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Peter Wong

SINGAPORE has announced it will hang 22-year-old Tong Ching-man on Friday - its third execution of a Hong Kong resident this year.

  The Singapore Government sent a telegram to Tong's family at Tai Po late on Thursday advising them of the execution date.

  Tong, convicted of drug trafficking, was 18 when she was arrested at Singapore's Changi airport while travelling from Hong Kong to Brussels in December 1988.

  She will be the second Hong Kong woman to hang in Singapore this year after Angel Mou Pui-peng, 25, was executed on January 6, again for drug offences.

  Tong was discovered wearing a specially-made vest with pockets containing 1.47 kilograms of heroin worth more than $10 million. Her appeal against conviction was dismissed last June.

  Tong's cousin, Iris Tong Pik-wan, 21, said her family was furious at being notified just one week before the execution at the start of the Easter holiday period.

  The terse telegram message said: 'Death sentence passed on Tong Ching-man will be carried into effect on 21 Apr 95. Visit her from 18 Apr 95 and claim body on 21 Apr 95.'     Miss Tong and her sister were trying to get premium Easter season air tickets to Singapore yesterday, knowing they had little time to see their cousin.

  'All of us want to see Ching-man just one last time - but it is the holidays. How can we book normal price tickets and ask for leave from our employers?' Miss Tong said.

  'We've approached several tour companies for tickets, but the price is now more than double because of the public holiday - it costs about $7,000.'   Tong is one of three Hong Kong people on Singapore's death row, including her former boyfriend Lam Cheuk-wang, now 24. Lam was arrested alongside Tong in 1988 wearing a vest containing 1.67 kg of heroin.

  Poon Yuen-chung, 22, has been sentenced to death for drug smuggling and Daniel Chan Chi-pun, 38, was executed on March 10, after receiving a temporary stay-of-execution in November.

  Miss Tong, who last saw her cousin just before Christmas, said: 'There's nothing we can do for Ching-man now. We've tried every last effort to help her. Our family has written numerous letters appealing for clemency, but the Singapore Government remains unmoved.'   Tong had been refusing food since hearing her execution date had been set, but was 'emotionally calm,' Miss Tong said.

  The British Government lodged a letter appealing for clemency last September, after Tong's appeal was dismissed, and Amnesty International called for urgent action two months ago, urging Singapore to commute death sentences and abolish the penalty.



Singapore sets date to hang drug trafficker