Singapore has promised Australia it will not hang a...

Singapore has promised Australia it will not hang a British businessman if he is extradited to the city state and convicted of a grisly double murder.
Authorities in the island nation are seeking Michael McCrea, 44, and his Singaporean assistant Audrey Ong, 22, after the bodies of McCrea's driver and a young woman were found in January in a sedan in the car park of a shopping complex.
Singapore, which takes a tough stance on crime, mandates the death sentence for offences such as murder and drug trafficking. It caused a diplomatic storm in 1994 when it ignored Western appeals and hanged a Dutchman for trafficking heroin.
"The Singapore government has given the Australian government an undertaking that, if the death penalty is imposed on Michael McCrea upon conviction of the offences on which his extradition is sought, the death penalty will not be carried out," a Ministry of Law spokesman told Reuters.
Australia, which carried out its last execution in 1967, abolished the death penalty nationwide in 1985 after various states and territories had done so.
It prohibits extradition to countries where suspects face capital punishment unless an undertaking is given that the sentence will not be imposed or carried out.
"The Singapore government has not changed its position that the death penalty does not contravene international law," the ministry spokesman said.
"Offenders should not believe they can completely evade justice by fleeing to countries which do not have the death penalty."
The Melbourne Magistrates Court was told McCrea and Ong would seek to avoid being extradited to Singapore during a four-day hearing set for November, the Australian Associated Press reported.