Singapore executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. Death by Hanging - The Brutal Facts explained.

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ACADP LAUNCHES - BOYCOTT SINGAPORE:

Australian man, Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, will be hanged in Changi Prison Singapore on Friday morning December 2, 2005.

Singapore executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. The sham-democracy island of 4 million, has executed more than 420 people since 1991. Anyone caught with 15 grams or more of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence. Alas, the high rate of executions for drug-traffickers has not reduced drug-related crimes in Singapore.

ACADP is appalled and sickened by the news, and expresses deepest sympathy to Van's mother and twin brother - the innocent victims of Singapore justice.

ACADP calls on every decent human being that respects and values the sanctity of human life to boycott Singapore.

Actions speak louder than words to the morally deaf.

DEATH BY HANGING --- THE BRUTAL FACTS:

The prisoner is weighed the day before the execution. This is to determine the length of 'drop' necessary to ensure a quick death. The 'drop' is based on the prisoner's weight, to deliver 1260
foot-pounds of force to the neck. The prisoner's weight in pounds is divided into 1260 to arrive at the 'drop' in feet.

If the rope is too long, the prisoner could be decapitated. If the rope is too short, death by strangulation will result - that can take as long as 45 minutes. The rope is about 3/4-inch (2 centimetres) to 1 and 1/4-inch (3 centimetres) in diameter and about 30 feet (900 centimetres) long. It would be boiled and stretched to eliminate springing or coiling. The knot is lubricated with wax or soap - to ensure a smooth sliding action.

Immediately before the execution, the prisoner's hands and legs are tied and secured, the noose was placed around the neck, with the knot behind the left ear. A white hood is then pulled over the prisoner's head.

Hooding the prisoner saves the officials who have to witness the execution, from seeing the prisoner's face as he is about to die, and after the death. Not looking at the condemned person's face is one way of coming to terms with state-sanctioned murder, but righteousness is another.

The execution takes place when a trap-door is opened and the prisoner falls through. At the end of the 'drop' the body, still accelerating under the force of gravity, delivers a massive blow to the back and one side of the neck, which combined with the downward momentum of the body, breaks the neck and ruptures the spinal cord. The prisoner's weight causes a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck. Death by hanging is supposedly caused by dislocation of the third and fourth cervical vertebrae or asphyxiation.

However, instantaneous death is rarely achieved.

Death by hanging is not a humane method of exterminating a healthy human being. It is a very brutal and cruel death. The condemned often collapse or faint before the noose can be properly positioned over his head. Death by hanging is often botched, or carried out in such a way as to intentionally maximise the prisoner's suffering.

Botched hangings result in strangulation, obstructed blood flow, or beheading. If the prisoner has strong neck muscles, is of light-weight, if the 'drop' is too short, or if the noose is wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation will not be rapid and death results from slow asphyxiation. The prisoner writhes and throttles to death over several minutes. In medical terms - death from cerebral contusion, shock and asphysia.

There have been reported cases of the rope breaking during the 'drop', which resulted in the prisoner falling to the ground. After officials replaced the broken rope, the prisoner would again have to endure the emotional and physical torture of being hanged for a second time, usually taking place within the hour. In another reported incident, the head of a prisoner split from the body during the hanging.

When a human being is hanged, his face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the mouth vomits and drools, the eyes pop, the body defecates, violent movements of body limbs occur, and the face begins to turn a greyish-black. Although the prisoner may appear to be unconscious, the heart does not completely stop beating for some 20 minutes.

Most people do not know that a human heart beats on its own - and continues to do so - even when the rest of the body has shut down. This happens because the human heart is hard-wired with electrical impulses. Thus, during a phase of some 20 minutes, the pulsations of the doomed heart become fainter and slower as the heart struggles to maintain its normal function to pump blood throughout the body, intent on keeping the body alive. Eventually, the heart lapses into a spasmodic rhythm, then begins to flutter, before it slowly collapses, fails, and finally stops all movement. In medical terms - this is the "true" time of death.

The "official" time of death portrayed to the public is deliberately distorted for the obvious reason.

It has been generally assumed that fracture-dislocation of the neck causes instantaneous loss of sensation. Sensory pathways from below the neck may rupture, but the sensory signals from the skin above the noose and from the trigeminal nerve may continue to reach the brain until hypoxia blocks them. The belief that fracture of the spinal cord causes instantaneous death is wrong - whether it causes instantaneous loss of consciousness seems highly probable.

(source: Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP)

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