Dutch hanging appeal rejected

Singapore - A Dutchman, Johannes van Damme, became the first Westerner to be executed for drug-trafficking in Singapore after its president rejected a last-ditch attempt to save him from the gallows.

Van Damme was sentenced to death in late 1992 for possession of 4.3kg (9.6lb) of heroin.

Under Singapore's tough drug laws, anyone in possession of 15gr of heroin is deemed to be a trafficker and the death sentence is mandatory on conviction. Since Singapore introduced the death penalty in 1975, 78 people have been hanged, about half of them foreigners, according to the Central Narcotics Bureau. AFP