SINGAPORE, Jan. 6 -- Convicted Hong Kong drug trafficker Angel Mou Pui-Peng was hanged Friday at Singapore's Changi Prison despite an international appeal for clemency. A spokeswoman for the Singapore Prisons Department confirmed Mou, 25, was hanged at 6 a.m. Mou, who was born in Macao and carried a Portuguese passport, was arrested at Singapore's Changi International Airport in 1991 with 12.3 pounds (5.6 kg) of heroin in her luggage. The death sentence is mandatory in Singapore for trafficking in half an ounce (15g) of heroin or more. She was convicted of drug trafficking in 1993 and her appeal of the death sentence was rejected in July. Her case prompted international appeals, including one by the president of Portugal, as well as friends and relatives in Hong Kong and Macao. Mou originally was scheduled to be hanged Dec. 23. But after Mou's 58-year-old mother and 9-year-old son petitioned the government for a postponement, Singapore authorities granted Mou a temporary reprieve over the holidays. Mou, who became a devout Christian while in prison, was able to visit with family members over Christmas and New year. Her father and sister were in Singapore Friday and officials said they would collect the body. Mou's defense said the young woman did not know the contents of her false bottom suitcase, claiming she thought she was carrying contraband Rolex wristwatches to Amsterdam for a Hong Kong-based syndicate. Mou's execution was the 95th in Singapore since 1975. Her case attracted widespread publicity in Hong Kong, where she lived, and the Portuguese enclave of Macao, where she was born.
The Singapore Central Narcotics Bureau noted in a statement Friday that 'the case against Mou was heard in the High Court from March 1, 1993 to March 11 1993. At the conclusion of the trial, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. Her appeal against conviction was dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal on July 11, 1994.'
