joannejacobs.net

Well spoken Joanne. I agree with all your comments, and feel deeply saddened by this terrible day which achieves nothing more than the taking of a young life. I cannot imagine how his mother can live through this barbaric event.

Yes I think capital punishment is shocking and I do not agree with it, especially hanging. What gives one person a right to kill another - it is murder in what ever sense you see it.

However, He knew that was the punishment and he knew he was being illegal in every country in the world. Drug trafficking is illegal and it kills far more people than capital punishment will ever do. No he did not personally put the drugs in the mouths of babes but because he took drugs into other countries for years, does that make it less of a crime? I would personally like to see people use their energy to try to eradicate drug trafficking! Maybe that is naive of me.

Just a couple of quick points.

Your link "8 minutes after he hangs" is not accurate as this is American and not in accordance with the Singaporean method which has been well covered in the media over the past week. There is no knot in the rope, they don't use the "short drop method" and a brass ring is spliced into the rope to avoid any complications. Alive? Maybe. Comatose? Yes. Dead? Inevitably.

I am not necessarily in favour of the death penalty. The capital punishment issue aside, I have no sympathy for the individual concerned. He made an informed decision and wanted the rules changed when he got caught.

I refer you to an article by Jim Schembri (the Age December 2, 2005) which puts a little context back into the unbelievable media "beatification" of a convicted drug smuggler. The whole religious side of things also needs to be taken with a grain of salt given that Nguyen only converted within the past 18 months when his fate had been determined.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/12/02/1133422058561.html

In any case - in the words of Voltaire "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

you are absolutely correct! what happened to van was barbaric and unforgivable. he made a mistake. he got caught. he repented. given the chance he would not do it again so why take his life!? the people and the government of singapore should be ashamed of what they have done to this young man and to his family. i am deeply saddened by what has happened and hope that from this the death penalty will eventually be abolished. it is cruel and inhumane to do what has been done to Mr Nguyen.

A group of people from Hong Kong were in transit Singapore some ten years ago, and a bag of heroin was found in one of their luggage. After a few years the lot of them were hanged. In the group were two women one of them middle aged probably a mother of young children. Probably one or two of them were guilty, probably none of them knew about it, we will never find out. Families were broken and lives were shattered. Tough, some might say. Now let's see the facts. The number of people hanged are rising annually. The types of drugs are rising. The number of drug barons are rising. The number of mules are rising. Hanging alone is not working, that is a fact. Hanging is one of the most barbaric style of executions used by the British in their colonies and these countries are still using it after the British have long gone from their countries. Is it ancient not? If the governments want to stop the drug trade hit the main targets. Don't kill little mules. For crying out loud the drug barons have many more powerful ways to recruit more mules. The killings are not working and it is pathetic.