Singapore | Activist charged with attending illegal candlelight vigils for death row inmates

The activist allegedly took part in unlawful public assemblies to mark the executions of four drug traffickers.

SINGAPORE: Activist Jolovan Wham was on Monday (Feb 3) charged with attending five illegal candlelight vigils for death row inmates in 2022 and 2023.

The 45-year-old Singaporean was given five charges under the Public Order Act for taking part in a public assembly held without a permit.

According to charge sheets, the vigils were held to "mark" the executions of four inmates, all of whom were convicted drug traffickers.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for trafficking a significant amount of drugs.

On Mar 29, 2022, around 11pm, Wham allegedly attended a candlelight vigil for Abdul Kahar Othman near a bus stop opposite Changi Women's Prison.

Abdul Kahar was convicted of trafficking not less than 66.77g of diamorphine and sentenced to death in 2015. He was executed on Mar 30, 2022.

Wham then allegedly attended vigils for Nagaenthran Dharmalingam on Apr 26, 2022 near Changi Prison, and on Apr 27, 2022 at a playground near Mariam Walk.

Nagaenthran was executed on Apr 27, 2022, after the Court of Appeal dismissed a last-minute plea for a stay of execution the day before.

He was convicted of importing 42.72g of heroin into Singapore in 2009 in a bundle strapped to his thigh, and sentenced to death in 2010.

Wham is also accused of keeping vigil for Nazeri Lajim around 6.15am on Jul 22, 2022, the day of his execution. This allegedly took place at a bus stop outside Changi Prison.

Nazeri was convicted in 2017 of possessing not less than 33.39g of diamorphine for trafficking. He was executed on Jul 22, 2022.

Wham then allegedly attended a candlelight vigil for Tangaraju Suppiah near Changi Prison at about 6am on Apr 26, 2023, the day of his execution.

Tangaraju was convicted in 2018 of delivering 1kg of cannabis, which amounted to abetting an accomplice by conspiring to traffic drugs.

His case became notable for the support it attracted from British billionaire Richard Branson, who spoke out against Tangaraju's death sentence.

The Ministry of Home Affairs responded at the time that Mr Branson's views disrespected Singapore's judges and criminal justice system.

Wham's case was adjourned for investigations to be completed. He will return to court on Apr 1.

Wham has previously been convicted for participating in other public assemblies.

In January 2019, he was fined for organising a public assembly without a permit, in an event titled Civil Disobedience and Social Movements.

In February 2021, he was fined for organising a public assembly without a permit on board an MRT train to commemorate Operation Spectrum.

Both times, Wham chose to serve the in-default terms of 10 days' and 18 days' jail respectively.

Wham was also fined in February 2022 for holding an illegal assembly by holding up a sign outside the State Courts.

The sentence for taking part in a public assembly without a permit is a fine of up to S$3,000. As Wham is a repeat offender, he could be fined up to S$5,000.

Recommended reading: Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock, by Alan Shadrake (2010) - ISBN-10: 9675832002

Source: channelnewsasia.com, D. Tham, February 3, 2025

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Instagram | Telegram | Contact Us

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

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Florida to execute William Thompson after nearly 48 years on death row

On Sept. 11, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a death warrant for William Thompson, convicted of the 1976 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester. Thompson, now 74, and another man were staying in a Miami Beach hotel room with Ivester and another woman, according to court records. After Ivester was unable to get money from her mother, the men beat and tortured her, prosecutors said. She died from internal bleeding and multiple injuries. Thompson was convicted in 1978 of kidnapping, rape, and first-degree murder.

Afghanistan | Signs that horrific brutality is set to return

Kneeling next to a ditch, deep in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, a 22-year-old woman draws her last breath in a 'desert court' before she is shot in the back with an AK-47. Her executioner? Likely her hardline militant husband, in what the Taliban consider an 'honour killing'. It took less than an hour to decide Najiba had been adulterous – although it has been suggested this accusation was fabricated to protect her husband's reputation. Adultery is a crime that deserves capital punishment under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Sharia law. Fourteen years on from her death, little is known about her story, like many women slowly being erased from the fabric of Afghan society.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Florida executes Daniel Owen Conahan Jr.

In Florida’s 15th execution this year, man put to death for killing linked to ‘Hog Trail Murders’ A Florida man convicted in one of a series of suspected killings that became known as the “Hog Trail Murders” in the 1990s was put to death Thursday, becoming the state’s 15th person executed this year. Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. after receiving a 3-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He had been sentenced to die for the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery, whose mutilated body was found in a wooded southwest Florida area where authorities found the remains of at least 6 people over a 3-year span.

Alabama | Lethal injection for double murderer set for Thursday after court blocked nitrogen hypoxia execution in June

Alabama plans to execute Jeffery Lee on Thursday via lethal injection after a down-to-the-wire decision by the federal courts halted his death by nitrogen hypoxia in June. In response, Gov. Kay Ivey set the 30-hour window for the execution to be carried out by lethal injection beginning at 12 a.m. on Thursday, September 17, and expiring at 6 a.m. on Friday, September 18. Barring any further court action, the execution will take place at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

California | He spent 19 years on death row. His conversion to Judaism helped him endure

Johnny Morales struggled to find sleep. He dozed off for a few moments, but officers came to his death row cell and woke him a little after midnight. They needed to inventory and box up his belongings. He was leaving San Quentin. Hands cuffed behind his back, he walked across the empty upper yard in the dim gray hours before daylight. An officer walked alongside him step for step, black latex-gloved fingers holding onto Morales’s arm. For almost 20 years, Morales could only experience the world outside his 4-by-11 foot cell in the condemned housing unit like this—chained and escorted by officers. Security protocols required all death row residents be handcuffed or shackled any time they were out in open space with staff.

California | Becerra vows to extend moratorium despite past support for capital punishment

SACRAMENTO—Democrat Xavier Becerra defended the death penalty while serving as California’s attorney general, a punishment his office actively sought in the case of a gunman convicted of an Orange County mass shooting, but as the front-running candidate for governor, he has vowed to block executions if elected in November. Becerra said he will extend the blanket reprieve for all death row inmates that Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted by executive order in 2019, saying he supported “moving our state away from a costly, flawed system that disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities and too often gets it wrong.”

Iran | Afghan Citizen Executed in Wheelchair Due to Severe Mobility Disability

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iranian authorities have reportedly executed an Afghan citizen, identified as Valijan Nourzay, at the central prison in Rafsanjan, according to the human rights organization Hengaw. Hengaw said in a statement on Sunday, September 6, that Nourzay was executed early Wednesday last week at Rafsanjan Central Prison. According to the organization, Nourzay had a severe mobility disability and was executed while in a wheelchair. Hengaw, citing informed sources, reported that Nourzay had been pursued by Iranian authorities three years ago over an alleged murder. He was reportedly seriously wounded after Iranian security forces opened fire on him in Rafsanjan before being arrested and later sentenced to death.

He Spent 27 Years on Death Row as a Wrongfully Convicted Man. What Comes Next?

23-hour solitary confinement. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent in Louisiana’s Angola Prison—and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free. Jimmie “Chris” Duncan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he assessed his temporary home from the parking lot of a rundown motel in central Louisiana. Sure, there’s drug dealing and prostitution, he said on a recent summer afternoon. And he suspected his neighbors were cooking meth on a floor below the room he paid $350 a week to rent.

Egypt TV presenter and 11 others sentenced to death in major drugs case

Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa and 11 others have been sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of drug trafficking and rape, while nine defendants received life sentences and seven were acquitted. Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa, 39, has been sentenced to death by hanging along with 11 other defendants after being found guilty in a drugs case involving a criminal gang accused of importing ingredients used to manufacture narcotics for sale.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog