Singapore lawyers’ guild to review death penalty News
Singapore lawyers’ guild to review death penalty

[JURIST] Singapore's national association of lawyers, the Law Society [website], is to conduct a review of the nation's death penalty laws and make recommendations to the national government in nine months. Singapore has one of the world's highest per capita execution rates – possibly the highest [Amnesty International backgrounder] – as a result of automatic death sentences for drug trafficking and murder. The recent hanging of Australian national Van Tuong Nguyen [JURIST report] for possession of 400 grams (14 ounces) of heroin sparked international outrage late in 2005. Nguyen had claimed that he was carrying the drugs to cover legal bills [BBC report] incurred by his brother, a former heroin addict. AFP has more.