Australia pleads for life of citizen facing death penalty in Singapore

SYDNEY,  - Australia has appealed to the Singapore government to spare the life of an Australian national who faces hanging if found guilty of drug trafficking at a court hearing in the island state, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

Nguyen Tuong Van, 23, is charged with trafficking 400 grams (14 ounces) of heroin and, if found guilty, faces a mandatory death sentence.

His lawyers are arguing that Singapore's mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers is unconstitutional and that police mishandled evidence in the case.

Downer said Friday that he had contacted Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar to ask that Nguyen be spared the death penalty if convicted.

"If people are involved in the drug trade in any way, shape or form then we are against that and countries are right to arrest and detain and prosecute people in those circumstances," Downer said.

"But on the other hand, we don't favour capital punishment so we have been trying to persuade the Singapore government that, if this Australian is convicted, we don't want him to face capital punishment."

If Nguyen is convicted, he could appeal the verdict or hope for government clemency, Downer said.

Singapore made the death penalty mandatory for drug traffickers and murderers in 1975.

Amnesty International issued a report earlier this month saying more than 400 convicts have been executed since 1991 in Singapore, a nation of just four million.

Many of those executed were foreign migrant workers, it said.