SINGAPORE: Singapore will stick to hanging as its method of execution, the government said yesterday, less than two weeks before the planned hanging of an Australian drug smuggler.

"We had previously studied the different methods of execution and found no reason to change from the current method used, i.e., by hanging," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng said in reply to a question in parliament.

His comments came as lawyers for Nguyen Tuong Van who is due to be hanged on December 2 following his conviction for drug smuggling asked the Australian Government to take the case to an international court in a last-ditch bid to stop the execution.

Laws enacted in 1975 prescribe death by hanging for anyone aged 18 or over who is convicted of carrying more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 500 grams of cannabis or 250 grams of methamphetamines.

Nguyen, 25, was arrested at Singapore's Changi airport in December 2002 while trying to smuggle 400 grams of heroin while in transit for Australia.

Australia has asked Singapore to reconsider clemency for Nguyen who said he was carrying the drugs to help his brother pay off debts to loan sharks because he had co-operated with authorities and could be a witness in future drug cases.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who met privately with Nguyen's mother last week, has dismissed calls for trade sanctions to be imposed on Singapore over what he described as "a desperately sad case."

(China Daily 11/22/2005 page7)