Advocate ... Lex Lasry QC represents Nguyen (inset) / File

"I'm frustrated that the Singapore Government has announced the decision is irreversible as though for some reason it's now set in concrete in circumstances where they've never bothered to explain why our client's claim for clemency has been rejected," said Nguyen's lawyer, Lex Lasry, QC.

"They won't engage in the reasons, and that in itself is a travesty.

"They are worried about not showing weakness. If anything is showing weakness it's their unwillingness to engage in the reasons."

In other developments:

• PRIME Minister John Howard said there was little hope for Nguyen as there were "no signs that the Singapore Government is likely to change its mind."(Click Here for Full story)
• A SENIOR United Nations official said the execution of Nguyen would be illegal under international law. (Click Here for Full story)

Mr Lasry said Nguyen had never had the opportunity to present his particular set of circumstance to a judge, as the death penalty had been mandatorily imposed once he was found guilty.

"He will be executed without knowing how his detailed argument for clemency ... has been dealt with by the Singapore government," he said.

"They have never explained their reasoning - now they say it's irreversible.

"We just don't accept that. Nothing is irreversible."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made a face-to-face plea to his Singapore counterpart George Yeo on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea for Nguyen's death sentence to be reconsidered.

"(Mr Yeo) spent some time explaining to me why the cabinet had made the decision it did make (and) he went into quite a bit of detail about the various issues that the cabinet considered," Mr Downer said.

"But in the end he said that the decision of the Singapore cabinet has been made, the decision of the president has been and those decisions are irreversible."

Nguyen was caught with 396g of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Changi airport in 2002.

The Government and supporters have been pursuing ways to spare his life after he lost an appeal for clemency last month.

Prime Minister John Howard says he will raise the issue of the Australian man on death row in Singapore when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in South Korea.

Mr Howard is about to leave Sydney on his way to the meeting.

He says he will discuss the fate of 25-year-old Van Nguyen with his APEC counterparts informally.

"I do not want to raise expectations - there are no signs that the Singaporean Government is likely to change its mind," he said.

"If the opportunity presents itself, as I expect it will, I will raise the matter again. But whatever faint hope there may be, is not advanced by megaphone diplomacy."

Meanwhile, a United Nation's official says the international body has done all it can to try to save the life Van Nguyen.

Philip Alston, the chief adviser on the death penalty to the UN Commission on Human Rights, says unfortunately it seems inevitable the Van Nguyen will be executed.

"The UN has pretty much done what it can which is to draw to the attention of the Government of Singapore, the view that the execution of someone on the basis of a mandatory death penalty is not consistent with international human rights law," he said.

• Nguyen Tuong Van Case Information

Prime Minister John Howard will try to intervene on behalf of an Australian drug trafficker on death row in Singapore.

"If the opportunity presents itself, as I expect it will, I will raise the matter then (but) ... I do not want to raise expectations," Mr Howard said today ahead of his departure to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Joint Ministerial Meeting.

Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was caught at Changi airport in Singapore in 2002 smuggling 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage. He agreed to smuggle the drugs to pay off a large debt owed by his twin brother Khoa.

Previous court appeals and pleas to the Singapore government for clemency have been unsuccessful.

Despite agreeing to try to talk to the Singapore government, Mr Howard said there was little hope Mr Nguyen would win a last-minute reprieve from execution.

"I think it would be very, very unlikely the Singaporean government will change its mind," he said.

Mr Howard also defended himself against criticism he had not done enough to help Mr Nguyen, saying pushing the issue would be "counter-productive".

"I hope that some of the people who have been critical of me in relation ... to this will understand that," he said.

Nguyen's Melbourne-based lawyer Lex Lasry QC said he hoped pressure from Mr Howard at the APEC forum would encourage Singapore to grant his client clemency.

"There is still the capacity for the Australian government to pressure Singapore to change its mind," he said.

"I just hope it is taken up."

Meanwhile, a United Nation's official has told ABC radio the international body has done all it can to try to save the life of Mr Nguyen.

Philip Alston, the chief adviser on the death penalty to the UN Commission on Human Rights, said unfortunately it seemed inevitable Mr Nguyen would be executed.

"The UN has pretty much done what it can which is to draw to the attention of the Government of Singapore, the view that the execution of someone on the basis of a mandatory death penalty is not consistent with international human rights law," he said.

AN Australian drug trafficker on death row in Singapore had little chance of a last minute reprieve from execution, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Leaving Sydney today for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Joint Ministerial Meeting in South Korea, Mr Howard said he would try to talk with the Singapore Government about Nguyen's fate, but held little hope for his future.

"If the opportunity presents itself, as I expect it will, I will raise the matter then (but) ... I do not want to raise expectations," Mr Howard said.

"There are no signs that the Singapore Government is likely to change its mind."

Previous court appeals and pleas to the Singapore Government for clemency have been unsuccessful.

Mr Howard also defended himself against criticism he had not done enough to assist Nguyen, saying pushing the issue would be "counter-productive".

"I hope that some of the people who have been critical of me in relation ... to this will understand that," he said.

"I think it would be very, very unlikely the Singaporean Government will change its mind."

Nguyen's lawyer, Lex Lasry QC, said he was frustrated the Singapore Government had rejected fresh pleas to spare his client's life without explaining its reasons.

"I'm frustrated that the Singapore Government has announced the decision is irreversible as though for some reason it's now set in concrete in circumstances where they've never bothered to explain why our client's claim for clemency has been rejected," said,.

"They won't engage in the reasons, and that in itself is a travesty.

"They are worried about not showing weakness. If anything is showing weakness it's their unwillingness to engage in the reasons."

Mr Lasry said Nguyen had never had the opportunity to present his particular set of circumstances to a judge, as the death penalty had been mandatorily imposed once he was found guilty.

"He will be executed without knowing how his detailed argument for clemency ... has been dealt with by the Singapore Government," he said.

"They have never explained their reasoning – now they say it's irreversible.

"We just don't accept that. Nothing is irreversible."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made a face-to-face plea to his Singapore counterpart George Yeo on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum in South Korea for Nguyen's death sentence to be reconsidered.

"(Mr Yeo) spent some time explaining to me why the cabinet had made the decision it did make (and) he went into quite a bit of detail about the various issues that the cabinet considered," Mr Downer said.

"But in the end he said that the decision of the Singapore Cabinet has been made, the decision of the president has been and those decisions are irreversible."

But Mr Alston today said he could not force Singapore to overturn the decision.

The Australian Government and supporters have been pursuing ways to spare Nguyen's life after he lost an appeal for clemency last month.

The 25-year-old Melbourne man, who was caught with 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Changi airport in 2002, could be executed within weeks.

Singapore based human rights lawyer and anti-death penalty campaigner M. Ravi last week revealed he wrote to Mr Alston and pleaded for him to intervene.

Mr Alston today said that under international law the court was obliged to consider the individual circumstances of the offence.

"International law says you've got to at least leave open that possibility that the court might decide to impose a lesser sentence in this particular case," he said.

"I don't think it (the Singapore Court of Appeal) has worked through in the systematic way that it should have the decisions which emanate from the Privy Council.

"It has acknowledged that it is going to take full account of those decisions, it quotes some of them, but it doesn't draw what I would consider to be the clear inference that emerges from those decisions (that the mandatory death penalty is a violation of international law)."

But Mr Alston acknowledged the UN could not force Singapore to change its mind.

"The international human rights system is very limited in what it can do," he said.

"The role of the UN is to act as a catalyst, is to try to give some support to those who are calling for a Government to reconsider its course of action, but it's not for the UN to ultimately prevent domestic political decisions taking their course."

"From this point on, it's really up to the Government of Singapore to respond, and for other Governments to make inquires at least to the Government of Singapore to see they are indeed addressing that issue."

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer last night made a face-to-face plea to his Singapore counterpart George Yeo for the death sentence imposed on Van Tuong Nguyen to be reconsidered, but was told the decision was final.

THE Federal Government's refusal to condemn the death penalty in all cases was damaging its ability to help an Australian drug trafficker facing the gallows in Singapore, Amnesty International said today.

Nguyen, 25, was caught with 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Changi airport in 2002.

"It's very encouraging the prime minister is going to make an appeal to his Singapore counterparts, but the concern we have had for a while is the apparent double standard in the Australian government's stance," Mr Goodwin said.

"The Government has welcomed the death sentence passed down to the Bali bombers, or appeared to welcome it, while arguing that Australians convicted of crimes in Asia should be spared the same penalty.

"Australia's ability to argue against the death penalty is based on a universal and consistent rejection of the death penalty in all cases."

Mr Gordon said the Government's so-called double standards had already been noticed in Singapore, and would be noticed across the rest of Asia.

"If the Australian Government doesn't address this issue, we are going to see more people in Asia executed and more Australians possibly facing the death penalty," he said.

He said the Government should adopt a policy of universal condemnation of capital punishment even though it would mean opposing the death penalty in some "horrific" circumstances such as terrorist attacks that killed Australians overseas.

He said international justice bodies trying some of the most serious crimes imaginable had explicitly rejected the death penalty as a punishment, while an international trend supported its abolition.

"I think there is a still a very strong view within the (Australian) community that the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment and one that should be abolished in all countries," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard earlier today said he would speak to the Singapore government at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Joint Ministerial Meeting in South Korea.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has already made a face-to-face plea to his Singapore counterpart George Yeo at the summit for the death sentence imposed on Nguyen to be reconsidered, but was told the decision was final.

The Government and supporters have been pursuing ways to spare his life after he lost an appeal for clemency last month.