Appeal against mandatory Singapore death penalty fails

Singapore's highest court on Friday rejected the appeal of a convicted Malaysian drug trafficker against his mandatory death sentence and said the punishment was constitutional.

The convict's remaining hopes now lie in a clemency plea before the city-state's president.

Yong Vui Kong (left), 22, was convicted of smuggling about 47 grams of heroin in 2007 and was given the death penalty, which in Singapore is mandatory for all crimes involving more than 15 grams of the drug.

Yong's lawyer, M Ravi, challenged the constitutionality of the ruling, saying it was "cruel and inhuman" and not in line with customary international law, but the Court of Appeal dismissed his arguments.

The Singapore constitution did not imply any "prohibition of inhuman punishment," said Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, adding that there was also no "customary international law prohibiting the mandatory death penalty as inhuman."

"We dismiss the appeal," the justice said.

The case had attracted attention from groups opposed to the death penalty like Amnesty International, which started campaigns to save Yong's life.

Yong, who did not challenge his conviction, was sentenced to death in November and was set to be executed in December.

His lawyer, however, obtained a rare stay of execution days before the punishment was to be carried out.

Given the chance to dispute the legitimacy of the sentence, Ravi argued in a court hearing in March that the mandatory death sentence for drug crimes was unconstitutional because it gave the judges no chance for taking into account mitigating factors like youth.

In addition, the sentence infringed the right of equal protection guaranteed by Singapore's constitution, the lawyer said.

"When you sentence someone for 15 grams of drugs and someone for 100 kilograms, that's a difference, and discretion should come in," Ravi argued.

The prosecution, on the other hand, said the mandatory death penalty was constitutional because it was in line with laws passed by the legislature.

"The Parliament sets the parameters within which the court gives sentences," Attorney General Walter Woon said, arguing that the harsh punishment was needed to protect Singapore from the harm of drugs.

It was "state practices that determine international law, not the other way round," he added.

The Court of Appeal on Friday accepted the prosecution's arguments, saying the court was not permitted to interfere in legislation.

"The Court of Appeal considered that, under Singapore law as it stood, further challenges in court to the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty had been foreclosed by its decision in this appeal," the court said in his ruling.

After the verdict by the city-state's highest court, Yong now has the option to file a plea for clemency with President SR Nathan. It would represent a second such attempt after Nathan rejected Yong's first petition for clemency in December.

But this time, the call for mercy would be even more desperate, Ravi said, because comments on Yong's case made by Singapore's law minister this week affected any coming decision.

Referring to Yong's case, Minister K Shanmugam last Sunday justified Singapore's mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers, saying it would send a wrong signal if the Malaysian were spared the sentence because of his youth.

"We [would be] sending a signal to all drug barons out there: Just make sure to choose a victim who is young or a mother of a young child and use them as the people to carry the drugs into Singapore," local media quoted the minister as saying.

The mandatory death sentence has been critical in Singapore's effective fight against drugs, Shanmugam said, while charging that most other countries already had lost the fight.

Yong's lawyer on Friday denounced Shanmugam's remarks, adding, "The whole clemency process is poisoned."

"We have to challenge the minister's statement," Ravi said.

Source: Earth Times, May 14, 2010

URGENT ACTION APPEAL from Amnesty International

A Malaysian man is at immediate risk of execution in Singapore. On 14 May, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against a mandatory death sentence, which violates fair-trial rights.

Yong Vui Kong was sentenced to death in January 2009 for trafficking 47 grams of diamorphine (heroin), a crime committed when he was 19 years old.

Singapore's Misuse of Drugs Act makes the death penalty mandatory for trafficking more than 30 grams of heroin, leaving judges no discretion to consider issues such as mitigating circumstances or to hand down alternative sentences. The law presumes trafficking in all cases involving the possession of over 2 grams of heroin, which shifts the burden of proving that no trafficking was involved from the prosecution to the defendant. This violates the core human right to be presumed innocent of a crime until proven guilty.

The President of Singapore rejected Yong Vui Kong's petition for clemency on 1 December 2009. On 2 December 2009, the High Court postponed Yong Vui Kong's execution (which had been set to take place on 4 December) to allow the Court of Appeal time to hear an application for a stay.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In a 2007 drug-trafficking case, Singapore executed a young Nigerian, Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi. UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Philip Alston, condemned the sentence on human rights grounds: "Singapore's decision to make the death penalty mandatory keeps judges from considering all of the factors relevant to determining whether a death sentence would be permissible in a capital case."

On 9 May, Singapore's Minister for Law, K. Shanmugam, claimed that the mandatory death penalty is a deterrent that has saved thousands of lives, according to the Straits Times. Speaking with respect to Yong's case, he said, "You save one life here, but 10 other lives will be gone."

Amnesty International opposes the imposition of the death penalty in all circumstances and irrespective of claims of utility; the organization considered the death penalty a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

- Urging President Nathan to reconsider Yong Vui Kong's clemency petition and commute his death sentence;

- Calling on the president to introduce an immediate moratorium on all executions, with a view to complete abolition of the death penalty;

- Reminding Law Minister Shanmugam, that the Misuse of Drugs Act violates international human rights law and standards concerning fairness of prosecutions and trials;

- Urging the Law Minister to recommend that Parliament revoke the mandatory death penalty for drug-trafficking and all other offenses.

APPEALS TO:

President

His Excellency SR Nathan

Office of the President

Orchard Road, Istana

SINGAPORE 0922

Fax: 011 65 6735 3135

Email: s_r_nathan@istana.gov.sg

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister for Law

The Honourable K Shanmugam

Ministry of Home Affairs

New Phoenix Park

28 Irrawaddy Road

SINGAPORE 329560

Fax: 011 65 6258 0921

Email: k_shanmugam@mlaw.gov.sg

Salutation: Dear Mr Minister

COPIES TO:

Editor-in-Chief

The Straits Times

1000 Toa Payoh North

News Centre

SINGAPORE 318994

Fax: 011 65 6319 8282

Email: stonline@sph.com.sg

Ambassador CHAN Heng Chee

Embassy of the Republic of Singapore

3501 International Place NW

Washington DC 20008

Fax: 1 202 537 0876

Email: singemb_was@sgmfa.gov.sg

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 25 June 2010.

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