I just want to give my son one last embrace

I just want to give my son one last embrace

By EDITH BEVIN 28nov05 THE mother of condemned Australian injection smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van has begged Singaporean authorities to allow her the dignity of hugging her son one last time.

As any hope of reprieve for the young Melbourne salesman appeared more distant than ever, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer yesterday backed Kim Nguyen's plea, asking the Singaporean Government to relax their prison protocol so she can hold her son before he is hanged at dawn on Friday.

Mrs Nguyen has so far only been allowed one-hour daily visits with her son, but this week will be able to stay with him between 9am and 5pm each day.

But she will only be able to say goodbye to her son through a perspex security screen, because Changi Prison bans any physical contact between rest row inmates and their families. Mrs Nguyen will see her son for the last time on Thursday night at 5pm. No family members will be allowed to attend his hanging.

Australia's High Commissioner, Miles Cooper, has asked Singaporean authorities to allow the physical contact.

A spokesman for Mr Downer said they had replied that this would not be normal practice, but they would look into it.

The minister's office is still waiting for a reply, but said last night they were not very hopeful of a positive response.

"If the end is going to go ahead, Mr Downer is firmly of the view his mother should be able to hug him," his spokesman said.

The Federal Government has effectively given up on convincing the Singaporean Government to spare Nguyen, but Prime Minister John Howard has warned the South-East Asian city-state to expect lingering ill-feeling among Australians repulsed by the planned end.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta, he said another approach to his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, had brought no hope.

"Singapore is not going to change its mind," he said after making his fifth and final plea for clemency.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd also is pleading with Singaporean authorities, describing Mrs Nguyen's desire to hold her son as "every mother's right".

And NSW Premier Morris Iemma said: "If the Singaporean Government insist on going ahead with this barbaric act, then the least it can do is grant a mother one last hug with her dying son."

Mr Howard also said yesterday Singapore would not accept the jurisdiction of any International Court of Justice appeal against Nguyen's rest penalty, making a challenge impossible, although Nguyen's lawyers believe there is hope.

Meanwhile, two of Nguyen's best friends flew into Singapore yesterday for painful farewells as he approached the final 100 hours of his life.

Kelly Ng, a devout Christian, said that on their last visit, she and Nguyen prayed and sang the hymn Strong and Constant. "We both got strength out of that," she said.

"He's such a special person . . . his faith has definitely helped him a lot.

"Seeing him at peace and knowing he has such faith has made it easier for me."

Ms Lew said the friends were "here to show him that we're here for him, and that we'll always be here for him".