¡¡CANBERRA, Nov. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- A new campaign has been launched to save the life of convicted Australian man Nguyen Tuong Van who is on death row in Singapore.

    Nguyen, 25, was arrested at Singapore's Changi airport in late 2002 carrying 396 grams of heroin. He is due to be hanged on Dec. 2.

    The Australian Federal Opposition has joined Prime Minister John Howard to formally raise objections at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta at the end of this week, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio reported Tuesday.

    Human rights body Amnesty International wants Howard to raise the imminent killing of Van Nguyen as a formal agenda item at the meeting at which Howard will be among more than 50 world leaders.

    Nguyen's lawyers and Australia's largest opposition party the Labor Party are pushing for the case to be taken up by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Any application to the court must be made through the Australian government.

    Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison said on Tuesday that the government was looking into the possibility of taking the case to the ICJ.

    Meanwhile, Australia's Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has suggested a prisoner exchange agreement with Singapore could help save the life of Nguyen, who is from Melbourne, capital city of Victoria.

    Under his proposal, Victorian prisoners would be brought back to Victoria to be tried and sentenced under state law.

    Human rights campaigners also called on the Australian government to use economic sanctions against Singapore.

    But Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock on Tuesday warned that Australia could suffer more than Singapore if Canberra imposed trade sanctions on the city-state. Enditem