home

Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Mon Dec 05, 2005 at 09:03:47 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Nguyen Tuong Van, the Vietnamese-Australian hanged in Singapore on Friday had an American father from the Vietnam War period. Van met his father for the first time in 2002, just one month before his ill-fated trip to Singapore when he smuggled drugs to pay off his twin brother's accrued debts.

The twins were born in a refugee camp in Thailand while their mother, Kim, was on her way to Australia from Vietnam. Nguyen stated after his arrest that he did not know his father until a month before he was caught at Changi International Airport in December 2002.

"He came from America to look for my brother and I," he said. "My mother married in 1987 to a Vietnamese Australian. M

Nguyen Tuong Van is now the first individual of American lineage to be hung in Singapore.

< Condi Rice on the Hot Seat Over CIA Detentions | Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip Searches >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American | 6 comments (6 topical)
    Re: Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Doesn't that make him a CITIZEN?

    Re: Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American (none / 0) (#2)
    by rilkefan on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    It's "hanged". Also, because I am involved in mankind, I am now diminished. [Ed. Thanks, I changed hung to hanged.]

    Re: Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Imagine if a terrorist group committed the hanging instead of Singapore. The bombers would be fueled and ready.

    Re: Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Citizenship through acquisition: Children born between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986. * If both parents are US citizens, one of the parents must have resided in the US or possessions at any time prior to the child's birth. * If one parent is a US citizen and one a US national, the US citizen parent must have been physically present in the US for at least one year continuously at any time prior to the child's birth. * If one parent is a US citizen and one an alien: 1. If the child was born abroad, the US citizen parent must have been physically present in the US for possessions for at least ten years prior to the child's birth, at least five of which were after the parent turned 14. 2. If the child was born in a US possession, the US citizen parent must have been physically present in the US or possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the child's birth. * If the child is the illegitimate child of a US citizen mother, the mother must have been physically present in the US or possession for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the child's birth. * If the child is the illegitimate child of a US citizen father, the father must have been physically present in the US or possessions as required above, depending on whether birth was abroad or in a US possession, and depending on whether the natural mother is a US national or an alien. In addition, the child must be legitimated by the laws of the father's domicile before the child turns 18. The child must be unmarried when legitimated. I gather he was born in 1980. If the source above is accurate, I suspect his claim to citizenship was forfeit by not legitmating it before he was 18?

    Re: Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American (none / 0) (#5)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    requirment #1 might be an issue as well if the father left the US or a possession (i.e., left the US for Vietnam) before his 19th b-day...

    Re: Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    His father could be Santa Claus at this point...too late, they murdered the kid.

    Nguyen Tuong Van's Father Was American | 6 comments (6 topical)