Singapore 2005
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
News on Singapore in 2005
- DECEMBER 2, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE HANGS AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL NGUYEN, THOUSANDS MOURN
Singapore executed Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van just before dawn despite repeated pleas by Australia's government for clemency.
- DECEMBER 2, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA. MALAYSIA BACKS SINGAPORE DECISION TO EXECUTE AUSTRALIAN
Malaysia's Foreign Minister supported Singapore's decision to execute Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, saying the death penalty was a necessary legal deterrent.
- NOVEMBER 30, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL NGUYEN 'READY TO DIE'
Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian heroin trafficker on death row in Singapore still had his sense of humor just days before his scheduled execution on December 2, his lawyer said.
- NOVEMBER 28, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AUTHORITIES SAY HANGMAN NOT SACKED
Singapore's prison authorities denied the city-state's chief executioner Darshan Singh had been sacked.
- NOVEMBER 22, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. TOP LAWYER SLAMS DEATH PENALTY
Subhas Anandan, one of Singapore's top criminal defence lawyers, said the city-state should abandon its use of the mandatory death penalty.
- NOVEMBER 21, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. NO PLANS TO CHANGE DEATH PENALTY BY HANGING
Singapore said it would continue to execute convicted criminals by hanging amid growing international criticism over its use of the death penalty to deter crime like murder and drug trafficking.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. EXECUTION DATE SET FOR AUSTRALIAN MAN CONVICTED OF DRUG SMUGGLING
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.
- NOVEMBER 15, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED NATIONS. UN OFFICIAL URGES SINGAPORE NOT TO EXECUTE AUSTRALIAN
Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the UN Commission on Human Rights, urged the Singapore government not to hang Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian heroin trafficker, saying the execution violated
- NOVEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. ACTIVISTS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SPARE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW
activists in Singapore protested against the planned execution of Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian drug carrier, and urged the government to relax its harsh drug laws. Speakers at a forum, organised by Singaporean civil rights group Think Centre,
- NOVEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NGUYEN SUPPORTERS VOICE DEATH PENALTY OPPOSITION
Adelaide supporters of Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian man on death row in Singapore, held a lunchtime rally to voice their opposition to the death penalty. About 30 people sat on the steps of Parliament House to show support for Nguyen, 25, who was facin
- OCTOBER 31, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. VIETNAMESE LEADER PLEADS TO STOP HANGING OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN
the state of Victoria’s most senior Vietnamese leader called on Australian Prime Minister John Howard to state unequivocally that Melbourne's Nguyen Tuong Van should not hang in Singapore.
- OCTOBER 31, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENT PLEADS FOR LIFE OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN ON DEATH ROW IN SINGAPORE
Australia's parliament passed a motion calling on Singapore not to hang Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25 year old Australian convicted of drug trafficking, but Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he would not jeopardise relations with the city state over the iss
- OCTOBER 28, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NGUYEN CLEMENCY 'A POLITICAL PROBLEM', MINISTER
Australians have to respect Singapore's decision to execute Van Tuong Nguyen, a Melbourne man convicted of heroin trafficking, federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said.
- OCTOBER 28, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. EXECUTIONER WANTS OUT BUT CAN'T FIND REPLACEMENT
it was reported that Singapore's chief executioner Darshan Singh, the man due to execute convicted Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, was a 73-year-old grandfather who could not retire because no-one would take his job.
- OCTOBER 27, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. GOVERNMENT BACKBENCHER TUCKEY FIRM ON DRUG-SMUGGLER
government backbencher Wilson Tuckey said an Australian drug-smuggler on death row should not be spared execution for his crime.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE DRUG MULE ON DEATH ROW ON SINGAPORE
Amnesty International launched a worldwide campaign to save Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian heroin smuggler condemned to hang in Singapore.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION URGES SINGAPORE TO HALT NGUYEN'S EXECUTION
the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urged the Singapore government not to execute Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25-year-old convicted Australian drug runner sentenced to hang for heroin smuggling.
- OCTOBER 24, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CANBERRA STEPS UP LAST-MINUTE APPEALS TO SINGAPORE OVER NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW
Canberra issued a forceful last-minute appeal to Singapore to spare the life of Nguyen Tyong Van, a condemned Australian drug smuggler, after the island state ignored repeated pleas for clemency from Australia's top leaders.
- OCTOBER 23, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NO HOPE FOR AUSTRALIAN FACING EXECUTION IN SINGAPORE: PM
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said there was no realistic hope that Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25-year-old Australian drug-runner, could be saved from execution in Singapore.
- OCTOBER 21, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CALLS FOR MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY
Think Centre, a Singapore civil rights group, called for a moratorium on executions after Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van lost his final clemency appeal.
- OCTOBER 21, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AUSTRALIAN TO BE EXECUTED FOR HEROIN SMUGGLING
Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian man convicted of drugs charges in Singapore lost his final appeal for clemency and was due for execution, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. BRITON TO BE SENT BACK TO SINGAPORE FOR MURDER TRIAL
Australia was to extradite British businessman Michael McCrea to Singapore to face trial for a double murder after Australia's highest court rejected his bid to avoid being handed over. McCrea, 46, was accused of murdering his driver and his driver's girl
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
THE PHILIPPINES. 24 FILIPINOS FACE DEATH PENALTY IN SAUDI, SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA
twenty-four Filipino workers were facing the death penalty for murder and drug-related cases, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
- AUGUST 30, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. BRITON WANTED FOR MURDER IN SINGAPORE CLOSER TO EXTRADITION
Michael McCrea, a British businessman accused of a double murder in Singapore, lost another round in a three-year fight to avoid extradition from Australia on the grounds that he could be executed.
- AUGUST 26, 2005MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. MALAYSIAN MAN SENTENCED TO HANG FOR CHINESE GIRL'S MURDER
Took Leng How, a 23-year-old Malaysian man, was sentenced to death by hanging after being found guilty of murdering an eight-year-old mainland Chinese girl in Singapore. Judge Lai Kew Chai in his verdict said the prosecution had proven its case that Took,
- JULY 22, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. TWO TO HANG ON HEROIN CHARGE
Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, a 19 year old Nigerian national and Okeke Nelson Malachy, 33, were sentenced to death after a 13-day trial for importing approximately $1.5 million worth of high-grade heroin into Singapore.
- MAY 13, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. MAN EXECUTED FOR TRAFFICKING MARIJUANA DESPITE HIGH-PROFILE CAMPAIGN
Shanmugam Murugesu, a man convicted of drug trafficking at the centre of a high-profile campaign to end the death penalty in Singapore, was executed despite the appeals of his teenage twin sons and his lawyer's pleas that it was a denial of "natural justi
- MAY 9, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. ‘LET JUDGES DECIDE DEATH SENTENCE’, FORMER JUDICIAL COMMISSIONER
K.S. Rajah, a former judicial commissioner, called for a review of sentencing in cases in Singapore where the death penalty was compulsory. Rajah, now a senior counsel, wanted judges to be given the discretion to impose a life jail term where it was deeme
- MAY 9, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. LAWYER TO CALL ON UN TO HELP SAVE DEATH ROW INMATE
lawyer M. Ravi said he would appeal to the United Nations in a last-ditch attempt to save his client Shanmugam Murugesu from being executed in Singapore for drug smuggling.
- MAY 6, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. COUNTRY FINALLY FINDS A VOICE IN DEATH ROW PROTEST, EDITORIAL
the Canton meeting room at Singapore's drab Furama Hotel was an unlikely venue for history to be made. But this bland setting hosted an unprecedented event for the tightly controlled island republic.