Mr. Darshan Singh was to execute on Wednesday the Australian drug runner Nguyen Tuong Van, who was caught in transit from Cambodia with just under a pound of heroin. The hangman claims the government dumped him after The Australian published his picture and identity. A spokesman for the Singapore prisons department is now denying that Singh was sacked.

According to a number of accounts, the problem of finding another executioner is that an inexperienced hangman runs the risk of decapitating the victim. The length of the rope is critical.