Hopes fade for Australian drug smuggler sentenced to death in Singapore

An Australian citizen sentenced to be hanged in Singapore on Friday next week after being convicted of smuggling heroin is probably doomed, despite continuing efforts to save his life, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, has conceded.

Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was arrested at Changi airport in 2002 carrying nearly 400 grams of heroin.He told police he was transporting it for a Sydney drugs syndicate to pay debts owed by his twin brother, Khoa.

In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for possession of more than 15 grams of the drug. The city state has rejected pleas for clemency from Australia, the European Union and Nguyen's mother, Kim, who fled Vietnam in 1980 and gave birth to her sons in a refugee transit camp in Thailand.

Rob Hulls, the state attorney general in Victoria, where the family lives, will meet Singapore's Justice Minister, Ho Peng Kee, today to plead for Nguyen's life, telling reporters that "while there's life, there's hope".

Mr Hulls will also deliver a letter from the Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks, outlining the mitigating factors in the case. Nguyen has no previous criminal convictions, and has cooperated fully with police. His lawyers say he could also provide valuable information about drugs syndicates.

However, Mr Downer said he thought the mission would be a lost cause: "I wish Mr Hulls well, but I regret to say that I don't think it will make any difference."

As execution day approaches, last-minute legal options are being explored, including taking Singapore to the International Court of Justice. But the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, dismissed that option yesterday, saying the court had no jurisdiction in the case and the move could be counter-productive.

Critics have accused the government of doing too little, too late to save Nguyen. While Mr Howard and senior ministers have appealed for the death sentence to be commuted, they have repeatedly said that nothing more can be done.

Lobby groups have called for economic sanctions as the only effective way to apply pressure. But Singapore is one of Australia's biggest trading partners, and bilateral trade totalled more than A$8bn (£3.4bn) last year. Canberra is not prepared to risk that relationship. Mr Downer, said sanctions would be "a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face". He also ruled out charging Nguyen with drug offences in the hope of extraditing him back to Australia

Mr Howard said sanctions "would damage our commercial interests and make no contribution to saving Van Nguyen, so it would be a lose-lose policy".

The speaker of the Singapore parliament vowed in a letter to David Hawker, speaker of Australia's House of Representatives, to make an example of Nguyen. "He was caught in possession of almost 400 grams of pure heroin, enough for more than 26,000 doses of heroin for drug addicts," Abdullah Tarmugi wrote. "He knew what he was doing and the consequences of his actions. As representatives of the people, we have an obligation to protect the lives of those who could be ruined by the drugs he was carrying."

If he is hanged Nguyen will be the first Australian to be executed overseas for more than a decade.