A JUDGE in Singapore has rejected the appeal of a young Hong Kong woman sentenced to death for smuggling almost six kilograms of heroin on a flight from Bangkok.
Angel Mou Pui-peng, 25, stood in Singapore's Court of Appeal last week to receive the setback to her hopes of escaping execution, and could now hang within a matter of months. Mou's younger sister, Mei-mei, and her mother flew to Singapore for the hearing last Monday.
Singapore lawyer Peter Yap, acting for Mou, said her final hope rested in an appeal for clemency to President Ong Teng Cheong - an avenue which carried a slim chance of success.
''It's certainly a rarity,'' Mr Yap said.
Macau-born Mou has three months to gather and submit mitigating evidence but if the President rejects her plea she will die within a month of the decision.
Customs officers at Changi airport discovered 5.6 kg of heroin hidden in the false bottom of Mou's suitcase in August 1991, while the 21-year-old was in transit from Thailand to Europe.