Media Relations Division, Ministry of
Information, Communications and the Arts,
Tel: 6837-9666
MFA
SPOKESMAN'S COMMENTS
In
response to media queries on the press statement issued by Mr Philip Alston,
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or
Arbitrary Executions, the MFA Press Spokesman said:
"There
is no international consensus that capital punishment should be abolished. At
the most recent meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights, 66 countries
dissociated themselves from a CHR resolution calling for the abolition of
capital punishment.
On this occasion, Mr Alston grossly
misrepresented the facts in claiming that the Singapore Court of Appeal
“considered a range of cases decided by the Privy Council … [but] … failed to
examine the most relevant case of all” i.e. Boyce and Joseph v. The Queen. That case was in fact cited by Mr Nguyen’s
lawyers in their written arguments and the Court of Appeal dealt with it in its
judgment. We note also that Mr Alston
did not disclose that he cited the minority judgment in Boyce and that the majority in the Privy Council upheld the
constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty in
We
regret that Mr Alston has attempted to mislead the public. In doing so, he diminishes the credibility of his
office.
Mr
Alston is the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial,
Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Mr Nguyen was tried and convicted in an entirely
open, fair and transparent manner, according to due process of law, as has been
acknowledged by the Australian Government. Therefore this case does not fall within his mandate.
Mr
Alston has on several previous occasions attempted to exceed the limits of his
office in criticising judicial executions in
We
have previously protested Mr Alston's abuse of his office and will continue to
do so as necessary."
. . . . .
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS