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