By Jane Bunce 23oct05
THE mother of a Melbourne man set to be executed in Singapore for smuggling heroin has pleaded with the Federal Government to save her son's life.
Time is running out for Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, who will be hanged within a month after the Singapore Government rejected his plea for clemency.
Kim Nguyen and her son's lawyers, Lex Lasry, QC, and Julian McMahon, called on the Federal Government today to pressure Singapore into reassessing Nguyen's clemency bid.
But Prime Minister John Howard said there was no realistic prospect that anything could be done to save Nguyen.
Ms Nguyen went into shock when she learned of her son's fate hours after visiting him in Changi Prison, Singapore, on Friday.
"I'm asking everyone to please help us, please the Government of Australia, help us," she said in Melbourne today after flying home for the comfort of friends and family.
"My son, he is a young boy. He is sorry in jail, very sorry. He has learned a lot.
"I know my son is scared about what is going to happen to him, and it hurts my heart."
Mr Lasry said today the family would receive two weeks notice of the impending execution, which was likely to take place within the next four weeks, and members would be able to visit Nguyen again.
Ms Nguyen said: "Every time I go to see Van, I tell him mummy loves him very much.
"My family is very close.
"He is my heart. If something happens to my son, my heart will be stopped."
Nguyen was sentenced to death by a Singapore court in March last year after being found guilty of smuggling almost 400g of heroin from Cambodia to Australia via Singapore.
The sales executive was caught in transit at Changi Airport in December 2002, bound for Melbourne.
He had 396g of heroin strapped to his back and in hand luggage.
Nguyen has said he was acting as a drug mule in a bid to pay off debts incurred by his twin brother.
Ms Nguyen said today that Nguyen's twin, Khoa, was distraught.
"He cries because he does not know how to help his brother," she said.
"He is very sad because they are close."
Mr Howard said he felt for Nguyen's family but there was no hope the execution would not go ahead.
"We have tried everything at a political and diplomatic level," he said.
"The answer came back on Friday that the execution would go ahead.
"I am very sorry to say that I don't think the prospects of anything changing are realistic."
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer meanwhile said the minister had not changed his position since Friday, when he said he did not believe other diplomatic channels were available to pursue.
But Mr Lasry said the legal team did not share the Australian Government's pessimism.
Pressure from the Australian Government could convince Singapore to take the unprecedented step of reconsidering its decision, he said.
"The diplomatic channels are open as long as our client is alive," Mr Lasry said.
"There is absolutely no reason why this decision can't be changed."
The legal team believed Singapore's decision to deny clemency was "very bad" and in opposition to its own constitution, because Nguyen was completely rehabilitated and had provided information to the Australian Federal Police, Mr Lasry said..
"He was entitled to expect clemency given his particular circumstances," he said.
Mr Lasry predicted Singapore's decision would affect its relationship with Australia, given that extensive diplomatic efforts had been ignored.
If Nguyen is hanged, he will be the first Australian to be executed overseas since Sydney barman Michael McAuliffe was hanged in Malaysia in 1993
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