US push the needy into jail.

Why did commentators miss this rhetorical challenge? A fundamental reason is that it has been decided that Howard never says anything sophisticated. He is no Gough, he is no Bob Carr, it is chortled. He is ordinary. He is suburban. And this, it has been decided, is a bad thing

The lust for sophistication has deafened many in the Canberra press gallery. But others have listened and watched closely. Robert A. Jensen is president and chief executive of Kenyon International Emergency Services. His company was called in after the first Bali bombings to assist the Australian Government. "I saw Prime Minister Howard walk into the family area, take off his tie and talk at length to the families," Jensen told journalist Julie Macken. "He didn't have much information to give them, but he gave his time and heartfelt care. I greatly admire him for that."

But surely, asked Macken, he would have expected nothing less? Jensen replied: "In contrast, I saw another country's ambassador turn up surrounded by his security people. When the families ran up to get help and information, his security people pushed them out of the way."

And what some professional carers said to the grieving families was woeful. Jensen overheard, more than once, the phrase "I know how you feel". "That," he said, "is the worst thing you can say to someone in this situation. How can someone possibly know what that person is feeling?" Howard didn't utter a variation of "I feel your pain" for public consumption. On the contrary, Phil Burchett, the father of one of the missing, Jared Gane, revealed to the press that Howard hugged him and said (in private), "We'll get the bastards who did this."

The import of what Howard said this year about Aboriginal Australians also has been missed in the main. But Noel Pearson has listened well. He calls it a "tectonic shift". In his address to the National Reconciliation Planning Workshop in Canberra on May 30, Howard said: "Reconciliation is about symbols as well as practical achievement ... We also believe that reconciliation should be about acknowledging those symbols we can agree on. But I think we have to recognise that if all we do is focus on symbols, we will have failed ... Recognition of symbols needs to go hand in hand with practical action."

Howard has been consistent in his depiction of the "conspicuous compassion" of symbolic sorrow as self-righteous grandstanding. "If I can speak very bluntly," he said, "I think part of the problem with some earlier approaches to reconciliation is that it left too many people, particularly in white Australia, off the hook. It let them imagine that they could simply meet their responsibilities by symbolic expressions and gestures rather than accept the need for an ongoing persistent rendition of practical on-the-ground measures to challenge the real areas of indigenous deprivation."

So what ought be in our hearts at this time? Emile Durkheim understood religion as expressing a "happy confidence". It is a challenge to those who wallow in the mire of miserable suspicion, convinced that you must indulge in sentimental anger to be good. In response, we could say "Bah humbug" but, more radically, "Merry Christmas" and, this weekend, "Happy New Year".

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 27 December 2005
Source: The Australian (Australia Web)
Author: Paul Comrie
Website: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Group defends approach to drug problem

The Australian National Council on Drugs has defended the nation's drugs strategy amid claims Australia takes a soft approach to the problem.

Stung by the reaction to the hanging of convicted Australian drug runner Nguyen Tuong Van earlier this month, state-run media in Singapore have claimed Australia is soft on drugs.

They have targeted initiatives such as Sydney's supervised heroin injecting room which opened more than four years ago in Kings Cross.

Singapore says its tough laws and penalties for drug trafficking are an effective deterrent against a crime that ruins lives, and that foreigners and Singaporeans must be treated alike.

In a statement, the council said that it continued to support Australia's approach of investing in drug treatment programs.

It backed medication-based treatments, like methadone programs, saying they had been proven to reduce heroin use and cut criminal behaviour.

The council said that while giving up drugs was an important long-term goal, evidence-based treatment deserved support.

"The myriad of benefits to the community in moving dependent heroin users into treatment should not be undervalued," it said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 14 December 2005
Source: The Age(Australia Web)
Author:Australian Associated Press
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/news

Murder is murder

I would like to voice my opinion in reply to the letter "For whom the bell tolls" by name and address withheld (Northern Territory News, December 7). This reader seems naive when it comes to matters regarding life and death. No one, I repeat, no one has the right to take the life of another person. This also includes one's own life as well.It's called murder.

Murder approved by law is still murder and two wrongs do not make it right.

I sympathise with the reader that he lost his mates, and to the families who have lost loved ones to drugs. But did anyone point a gun to their heads and tell them to take the drugs? We all have a choice. If one chooses to destroy his or her life it is his or her choice.

Amnesty International has rated Singapore as having the highest rate of executions among countries that have the death penalty. America has just had its 1000th execution. Is the deterrent working? Obviously not.

Name and address withheld by request


Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 13 December5 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Author: Letters to the Editor
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Twin visits death row

CONDEMNED Australian Nguyen Tuong van yesterday met his twin brother for the first time since his arrest - a twin whose debts he says turned him into a drug smuggler.

Nguyen will be hanged on December 2 in Singapore.


Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 23 November 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Author: Letters to the Editor
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Sanctioned killing not the civilised way

IT'S a curious world. Australia is pleading with Singapore not to hang convicted Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van. In Britain, people are pleading for the death penalty to be reinstated. The irony is inescapable. In a sense, people in both countries have got it wrong.

Let's begin this tragic tale in Britain. Last week, a female police officer and mother of five, Constable Sharon Beshenivsky, was shot dead while carrying out routine inquiries. The gunman simply opened fire, killing PC Beshenivsky and wounding another officer.

One of London's most respected newspaper columnists, Colin Wilson of the Daily Mail, has for years been a consistent opponent of the death sentence for serious crimes. Suddenly, he has changed his mind. In his regular column, Wilson says it is time to talk about the restoration of the death penalty. For Wilson, this is a major reconstruction of a core belief.

Former London metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens has admitted the shooting has made him change his mind and that the "monster who executed this woman in cold blood should in turn be killed as punishment for his crime".

The London shooting was horrific. It has touched a nation in a way few events do. But it is no excuse for Wilson, or Lord Stevens, to abandon the proper and tolerant views of a lifetime so that the community can take revenge on a tragic simpleton.

Human emotion is a curious beast. While Britain is grappling with the murder of PC Beshenivsky, Australia is trying to deal with a very different issue involving capital punishment.

British people are baying for revenge as Australians try, quite properly, to convince the Singapore authorities not to hang convicted drug courier, Nguyen Tuong Van, who has been sentenced to hang on December 2. It is demonstrably wrong for governments to deliberately take lives. In Australia, we place a high price on the value of life.

When there is a murder, particularly the murder of a police officer, prison warder or a child, as a community we are appalled. But we do not stoop to the level of the killer and impose a government-sanctioned death penalty. In Singapore, where Van was arrested with his deadly haul of drugs, drug dealing carries the death penalty. It is the same in most Asian countries. Any fool who goes to Asia, or tries to leave Asia carrying drugs, knows the potential consequences of their actions. Van would have known but he took the risk and was caught red-handed.

Australia is right to ask the Singapore Government for clemency. It is the Government's responsibility to fight for the life of any citizen.

And this is where those in Britain baying for the return of the death penalty are wrong. An angry domestic community wants to satisfy its blood lust by bringing back the death penalty.

This would automatically disqualify Britain from taking the high moral ground if one of its citizens is sentenced to death in another country.

It would deny Britain the right to enter international debate on human rights. They would be stooping to the same sordid level as countries which have the death penalty.

Australian authorities should do what they can for Van. Much diplomatic work has already been done, without much success. If, as seems likely, Van is hanged on December 2, it would be futile, as some have suggested, to apply trade sanctions and travel restrictions on Singapore.

In the end, the death penalty – wrong as it may be – is part of Singaporean law.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thurs, 24 Novwember, 2005
Source: The Advertiser(Australia Web)
Author: Rex Jory
Website: http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au

Domino drug effect

I cannot believe I have to write this letter to bring some sanity to the past few weeks regarding the Nguyen Tuong Van affair.

Can I first pose a few questions that none of the Australian media have asked?

1. What was the debt of his twin brother, how much and how was it incurred?

2. How did he know where to buy the drugs?

3. How much did he pay for those drugs?

4. Apparently he had enough grams of heroin for 25,000 hits. Can you conceive how much damage and how many deaths this number of hits would have caused?

Twenty years ago I witnessed what heroin could do. It was horrific, resulting in a father uprooting his family, selling his business and house and returning to Perth.

His 15-year-old daughter was prostituting herself while at high school for drug money.

She also stole money from her parents' purse and wallet. She stole and sold family items.

How many stories do other readers have of similar cases? How many families would have been devastated by 25,000 hits of the drug? When it happens it has an enormous "domino effect" on family, relatives and friends.

I applaud the Singapore Government for not wavering in enforcing the laws of its country. There has been too much whinging over the affair. By his deeds, this man was a potential murderer and a wreaker of havoc and despair.


Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 9 Decenber 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Author: Letters to the Editor
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Mourners pack cathedral for Nguyen funeral

More than 1,000 people have packed St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne for the funeral of Van Nguyen.

The pews were full and mourners wearing white were lining the walls of the cathedral for the funeral that the 25-year-old helped to plan before his execution.

Nguyen was hanged at Changi Prison in Singapore last Friday after being convicted of trying to smuggle heroin through Changi Airport.

His mother Kim Nguyen sobbed throughout the requiem mass while his brother Khoa remained stoic, staring at the alter.

Words written by Nguyen just hours before his hanging were read, including a plea for forgiveness for his sins and vowing to remain in the hearts of those who prayed for him.

Father Peter Hansen told the congregation that no-one has proclaimed Nguyen was innocent but that human beings can change.

He addressed Kim Nguyen saying all Australians are supporting her in the face of pain that is more than any mother could bear.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 7 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/

Lavish funeral is wrong

There has been a huge over-reaction to the execution last Friday of Nguyen Tuong Van and now he is about to become a national matyr with hhis funeral this week at MMelbourne's St POatrick Cathedral.

Are we forgetting he was a criminal, a drug runner and a heroin dealer?

No, I don't support execution. No, I don't believe Nguyen Tuong Van deserved to die, but the fact remains he broke the law in Singapore - a country that makes it blatantly clear the death sentence applies to drug convictions.

To accord Nguyen Tuong Van a high-status funeral, befitting thhat of a statesman, is sending totally the wrong message.

Are we going to have all this hoo-haa repeated when the Bali Nine almost inevitably meet the same fate that befell Van?

I hope not.

Robin Hodgins
Darwin

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 6 December 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Author: Letters to the Editor
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Executioner stays silent

No wonder there was no noise at all from our greatest ally, the US, about the death penalty last week, as they were gearing up for their 1000th execution on December 2, 2005.

And in the US only about 46 per cent of people are in favour of such a penalty.

Bob Marquis
Fanny Bay

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 6 December 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Author: Letters to the Editor
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Gallows grandstanding

Why all the fuss over the hanging last week of a drug smuggler in Singapore?

The Singaporean government continually hangs drug traffickers but all of a sudden if it is an Australian citizen the country gets all worked up.

Where are the bleeding hearts the rest of the time?

Singapore has been hanging people since World War II without a peep from Amnesty International or anyone else.

But as soon as it is an Australian, politics takes over.

Why don't Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, NT Chief Minister Clare Martin and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks continually complain about thhis barbaric treatment? They don't believe there is no political capital to be made unless - horror of all horrors - it happens to an Aussie.

It's grandstanding but very little commitment.

Name and address withheld by request.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 6 December 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Author: Letter to the Editor
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

More Nguyen letters set for release

MORE death row letters written by Australian Nguyen Tuong Van ahead of his execution in Singapore last Friday are set to be made public.

Returning to Melbourne today with Nguyen's body, his lawyer Lex Lasry, QC, said the letters would show his 25-year-old client had reformed.

"They'll get the story of a young man who saw the need to change his life under the most extreme circumstance," Mr Lasry told reporters at Melbourne Airport.

"And who displayed great grace and pressure under the most adverse ... you can't imagine a more adverse circumstance.

"I hope that helps other people who watched this case and watched it develop."

Nguyen wrote many letters during his time in Singapore's Changi Prison as he awaited execution for drug smuggling, including letters to his mother Kim, Mr Lasry and authorities.

In a letter to Singapore President SR Nathan and published recently, Nguyen extended his sympathy to victims of illegal drugs.

"I found myself in deep sorrow for the true victims, the families of those whom (sic) suffer as a result of losing a loved one to drugs," he wrote in March this year.

Mr Lasry did not give a timeframe for the release of the Nguyen letters and did not say which ones would be made public.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 4 December 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 The Northern Territory News
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Church 'not condoning' Nguyen crime

PEOPLE had mistakenly believed the Catholic Church had tried to condone Van Tuong Nguyen's crime, a spokesman said today.

Monsignor Les Tomlinson, vicar general of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, said while the church believed Nguyen's crime deserved a conviction, a death penalty was not the answer.

Nguyen was hanged in Singapore on Friday, almost three years after he was caught about to smuggle about 400 grams of heroin.

His crime carried the death penalty - with no chance of a lighter sentence.

Furious lobbying from a team of Australian lawyers and the Federal Government could not budge Singapore's hardline stance on drug laws.

It is the first time an Australian has been executed in 19 years.

Monsignor Tomlinson said Nguyen openly admitted his crime and dealt with his fate by turning to God.

"There is no disputing he was guilty of a crime and there is no disputing it should be punished," he said.

Monsignor Tomlinson said capital punishment was not "a solution for any crime".

"Some people have mistakenly thought the church was minimising the significance of his crime and thought the church was trying to condone or trivialise what he had done," Monsignor Tomlinson said.

"He didn't try to minimise the enormity of his crime."

St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne will become the centre of worldwide interest at Nguyen's funeral on Wednesday when his family, friends and the wider community will reflect on his life.

Monsignor Tomlinson said Nguyen was a striking example of how faith in God helped to accept one's death and in turn, gave comfort to loved ones who were consumed with grief.

"He is a man who is guilty of a crime, he admitted it, and he was given a death by hanging," Monsignor Tomlinson said.

"When all failed, he accepted the sentence and no doubt buoyed up by the faith he found with God.

"His faith was the source of help to those around him to give them comfort in their distress."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Mon, 5 December 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 The Northern Territory News
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Funeral to celebrate Nguyen's life

A NOTE penned by Van Tuong Nguyen in the final days before he was hanged for drug trafficking in Singapore is expected to be read to mourners at his funeral service in Melbourne today.

The family of the 25-year-old Melbourne man has asked that the service be a celebration of his life. The requiem mass, conducted partly in English and in Nguyen's mother Kim's first language of Vietnamese, will begin at 11am (AEDT) at St Patrick's Catholic cathedral in East Melbourne.

Nguyen, who was hanged on Friday, had left instructions that a note he wrote in his cell at Changi prison be read out as part of the service.

The young Australian's influence will also be felt in other ways today. Before he went to the gallows, he finalised many details for his own final goodbye with the Reverend Father Peter Hansen.

Among them was his choice of the songs that will be played - Ave Maria and Amazing Grace.

Fr Hansen, who will conduct the service, has said Nguyen's family does not want today's gathering to become a political statement about the death sentence.

Nguyen's mother will be the chief mourner, but is not expected to do any of the readings at the service.

His twin brother Khoa, who travelled with his mother to Singapore to say goodbye to Nguyen before his death, also will be present along with Nguyen's friends, Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew, who were behind the Reach Out for Van campaign.

His lawyers Julian McMahon and Lex Lasry, QC, also are expected to attend.

Victorian Government MP Bruce Mildenhall will be there, along with fellow Labor MP Richard Wynne, as a gesture of support for Nguyen's family.

Mr Mildenhall yesterday said he had encountered a hostile reaction from people calling and turning up at his electorate office, angry that he would attend the funeral of the convicted drug trafficker.

But he said he would not change his plan, for the sake of Nguyen's family and because he wanted to make a stand against the drug trade and capital punishment.

"My view is the whole drug industry, the human toll it takes, spares nobody and this is a family that's been devastated by it," he said.

"I've met the mother and I feel deeply sad for the situation that this family is in, without in any way condoning the activity (Nguyen) was involved in."

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said he would not attend, but believed it was "appropriate" for two of his MPs - whose electorates include large Vietnamese communities - to represent the State Government at the service.

"It's really acknowledging that we do oppose the penalty involved and I think those MPs who represent the area would want to make sure that that was known," he told Southern Cross Radio.

"I won't be, certainly, banning people from going."

While the funeral service will be open to members of the public, the family has requested privacy for Nguyen's burial afterwards.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 7 December 2005
Source: The Northern Territory News(Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 The Northern Territory News
Website: http://www.ntnews.news.com.au

Nguyen Tuong Van funeral furore

BRACKS Government MPs are under fire for planning to attend today's funeral of executed trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van.

Premier Steve Bracks yesterday said he did not want Nguyen, 25, glorified in death and would not be at the funeral.

But Mr Bracks said he would not stand in the way of Government MPs wanting to attend.

Richmond MP Richard Wynne, Footscray MP Bruce Mildenhall, Upper House MP Geoff Hilton and the Government's only Vietnamese-born MP, Sang Minh Nguyen, will attend St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral.

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said it was insulting for MPs to attend the funeral of a confessed drug trafficker.

Mr McNamara said he didn't support execution but MPs attending went beyond protesting against capital punishment.

"It is outrageous to think the Government, who should be on the side of the victim, is suddenly going along to support a convicted drug trafficker," he said.

"It's offensive to all victims and their families and shows the imbalance between the way victims and criminals are treated by this Government," he said.

Mr Bracks said it was appropriate that the Government be represented by Mr Wynne and Mr Mildenhall, who have large Vietnamese communities in their electorates.

"It's really acknowledging that we do oppose the penalty involved and I think those MPs who represent the areas would want to make sure that was known," he said.

Shadow attorney-general Andrew McIntosh said a funeral should not be used as a political tool.

"We've all been moved by the tragic events of last week and it certainly confirms in my mind why I'm an implacable opponent of the death penalty," Mr McIntosh said.

"But I think there are better forums for registering your concern."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 7 December 2005
Source: The Herald Sun (Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 The Herald Sun
Website: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au

Nguyen's letters to be read to mourners

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the funeral of Van Nguyen in Melbourne this morning.

Van Nguyen, 25, was hanged at Singapore's Changi Prison on Friday, three years after his arrest for drug smuggling.

Father Peter Hansen, who will conduct the requiem mass at St Patrick's Cathedral, says Nguyen helped to plan his funeral.

Nguyen requested that mourners wear white or light colours and that they embrace one another during the service.

"To introduce each other as a sign of his desire that things that speak of hatred will be broken down and replaced instead by reconciliation and unity," he said.

Father Hansen says letters and diary entries written by Nguyen, right up until the last hours of his life, will be read to the congregation.

He says 1,000 people attended a prayer service for Nguyen and he expects at least that many to attend the funeral.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 7 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/

Priest expects 1000 at Van Nguyen funeral

More than 1000 people are likely to attend the funeral service for executed drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, according to Melbourne priest Fr Peter Hansen, who will lead tomorrow's service.

Australian Associated Press reports that Nguyen's public funeral service will be held at St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral, in East Melbourne.

Up to 1000 people turned up for a multi-faith service held last month at the same cathedral, which Father Peter Hanson said was sufficiently large to hold the increased numbers expected to attend the funeral.

"I think it will be bigger, I'm not worried by that fact, I rejoice in the fact that so many people want to stand in support of his family," he said.

Nguyen, the 25-year-old former Melbourne salesman, went to the gallows in Singapore's Changi Prison last Friday almost three years after being caught at Changi Airport with nearly 400 grams of heroin.

Fr Hanson said the family had requested his funeral service be a celebration of the 25-year-old's life instead of a political statement about the death sentence.

He said the service would be traditional, despite reports Nguyen had requested the Robbie Williams song Better Man be played.

"Van made the positive choice as an adult to be baptised as a Catholic and so we send him to God in accordance with Catholic rights, so it will be a wholly Catholic service, but it will be a bilingual service," he said.

Ms Nguyen played a key role at the multi-faith service, but would not be doing any readings this time, Fr Hanson said.

"She will be the chief mourner as his immediate next of kin. I don't think there's a task currently allocated to her, I think she will probably just take the experience in," he said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 6 December 2005
Source: Catholic News (Australia Web)
Website: http://www.cathnews.com

Aus drug trafficker hanged

Singapore - Convicted Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged on Friday in Singapore after high-level bids to save his life failed, sparking condemnation from Australia's leaders and rights groups.

"Mr Nguyen failed in his appeals to the Court of Appeal and to the president. The sentence was carried out this morning at Changi Prison," the ministry of home affairs said in a short statement.

The case has generated public outrage in Australia, where capital punishment has long been outlawed.

Singapore turned down repeated pleas for clemency, including from Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and some sectors in Australia have called for a retaliatory boycott of Singaporean companies.

"I have told the prime minister of Singapore that I believe it will have an effect on the relationship on a people-to-people, population-to-population basis," Howard told Australian radio on Friday, but he said a boycott of goods would achieve nothing.

His Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, has been unmoved by the furore, making clear this week that the death penalty "is necessary and is part of the criminal justice system".

"The evil inflicted on thousands of people with drug trafficking demands that we must tackle the source by punishing the traffickers rather than trying to pick up the pieces afterwards," he said.

Nguyen, 25, was executed for trying to smuggle 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia via Singapore to Australia in 2002. Possession of more than 15 grams is punishable by death here.

Shackled and hooded

Executions are usually conducted at 06:00, with the prisoner shackled and hooded before a noose is put in place and a hangman pulls a lever to release a trapdoor, snapping the neck.

Hguyen, who had no previous criminal record, said he was smuggling the drugs to Australia to help pay off debts owed by his twin brother Khoa.

Shortly after 07:00 Nguyen's lawyers and Khoa, wearing yellow ribbons, emerged stony-faced from the prison near the airport where Hyugen was caught. They left without making any comment.

Nguyen's mother Kim and others gathered at a nearby chapel with friends and supporters. Family members are not allowed to witness hangings.

Shortly before the execution, which he called "fundamentally and morally wrong", lawyer Julian McMahon said, "the mum is obviously incredibly upset but she is also more prepared now than at any other time she has been."

In Nguyen's home city of Melbourne hundreds of his supporters bowed their heads in silence at a church as a bell tolled 25 times to mark his execution, once for every year of his life.

A silent vigil for Nguyen also drew hundreds of people to a plaza in central Sydney for the moment corresponding with dawn in Singapore.

While Singapore stood firm in the face of repeated calls to spare Vietnamese-born Nguyen's life, it did bow to pleas to let him touch his mother one final time, although they were unable to hug.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 4 December 2005
Source: NEWS24.com (South Africa Web)
Website: http://www.news24.com

Smuggler's body arrives in Aus

Melbourne - The family of an Australian drug smuggler hanged in Singapore arrived home with his body early on Sunday.

Nguyen Tuong Van's mother Kim and brother Khoa brought back his body ahead of a funeral on Wednesday at the southern city of Melbourne's St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral.

The family left the airport through a private exit, avoiding groups of supporters and reporters, local media said.

On Saturday, a lawyer who tried to have Nguyen's life spared, urged the Australian government to protest the use of the death penalty in the United States.

Nguyen went to the gallows Friday, the same day that convicted murderer Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1 000th person put to death in the United States since capital punishment resumed there in 1977.

"Some laws are wrong, and we have an obligation to speak out against those laws wherever they are," lawyer Julian McMahon told Australian Associated Press.

"The Australian community has a reawakened awareness from this case that premeditated state-sanctioned killing is wrong," he said of Nguyen's execution.

"We should not be afraid to speak the truth to our powerful friend the United States," McMahon added.

Nguyen's execution sparked an outcry in Australia. Vigils were held across the country Friday morning and bells rang out 25 times - once for every year of his life - at the hour of his hanging.

McMahon was scathing in his criticism of Singapore's mandatory death penalty for drug smugglers.

"It is even more legally and morally repugnant when it is mandatory, premeditated state-sanctioned killing," he said.

Still, he praised Nguyen's jailers. "By the time Van died everyone involved in the case knew the prison workers had only been kindly to him and he loved them, to use his words," McMahon said.

He said Nguyen had written many letters in the lead up to his death and lawyers would distribute them this week.

Some of the letters were to "important people" but may contain private thoughts and were not necessarily for public perusal, McMahon said without elaborating.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 02 December 2005
Source: NEWS25.com (South Africa Web)
Website: http://www.news24.com/

Call to strengthen stance against death penalty

One of the lawyers for executed Melbourne man Van Nguyen says Australia needs to come up with a coherent policy on the death penalty.

Lex Lasry QC has just left Singapore with the family of Van Nguyen after his client was executed in Changi Prison yesterday morning.

Mr Lasry hopes public support for Nguyen's case will prompt the Government to take a stronger line against the death penalty in foreign countries.

"There are cases ahead, difficult cases ahead that the Australian Government will have to deal with," he said.

"In my opinion the Australian Government have dealt with this case well. They've shown us great support from the beginning and we would ask that they in a sense formalise a strong policy so that Australia case take a lead in this region in particular."

Mr Lasry says he will keep campaigning against that country's use of the mandatory death penalty.

"The important sentiment is that this case - the end of Van's life - must not see the end of the campaign against the mandatory death penalty," he said.

"Julian McMahon and I think that we must continue the campaign. We think there are a lot of positives that have come out of this case despite the tragedy of Van's death and we are determined that we will continue the argument."

Nguyen was convicted of trying to smuggle nearly 400 grams of heroin through Changi airport.

Under Singaporean law, the death penalty is the mandatory punishment for drug trafficking.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 4 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/

Nguyen's body on flight back to Australia

The body of executed Australian drug runner Van Nguyen has left Singapore bound for Australia, accompanied by his mother Kim and twin brother Khoa.

Nguyen, a 25-year-old Melbourne resident, was hanged at dawn on Friday at Singapore's Changi Prison after repeated appeals for clemency led by Prime Minister John Howard were turned down.

Nguyen's coffin was put on a Qantas flight and is due to arrive in Melbourne early on Sunday.

A media scrum mobbed his mother Kim, who was dressed in a white blouse with a white veil over her head, as she and Khoa arrived at Changi Airport.

Kim broke into sobs and had to be led away from the horde by an embassy official.

Nguyen's lawyer, Lex Lasry QC, spoke to the media at Singapore airport as he accompanied Kim and Khoa for the flight back home to Australia.

He said they were coping well after the execution.

"These are two very brave people. They are determined to have a life beyond this. They are both inspired by the courage by which Van faced his death... They will move forward," he said.

Parting swipe

Mr Lasry took a parting swipe at the Singapore Government over its mandatory death penalty.

He says comments by Singapore's Prime Minister that the execution followed the 'rule of law' are offensive.

"A mandatory death penalty where after the penalty's been imposed and the appeal has been lost is then determined by a clemency process conducted by executive government behind closed doors is not the rule of law in application," he said.

"It is offensive to describe it as the rule of law and it's the very thing that didn't apply in this case."

Nguyen's execution triggered a storm of protest and anger against Singapore.

Singapore, which follows an uncompromising line against drugs, also refused to allow Nguyen's mother to hug her son one last time, letting them only touch briefly for a final reunion on the eve of the execution.

The Australian was executed for trying to smuggle 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia via Singapore to Australia in 2002.

Van Nguyen said he had agreed to be a mule to help pay off Khoa's debts.

The Australian reported the debts included legal bills incurred after Khoa's involvement in a brawl in 1998.

Possession of more than 15 grams is punishable by death in Singapore.

Government praised

Mr Lasry also praised the Federal Government's efforts to save Nguyen from the gallows.

"From our point of view, the Australian Government has been in it from the beginning and I have absolutely no complaint about the government's role in this case ... They have given us everything we needed and they've made the representations as we have wanted them."

Mr Lasry said he plans to discuss with the Federal Government how it can play a role in the efforts to abolish death penalty, which many Asian governments still use in the fight against crime.

"I think Australia is in a unique position, having been so heavily involved in this case, to say that the death penalty is something we simply must abolish in every case," Mr Lasry said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 4 December 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Nguyen's family arrives home

The family of executed drug trafficker Van Nguyen has returned to Melbourne with his body.

Nguyen's family was whisked away on arriving at Melbourne airport and did not come through the public arrivals gate.

They had been in Singapore to be with Nguyen in the days leading up to his execution.

The 25-year-old was hanged in Singapore of Friday for trying to smuggle heroin out of Cambodia to Australia in 2002.

A funeral service for him is to be held at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral later this week.

Lawyer Lex Lasry says Nguyen's mother Kim and brother Khoa endured a media crush at Singapore airport and he was not prepared to put them through that again.

He says Mrs Nguyen is relieved to be home.

"She is going to move forward from here, she takes great inspiration and strength from her son and so does Van's brother," Mr Lasry said.

Mr Lasry says he hopes Nguyen remains a signpost for continued opposition to the death penalty.

Mr Lasry is urging the Australian Government to take up a lead role in a regional campaign against the death penalty.

He says the Australian Government is well-placed to encourage countries like Singapore to embrace human rights.

"What I think though is that given those ties and given Australia's position, Australia is in a great position to take a human rights lead in this region and to make the argument to the other countries," Mr Lasry said.

"The rational intellectual legal argument if you like as to why the death penalty simply can no longer be tolerated."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 4 December 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

PM rules out campaign against death penalty

Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out a push by Australia to end capital punishment in other countries in the wake of the execution of Van Nguyen in Singapore.

The body of the 25-year-old drug trafficker has arrived back in Melbourne for burial.

John Howard has told the ABC's Insiders program while he is against the death penalty, he is realistic about what can be achieved.

"I'm not saying we won't pursue it in different ways but if anybody imagines that a diplomatic offensive by Australia is going to change the attitude of China or Singapore or Malaysia, or other countries in the region to capital punishment, then I think they're mistaken," Mr Howard said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Lex Lasry says finality has brought relief to Mrs Nguyen, who has arranged a funeral for her son on Wednesday.

He says he hopes Nguyen is not forgotten by Australians.

"I think Van may become a sort of a signpost for ... to demonstrate the way young people who get into the sort of situation he was in, can transform themselves," he said.

"I've said a number of times his transformation over the last two years was unbelievable.

"It was inspiring, it was complete and was quite magnificent."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 4 December 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/