18 November 2005 :
Singapore will hang 25-year-old Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van on December 2, despite numerous pleas by Canberra for clemency, his Australian lawyer Lex Lasry said.Lasry said the Singapore government confirmed the date of execution in a letter sent to Nguyen's mother. Nguyen was convicted in 2004 of trying to smuggle 400 grams (0.9 pound) of heroin from Cambodia.
"The letter was received at 2 pm this afternoon," Lasry told Reuters, adding Nguyen's mother would be allowed extra visits in the days leading up to his execution. Nguyen, from the southern Australian city of Melbourne, was arrested in December 2002 at Singapore's Changi airport while in transit for Australia.
(Sources: Reuters, 17/11/2005)