Figures released by the UN secretary-General report assessing capital punishment shows that during 1991-1999, Singapore recorded 13.57 executions per one million population while Saudi Arabia, with 4.64 executions per one million population, was a distant 2nd.
But such numbers are far from conclusive, because the Singapore government has always been "secretive about the number of executions," says Lance Lattig, a South-east Asia researcher at Amnesty International.
"Singapore might or might not be in the 1st place (today) when it comes to executions per capita," Lattig said in an e-mail interview. "Either way, the government’s secrecy about its record on executions suggests that this is one indicator Singapore isn’t entirely proud of."
Critics question the rationale of the country forging ahead with a mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers and murderers – while keeping the number of executions hidden.
"They justify executions to deter crime but they don’t publish the details," says Danthong Breen, chairman of the Union of Civil Liberty, Thailand's oldest human rights organisation. "It is extraordinary. They treat the details of executions as a state secret."
But what is not a secret is the manner in which condemned prisoners meet their death: all hangings take place at dawn on Friday.
Source: The Temasek Review, February 5, 2011
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