Singaporean PM says execution will go ahead 

(1 Dec 2005)
1. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong walk to lecterns
2. Cutaway of photographer
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore Prime Minister:
"This is not a matter discussed between the chancellor and me. Its a Singapore issue. We have stated our position clearly. We take a very serious view of drug trafficking - the penalty is death. In this case it was an enormous amount of drugs being trafficked. Its nearly 400 grammes of pure heroin, which is equivalent to 26,000 doses of heroin if you do it shot by shot. Which means untold misery and suffering to hundreds if not thousands of addicts and their families. The man was charged, convicted, appealed, dismissed. He put up a clemency petition. The clemency petition was considered all factors were taken into account including petitions and letters from Australian leaders. Finally the government decided the law had to take its course. And the law will have to take its course."
4. Cutaway of a reporter's notebook
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore Prime Minister:
"Adjective? Barbaric, well the Australian press is colourful. Many adjectives have been used but we have to... We uphold the rule of law. And the rule of law has to be implied impartially to Singaporeans and foreigners alike. And that is how the Singapore government has to decide."
6. Cutaway of media
7. Merkel and Lee shake hands and walk away
STORYLINE:
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday there would be no clemency for an Australian drug smuggler who is to be
executed at dawn on Friday.
"We take a very serious view of drug trafficking - the penalty is death," Lee said in answer to a question after meeting German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. "The law will have to take its course."
Australia has been lobbying for months to stop the execution of 25-year-old heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, who received a mandatory
death sentence after he was caught in 2002 at Singapore's Changi Airport on his way home to Melbourne carrying nearly 400 grammes (14 ounces) of heroin.
Earlier on Thursday, Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock called it "a most unfortunate, barbaric act that is occurring."
Asked about the comment, Lee said "many adjectives" had been used in Australia to describe Van's sentence.
He said Singapore had "taken into account" appeals from Australian leaders for clemency, but noted that the conviction was upheld on appeal and
that the drugs could have caused misery for thousands if they had gone into circulation.
"We uphold the rule of law, and the rule of law has to apply impartially to Singaporeans and foreigners alike," Lee said.
Lee said he didn't discuss the issue with Merkel, who was receiving only her second foreign dignitary since becoming chancellor last week.
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