Singapore hangs second man in three weeks for trafficking marijuana

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Singapore on Wednesday hanged another citizen for trafficking marijuana, the second in three weeks, as it clung firmly to the death penalty despite growing calls for the city-state to halt drug-related executions.

The 37-year-old man was executed after his last-ditch bid to reopen his case was dismissed by the court Tuesday without a hearing, said activist Kokila Annamalai of the Transformative Justice Collective, which advocates for abolishing the death penalty in Singapore.

The man had been imprisoned for seven years and was convicted in 2019 for trafficking about 3.3 pounds of cannabis, she said. His bid to reopen his case was based on DNA evidence and fingerprints that tied him to a much smaller amount, which he admitted to possessing, but the court rejected it, she added.

Under Singaporean law, trafficking more than 1.1 pounds of cannabis may result in the death penalty.

“If we don’t come together to stop it, we fear that this killing spree will continue in the weeks and months to come,” she said. Some 600 prisoners are on death row in the city-state, mostly for drug-related offenses, she added.

Singapore executed 11 people last year for drug offenses after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hanging of a Malaysian believed to be mentally disabled sparked an international outcry and brought the country’s capital punishment under scrutiny for flouting human rights norms.

Three weeks ago, Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was hanged in the first execution this year for trafficking 2.2 pounds of marijuana although he was not caught with the drugs. Prosecutors said phone numbers pointed to him as the person responsible for coordinating the delivery of the drugs, which he denied.

Human rights groups, British mogul Richard Branson and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug-related offenses as increasing evidence shows the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent. But Singaporean authorities contend that all prisoners get due process and that capital punishment remains “part of Singapore’s comprehensive harm-prevention strategy which targets both drug demand and supply.”

Apart from Singapore, Amnesty International said Indonesia carried out 112 drug-related executions last year by firing squad after a hiatus since 2016. By contrast, neighboring Thailand has legalized cannabis, and Malaysia has ended the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, May 17, 2023

Singapore executes second man within three weeks amidst global protest

SINGAPORE — On Wednesday (17 May), Singapore executed Muhammad Faizal Mohd Shariff, 36, convicted for cannabis possession, marking the city-state’s second execution within a span of three weeks.

Faizal, who was part of a group of 17 ethnic Malay death row inmates alleging racial bias in Singapore’s application of capital punishment, was arrested in 2016 with 1.6kg of cannabis.

The suit was dismissed last year, leading to heavy penalties for prominent rights lawyer M Ravi, who represented the inmates.

Faizal’s execution comes in the wake of international uproar following the hanging of Tangaraju Suppiah for a similar offense.

Prominent rights lawyer M Ravi, who previously represented the prisoners, expressed concern over the disproportionate execution rates against Malays.

Making his comments on his Facebook page, he pointed out that while Malays constitute just over 13% of Singapore’s population, they make up nearly 65% of the death row inmates.

“There is even considerable disparity between the percentage of Malays sentenced to death for drug offences, and the percentage of Malays in prison for all offences or the percentage of Malays arrested for drug consumption,” Ravi added.

Singapore’s tough anti-narcotics laws have received international criticism, notably from the United Nations and business tycoon Richard Branson.

The People’s Action Party-led government, however, maintains that the death penalty has effectively controlled drug-related crimes.

Authorities confirmed that Faizal’s capital sentence was carried out at Changi Prison Complex, following the dismissal of his last-ditch appeal on Tuesday.

Justice Tay Yong Kwang, who presided over Faizal’s appeal, deemed it an “impermissible attempt at reopening and rearguing the appeal”. He noted that there was no new evidence satisfying the requirements of a review application and dismissed the appeal without setting it down for a hearing.

The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) stated that the executed man had full access to legal counsel throughout the process, and his identity was withheld to respect his family’s privacy.

Singapore resumed executions in March 2022 after a hiatus of over two years, with thirteen death row inmates executed since then.

The recent executions, including the controversial case of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, who was deemed to have a mental disability, have drawn widespread condemnation.

Activists and rights groups worldwide continue to push for Singapore to abolish capital punishment, arguing against its efficacy as a deterrent against crime.

Despite the international outcry, the Singapore government has defended its stance, stating that the guilt of those executed was proven beyond reasonable doubt.

However, critics continue to voice concerns over a climate of fear within Singapore’s legal fraternity, especially after several lawyers, including Ravi, faced penalties or lost their practice licenses for representing death row inmates.

“The call to the Singapore government to scrap the death penalty has been loud and clear globally,” said Amnesty International’s executive director for Malaysia, Katrina Jorene Maliamauv. She urged Singapore to halt the executions and commute all existing death sentences.

Source: theonlinecitizen.com, Staff, May 17, 2022

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

TELEGRAM

TWITTER

CONTACT: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog