The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has joined the fight to save a convicted Australian heroin trafficker, Nguyen Tuong Van, from execution in Singapore.
Cardinal Pell confirmed last week that he had asked Pope John Paul II to intercede on behalf of the 23-year-old Melbourne sales executive.
“I have sent off the file to the Holy Father, to Pope John Paul II, asking for his support,” he said on the ABC’s AM program.
“The Pope has been very, very unwell, so things are a little bit up in the air from that end, but I certainly have asked for papal intervention to back this request for clemency.”
Cardinal Pell said there are compelling reasons to spare Nguyen’s life.
“It was a very amateur attempt to smuggle 400 grams of heroin, but also significantly he’s more than willing to co-operate with the Australian Federal Police, in an endeavour to convict the people who set him up to do this job,” he said.
Nguyen was arrested with the heroin in his backpack at Singapore’s Changi airport in December 2002.
Cardinal Pell said: “People who have met him and talked with him say that his repentance is genuine; they say, therefore, that he’s rehabilitated, and I think with evidence of his sincerity we can cite this willingness to co-operate with the Australian authorities.”
Nguyen’s last hope is a rare pardon from Singapore’s President Sellapan Rama Nathan.
If a pardon is granted, Nguyen will still face 20 years or more in prison.
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