ANSLEY NG
ansley@newstoday.com.sgCONVICTED Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was executed at Changi Prison this morning..At 6am — the time he was hanged — several of his supporters were seen hugging each other and weeping..Outside the prison gate was a throng of about 50 reporters, photographers and camera crew that began assembling there at 1am..Nguyen's twin brother, Khoa, arrived in a taxi at about 5.15am. With him was Nguyen's lawyer, Mr Julian McMahon, and about 10 of Nguyen's friends. A pale and distraught Khoa could only get out of the taxi after the media backed away..Nguyen's mother, Kim, was not at the prison and was said to be praying in a chapel with supporters and close friends.."She is incredibly upset but she was more prepared than she was previously," said Mr McMahon. She told him it was "a great comfort" to be able to hold her son's hand. "She said she had talked to him and had touched his hair.".Nguyen's brother and friends were at the prison because they wanted to be as close to him as possible although they could not meet him before the execution..Mr McMahon said a death certificate would be issued and Nguyen's body would be identified by officials from the Australian High Commission..Nguyen's body will be sent to a funeral parlour to be embalmed before being taken to a chapel for a funeral service in the afternoon..It is believed that his body will be flown to Melbourne tomorrow ..Earlier, a candlelight vigil was held at a coffee shop in Changi Village. At the vigil, which was attended by about 10 local anti-death penalty activists, a candle was lit every hour and taken by car to Changi Prison and placed at the gate there..At the end of it all , a calm Khoa and Nguyen's friends hugged prison officials before leaving in three taxis shortly after 7am..Nguyen, a former Melbourne salesman, was sentenced to death after he was caught in 2002 with 396.2g of heroin at Changi Airportwhile in transit from Cambodia to Melbourne. His high-profile case attracted international attention, with several Australian leaders appealing to the Singapore Government to spare his life..The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the following statement this morning:."Mr Nguyen was charged with importing 396.2g of diamorphine or pure heroin into Singapore, under Section 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Chapter 185), which carries the death penalty.."Mr Nguyen was convicted as charged and sentenced to death. The Misuse of Drugs Act provides that the death penalty is mandatory if the amount of diamorphine or pure heroin imported exceeds 15g.."Mr Nguyen unlawfully brought into Singapore almost 400g of diamorphine, enough to supply 26,000 doses of heroin to drug addicts. The street value of the heroin was worth an estimated $1.3m.."Mr Nguyen failed in his appeals to the Court of Appeal and to the President for clemency. The sentence was carried out this morning at Changi Prison." Aussie hanged in Changi Prison this morning
