THE Catholic bishops of Australia issued a last ditch plea to save the life of Van Tuong Nguyen, the Australian drug smuggler who was due to be hanged in Singapore on December 2.
The bishops sent a letter to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on November 25 to ask him to consider granting clemency to Van Nguyen, a 25-year-old Catholic from Melbourne.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Archbishop Francis Carroll of Canberra and Goulburn, signed the letter.
A spokeswoman for Archbishop Carroll said on November 29 he had had not received a reply to the letter.
The bells of St Ignatius Church, Richmond were set to toll 25 times on the morning of December 2 to mark every year of the life of Van Nguyen.
He was to be hanged at dawn in Changi Prison for smuggling almost 400g of heroin in 2002.
A prayer vigil was held each day in the church, near the parish primary school that Van Nguyen once attended.
St Ignatius parish priest, Jesuit Father Peter Norden, said Van Nguyen’s case had galvanised opinion against the death penalty in Australia.
Fr Chris Riley from the Catholic youth charity, Youth off the Streets, said any killing of life impacted negatively on a society.
