Singapore carries out second death sentence of the year
Human rights groups have not released information on the identity of the man executed for drug trafficking. Since March 2023, 16 people have been hanged while another 50 people are on death row. Pope Francis, who will visit the city-state from 11 to 13 September, has repeatedly spoken out against the death penalty.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – Singapore’s second death sentence of 2024 was carried out at dawn last Friday in Changi prison.
Human rights groups, who usually publicly oppose the death penalty, declined to comment this execution, which took place by hanging, and avoided providing further details on the identity of the condemned man after the family requested privacy.
According to Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), the prisoner, a 45-year-old Singaporean, was given due process as required by law.
He was convicted in February 2019 of possessing 36.93 grams of heroin – all his appeals and requests for clemency were rejected.
In fact, under local law, possession of 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 250 grams of methamphetamine, or 500 grams of cannabis are enough to be sentenced to death.
At present, 50 people are on death row in the city-state, including three for murder, and 10 are Malaysians.
For years, the Singapore government has been the subject of criticism after it resumed executing people convicted for non-violent drug-related offences that in countries like the United Kingdom or the United States carry mild sentences.
Pope Francis, who will visit Singapore from 11 to 13 September during his trip to Southeast Asia and Oceania, has repeatedly spoken about the matter.
After a pause due to the pandemic, 16 death sentences were carried out since March last year, a practice, according to polls, supported by the local population who consider it an effective method to reduce drug trafficking.
“Since March 2023, most prisoners executed in Singapore were from Indian and Malay minority communities,” said Kirsten Han, a journalist and member of the Singapore-based Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) last year.
“Most of the death row prisoners whose cases I’ve encountered are on the lower rungs of drug syndicates. Most are [members of] ethnic minorities from working-class backgrounds. Some are, or were, themselves long-time drug users, and did not receive adequate support to recover.”
Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has reiterated that Singapore will not bow to international pressure to abolish the death penalty, stating that drug traffickers are aware of the severe consequences provided for by local law.
“In 1990, we were arresting about 6,000 drug abusers a year, and now we are arresting about 3,000, which is half of that, even though there has been an increase in the population," he noted.
Two death sentences carried out in 2022 have been strongly criticised: In July, Kalwant Singh, 39, convicted of drug trafficking in Malaysia nine years earlier, was hanged. In April, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, 33, a disabled man probably involved by others in heroin trafficking, met the same fate.
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21/03/2023 13:56
09/12/2022 19:46
