Khao Nguyen waits outside Changi prison as his brother is executed. (Reuters)
----------------------------------------------------------------------- A Few Thoughts About Our Aussie Brothers And Sisters
To see the amount of effort the Australians invested in saving a young man's life has truly brought peace and warmth to my heart. Whether it be in protest or in prayer, the love and support for Tuong Van Nguyen and his family was truly overflowing.
I have never felt so much love for the country and the people of Australia. I have never wanted to sit down with them, shake their hands, or give each of them a tight hug so we can all feel a stream of love and understanding flowing through our hearts
Thank you brothers and sisters of Australia for restoring my faith in humanity.
n.t. from =USA=
Nguyen hanged in Singapore
The end in Singapore of Australian drug trafficker Van Nguyen has
been confirmed.
In a break from convention, Singapore's Government has issued a statement formally confirming the 25-year-old was hanged this morning.
"The sentence was carried out this morning at Changi Prison," the Ministry of Home Affairs statement said.
The 25-year-old from Melbourne was sentenced to rest after being convicted of trying to smuggle nearly 400 grams of injection through Changi Airport.
As daybreak approached, Nguyen's brother, Khoa, arrived at Changi Prison with a number of his friends.
He left after spending more than an hour in the visitors' centre during the time the end was scheduled.
Lawyer Julian McMahon told reporters they wanted to be at the wall of the jail at the scheduled time for the end.
Mr McMahon says Nguyen's mother was with friends and relatives at a nearby church at the scheduled time of the hanging.
He said the Australian High Commission had agreed to formally identify Nguyen's body after the hanging.
Mr McMahon says ceremony arrangements have been made and it is expected the family will fly out to Australia tomorrow. Church services
Mbuttes have been held in cities around the country to mark the end.
In Melbourne, the bell tolled 25 times at St Ignatius Catholic Church in Richmond - once for each year of Nguyen's life.
Members of Victoria's Criminal Bar buttociation gathered outside the County Court in Melbourne to observe a minute's silence for Nguyen.
Stephen Shirrefs, the vice-chairman of the buttociation, says they support the fight against the mandatory rest penalty.
"We are here to demonstrate our opposition to capital punishment, as a mark of respect to the family of Van Nguyen and as a mark of solidarity for two of our members who in the fine tradition of the Victorian Bar have acted pro bono and for the last three years fought to save the life of Van Nguyen," he said.
At Martin Place in Sydney, a Vietnamese gong also sounded 25 times.
A crowd gathered and maintaining a silent vigil.
Churchgoers in Brisbane have also prayed for Nguyen and expressed hopes the events of today are not taken for granted.
Fr Peter Dillon led the congregation at St Stephen's Cathedral in a prayer calling for an end to ends.
Fr Dillon says he fears today's end will have little impact on the drug trade.
"I sadly think, unfortunately, and this is the insidiousness of the drug culture, I think it's just another dead body for the drug world. And there's thousands of them everyday, so I don't think they're going to be moved by all this," he said. =================================== Timeline: The life of Van Nguyen
1980
August 17: Van Tuong Nguyen and his twin brother Khoa are born in a refugee camp in Thailand. The family moves to Australia. 2002
December 12: Nguyen is arrested while transiting through Singapore's Changi Airport en route from Cambodia to Melbourne.
He is found to be carrying 396.2 grams of injection. 2003
November 24: Nguyen's trial commences. He maintains he was couriering the drugs in order to raise money to pay off debts incurred by Khoa. 2004
March 20: The Singapore High Court sentences Nguyen to rest under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The amount of injection he was carrying was 25 times the amount that attracts an automatic rest sentence. Australian Government
says it will seek clemency.
October 20: The Singapore Court of Appeal dismisses an application for clemency. 2005
October 21: The Singapore Government rejects an appeal for clemency from the Australian Government.
October 31: The Australian Parliament pbuttes a motion requesting clemency for Nguyen. The results of the ballot are pbutted on to Singapore by the
Speaker, David Hawker.
Mr Hawker receives a letter from the Speaker of Singapore's Parliament,
which says the sentence will not be commuted.
November 3: Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs, George Yeo, writes to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Labor's Kevin Rudd, affirming the Singaporean Government's commitment to apply the rest penalty.
November 8: Anti-rest penalty activists in Singapore stage a rare rally in support of Nguyen.
November 15: Prime Minister John Howard meets with Nguyen's mother, Kim.
November 17: Nguyen's family receives a letter informing them that he will be hanged on December 2.
At the same time, Prime Minister John Howard makes an unsuccessful appeal to Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.
November 18: Nguyen's lawyers, Lex Lasry QC and Julian McMahon, visit him in Changi prison to inform him that a date for his end has been set.
The lawns of the State Library of Victoria are covered in messages of support for Nguyen as part of the 'Reach Out' campaign.
November 22: Kim and Khoa Nguyen arrive in Singapore. They visit him daily, sharing the allocated times with his friends.
November 24: Victoria's Attorney-General makes an unsucessful plea for clemency to Singapore's Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Ho Peng Kee.
Meanwhile, Mr Downer rules out using trade sanctions against Singapore.
November 25: Mr Downer rules out action in the International Court of Justice as Singapore does not accept the court's jurisdiction.
November 27: Both Mr Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark raise the Nguyen case at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
November 30: A candlelight vigil is held for Nguyen outside Parliament House in Canberra.
At the same time, Singapore's High Commissioner to Australia, Joseph Koh, says there is no chance of a last minute reprieve for Nguyen.
December 1: Lawyers request to see the Singapore Government in a final effort to save their client from being executed. ===============end quote-cross-w-wo-comment============ pluto
