SINGAPORE, Dec. 23 -- Convicted Hong Kong drug trafficker Angel Mou Pui-Peng, who was scheduled to be hanged Friday morning, was granted a last-minute stay of execution so she could spend Christmas with her family. However, two other drug traffickers were hanged. 'It is extremely gracious of the prison authorities to grant this plea of temporary reprieve,' said Mou's lawyer Peter Yap. 'It will give her an opportunity to spend the holy Christmas with her family.' Earlier this week, Mou's 58-year-old mother and 9-year-old son petitioned the Singapore government for the postponement. No new date has been set for her execution, but Yap said Mou is 'spiritually and emotionally prepared.' 'In a matter of life and death, every moment counts. You want to be alive as much as possible,' said Yap. Mou, 25, was arrested at Singapore's Changi International Airport in 1991 with 12.3 pounds (5.6 kg) of heroin. Since then, she has become a devout Christian. The death sentence is mandatory in Singapore for those trafficking half an ounce (15 g) or more of heroin. Mou's case has attracted widespread publicity in Hong Kong and the nearby Portuguese enclave of Macao, where she was born. Mou claimed she did not know the false-bottom suitcase contained heroin and thought she was carrying contraband Rolex watches to Amsterdam for a Hong Kong-based syndicate. Two other drug traffickers, Leong Wing Kong, 38, and Lim Choon Chye, 38, both of Singapore, were hanged at Changi Prison Friday. With the two hangings, Singapore has now executed 94 convicted drug traffickers since 1975.
Leong was arrested in 1992 with almost 1.7 ounces (50.28 g) of heroin. He was sentenced to death in 1993 and his appeal against the conviction was dismissed in 1994. Lim was arrested in 1992 with over 8 pounds (3.8 kg) of heroin and sentenced to death in 1993 and his appeal was also rejected this year.
