MAXINE McKEW: Well, in less than 12 hours, convicted drug smuggler Van Nguyen will be hanged in Singapore, and it appears there will be no last minute reprieve. But in a small concession granted by the Singapore Government, he was allowed to hold his mother's hand during their last meeting a short time ago. From Singapore, ABC correspondent Lisa Millar.
LISA MILLER: This was the moment Kim Nguyen was dreading - her last visit to Changi Prison. The last time she would see her son alive. One small comfort - the Singaporean Government bent its rigid rules and allowed Van Nguyen, his mother and brother to hold hands. The Singaporean High Commission says it was a personal appeal from John Howard that convinced them to relent.
ALEXANDER DOWNER, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: It'll perhaps be very meagre compensation, of course it will be, but it's nice that they'll be able to touch each other.
LISA MILLER: But it was not the hug they so desperately wanted.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, LABOR MP: I suspect one of the reasons the Singapore Government won't let her hug her son is how could you ever let go. If you were a mother, how could you ever let go of that... after that last hug?
LISA MILLER: Melbourne friends Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew arrived separately to say goodbye after campaigning tirelessly to stop his execution. The three lawyers who tried to save him but failed were choked with emotion.
LEX LASRY, LAWYER: It was a great visit and quite uplifting.
JULIAN McMAHON, LAWYER: He is completely rehabilitated, completely reformed, completely focused on doing what is good and now they're going to kill him.
LISA MILLER: The 25-year-old was caught three years ago at Changi Airport with 400 grams of heroin. A drug run he was hoping would help pay the debts of his twin brother, Khoa.
LEX LASRY: It's very important that Khoa understand that he hasn't done this to his brother, the Singapore Government are doing this to his brother. And he mustn't be allowed to feel any more guilt than is appropriate.
LISA MILLER: Despite legal challenges, pleas for clemency and international pressure Singapore's Government never backed off. In Canberra, Singapore's High Commissioner refused to be interviewed on television, but there was no doubting the message.
JOSEPH KOH, SINGAPORE HIGH COMMISSIONER: Singapore has a responsibility to protect the many lives that would otherwise be blighted and destroyed by the drug syndicates.
LISA MILLER: Some remained hopeful. In Melbourne, lawyer Brian Walters laid drug charges in the Magistrates' Court against Nguyen in a last ditch attempt to get him extradited. But the Foreign Minister dismissed the initiative.
ALEXANDER DOWNER: It's way too late. I mean he has been in prison for years. If such an initiative were ever to have any likelihood of success, it would have had to be initiated years ago.
LISA MILLER: Van Nguyen will be taken from his cell and hanged shortly before dawn tomorrow morning. It's bound to be an emotionally charged moment. His lawyers will be here at the prison outside, taking part in a vigil waiting for confirmation of his death. His family are expected to take his body home over the weekend. Lisa Millar, Lateline.
You get caught smuggling heroin in Singapore, what do you expect?
I remember filling out an arrival card for Saudi Arabia. It stated very explicitly in English that the penalty for drug smuggling was death. Made me really nervous about the package my buddy gave me to take to Riyadh.....(it was just a cordless phone)
My family lived in the Far East for ten years and I called Singapore my second home. Their drug laws are known throughout the world and make the penalties known. I remember back in the eighties when it was illegal to buy chewing gum there. This guy knew the consequence if he got caught. I may be cold hearted, but if you are willing to do the crime....Be willing to die for it in Singapore.
When I lived in Singapore in the 1980s, I remember the Australian government successfully lobbied for commuting death sentences to life in prison for two young Australians, a man and woman, for this very offense.
Another FReeper who lives or lived there reported last evening that they go rather easy on their own citizens caught with dope, and that there is a quite a drug subculture in Singapore. It's the forners they like to hang!
It is already Friday in E Asia and they are maybe about 12 hours ahead of CST, so...about an hour from now?
I realize, now, that I have been too hard on Tookie. He should also be allowed to briefly hold his mother's hand before long-delayed justice.