Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore will hang Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van on Dec. 2, his lawyer Julian McMahon said.

Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs set the execution date in a letter to Nguyen's mother, Kim, which she received today, McMahon said.

Singapore's government has rejected repeated pleas from Australian officials to spare Nguyen's life. The 25-year-old from Melbourne was caught with 396 grams of heroin at Singapore's Changi Airport in 2002.

Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday he would raise the issue with his Singaporean counterpart during a meeting at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leadership summit in South Korea.

``I'd be less than honest to the Australian people if I pretended that I thought there was a big prospect of the government changing its mind,'' Howard told reporters in Busan.

Australia abolished the death penalty in 1973.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fergus Maguire in Canberra, Australia at [email protected]

Click Here for Nguyen Tuong Van Information

M. Ravi a Singaporean human rights lawyer and anti-death penalty campaigner holds messages addressed to Nguyen Tuong Van while on his way to Changi Prison in Singapore November 8, 2005.

Ravi was attempting to deliver the messages to Nguyen, who was sentenced to death in March 2004 for smuggling almost 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia.

Singapore is set to precede with the execution of convicted Australian drug smuggler, dismissing a final plea by Canberra to spare him, Australia's foreign minister said last week.

Alexander Downer said he had received a letter from his Singapore counterpart, George Yeo, late on Wednesday rejecting an appeal for clemency for Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, and expected the death sentence to be carried out in the next month. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Singapore has defended its right to hang criminals, including Australian Van Nguyen.

A United Nations (UN) human rights expert, Philip Alston, says the expected execution of Nguyen would breach international law.

But the Singapore Foreign Ministry accuses Mr Alston of "grossly misrepresenting the facts".

"Singapore maintains that capital punishment is a criminal justice issue," a spokesman said.

"It is the sovereign right of every country to decide whether or not to include capital punishment within its criminal justice system."

Mr Alston, who part of the UN Human Rights Commission's watchdog on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, has urged Singapore not to execute Nguyen.

He says the problem in the case lies in mandatory sentencing rules that require the death penalty to be imposed in trafficking cases.

"Making such a penalty mandatory - thereby eliminating the discretion of the court - makes it impossible to take into account mitigating or extenuating circumstances and eliminates any individual determination of an appropriate sentence in a particular case," Mr Alston said.

"The adoption of such a black and white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake."

'Misleading'

The Singapore Foreign Ministry says Mr Alston is attempting to mislead the public.

"In doing so, he diminishes the credibility of his office," the ministry said.

"Mr Nguyen was tried and convicted in an entirely open, fair and transparent manner, according to due process of law, as has been acknowledged by the Australian Government.

"Therefore this case does not fall within his mandate.

"Mr Alston has on several previous occasions attempted to exceed the limits of his office in criticising judicial executions in Singapore.

"We have previously protested Mr Alston's abuse of his office and will continue to do so as necessary."

The Australian Government has mounted a diplomatic campaign to save the life of Nguyen, a 25-year-old Vietnamese arrested in Singapore in 2002 with 400 grams of heroin while in transit between Cambodia and Australia.

But it has so far been to no avail.

The death sentence is mandatory in Singapore for trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine or 500 grams of cannabis.

It is also mandatory for other crimes such as murder, treason, kidnapping and certain firearms offences.

- AFP

SINGAPORE today had no immediate reaction to a UN official's call not to hang convicted Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van.

However, it has been welcomed by a local anti-death penalty activist who took the case to the world body.

UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston – an Australian based in Geneva – has said that Nguyen's execution would violate international legal standards.

A spokesman for Singapore's ministry of foreign affairs confirmed that Alston's remarks were under review.

A Singapore statement on the high-profile case is expected later today.

M Ravi, a human rights lawyer, filed a last-ditch appeal to the UN on November 8.

"It is important that the Singapore Government now, in this case, at least starts complying with international norms as regards the issue of the mandatory death sentence," he said.

Nguyen, 25, was arrested at Singapore's Changi airport while in transit from Cambodia to Australia in December 2002.

He was sentenced to death in March 2004 for carrying almost 400 grams of heroin.

All appeals for clemency from his legal team and the Australian Government have so far been rebuffed, and he had been expected to be hanged this month.

Mr Alston's statement focused particular attention on Singapore's mandatory use of the death sentence.

Singapore law dictates that anyone convicted of carrying more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, or 500 grams of marijuana is deemed a trafficker, and must be hanged.

The local courts have no discretion to consider extenuating circumstances in such cases.

"Such a black and white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake," Mr Alston said

Singapore has apologised for failing to advise Australia's prime minister, John Howard, of the date it intends to hang Australian man, Van Nguyen.

Nguyen, 25, faces the death penalty in Singapore for smuggling around 400 grams of heroin into Changi airport in 2002.

Singapore's government has issued a statement, blaming an administrative error for failing to tell Mr Howard about the decision to execute Nguyen on December 2.

Mr Howard had just finished a meeting with Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsieng Loong, on Thursday when news of the date emerged.

Mr Howard later said he was "very disappointed" he had not been told.

The apology statement said a letter informing Nguyen's family of the execution date had been delivered a day early.

Singapore says it is investigating the error, and has apologised for the embarrassment caused to Mr Howard.

Lawyer angry

Nguyen's lawyer, Lex Lasry, says he is disgusted at the way the Singapore government revealed the execution date of his client.