Ahmed Salim, a 35 year-old Bangladeshi migrant worker, faces execution at dawn on 28 February, in Singapore’s Changi Prison. This is the first execution in 2024, despite growing calls for a moratorium on the death penalty.
Ahmed Salim was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in 2021 after being convicted of murder under Section 300A of the penal code.
The person he killed was Yati, an Indonesian domestic worker who was his ex-girlfriend.
The state’s psychiatric expert found that Ahmed was struggling with an adjustment disorder when he killed Yati. An adjustment disorder involves excessive and intense reactions and behaviour changes related to a stressful event, overwhelming the person’s ability to cope.
Both the prosecution and defense agreed that he had an ‘abnormality of mind’ but the court ruled that it was not sufficient to make out a defence of diminished responsibility. If Ahmed was found to have diminished responsibility, he would not have faced the death penalty.
3 out of 55 people currently on death row are convicted of murder (the rest are convicted of drug offences). Ahmed is one of the three. This will be the first execution for murder since 2019.
In homicide cases, the prosecution has the discretion to charge the person under other provisions that do not carry the mandatory death penalty. In effect, this means the prosecution has de facto decision-making power over whether someone faces the mandatory death penalty or not.
In the last 10 years, 7 people have been executed for murder. Five of them were non-Singaporeans, like Ahmed.
Taking a look at the recent history of murder cases where the death penalty was meted out, it is striking that the majority were robbery-related.
As far as we know, Ahmed has had no in-person visits from family or friends since his arrest in 2018, when he was 29 years old.
We understand that he received an execution notice two weeks ago informing him that the death sentence will be carried out on 28 Feb.
After all these years living in a solitary cell on death row, Ahmed has chosen not to fight his execution.
The Transformative Justice Collective opposes the use of the death penalty in all cases, without exception. The death penalty is one of the most cold-blooded and premeditated forms of murder.
We grieve and are outraged at the violent way Yati’s life ended. Ahmed’s act of taking her life was horrific.
Gender-based violence is endemic to many societies around the world, and cruel punishments like the death penalty and caning have done nothing to address it. In fact, cruel punishments by the state offer people a false sense of justice that distracts us from the real and difficult work we need to do to reduce violence, and increase safety in our communities.
If we want justice and safety for people at the highest risk of violence, such as women and children, we need to transform the power structures and cultures that enable this violence.
In Singapore, domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse, both from employers and intimate partners.
Most domestic workers are afraid to disclose to their employers that they have a boyfriend, even when they feel threatened They also do not have much access to relevant support services, protective factors or a safe place to take shelter.
It is abhorrent that Ahmed took Yati’s life, and that the state will now take his. This is a story full of pain, suffering and unjust loss of life that could have been prevented.
No one is disposable, not even someone who has taken the life of another.
There will be no loved ones to collect Ahmed’s body tomorrow at Changi Prison. We understand that the state is making arrangements to repatriate his remains to Dhaka.
Stop The Killing.
Abolish The Death Penalty.
