Singapore | Solidarity rally at Hong Lim Park on 29 Sept to demand accountability and a halt to executions

A solidarity rally at Hong Lim Park on 29 September 2025 will demand accountability from institutions enforcing capital punishment and call for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty, after court rulings left five prisoners at imminent risk of execution.

A solidarity rally will be held at Hong Lim Park on 29 September 2025 for five death row prisoners who now face imminent risk of execution.

The event, titled Blood on Your Hands, AGC., will run from 7pm to 8.30pm at Speakers’ Corner and is organised by anti-death penalty activist Rocky Howe.

The rally aims to hold accountable institutions involved in administering the death penalty, particularly the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), and to renew calls for an immediate moratorium on executions.

Howe announced the event on Facebook, linking it to recent judicial decisions that dismissed the final legal challenges of the five men. Ten other prisoners have already been executed in Singapore in 2025.

The five inmates are Malaysian national Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, alongside Jumaat bin Mohamad Sayed, Lingkesvaran Rajendaren, Saminathan Selveraju and Datchinamurthy Kataiah.

Howe criticised the AGC, saying it “calls the shots on who to charge with capital offences, decides on who receives certificates of substantive assistance, advises on clemency decisions, opposes applications brought by prisoners, and sometimes even argues for cases to be expedited so executions can be carried out.”

Court of Appeal dismisses constitutional challenge against provisions in Misuse of Drugs Act

On 28 August 2025, the Court of Appeal dismissed a constitutional challenge mounted by Datchinamurthy, Jumaat, Saminathan and Lingkesvaran.

They contested presumptions under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA), which allow courts to assume possession or knowledge of drugs once certain basic facts are proven.

A five-judge panel led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon ruled that these presumptions do not violate Articles 9 or 12 of the Constitution.

The judges found that the presumptions are rebuttable and consistent with natural justice, as the prosecution still bears the overall burden of proof. Parliament, they explained, had introduced these provisions to address evidential challenges in proving an accused person’s state of mind, citing past rulings including a 1980 Privy Council decision.

Concluding that the inmates’ substantive arguments lacked merit, the Court dismissed their application, leaving no further legal barriers to scheduling their executions.

Court of Appeal rejects bid to stay execution of drug courier over disciplinary complaint

On 5 September 2025, the Court of Appeal also rejected Pannir’s attempt to stay his execution.

Pannir argued that his testimony was necessary for an ongoing disciplinary complaint against his former lawyer.

The five-judge panel found that the complaint had no legal bearing on his conviction or sentence.

The Ministry of Home Affair (MHA)s’ policy was upheld, affirming that executions may only be halted if proceedings directly affect the conviction, sentence, or involve state-initiated matters.

The Court also rejected Pannir’s arguments under Article 12(1) of the Constitution, ruling that there had been no unequal treatment. This decision effectively closed his last avenue to delay his execution.

MHA affirms constitutionality of drug law presumptions following apex court ruling

The MHA issued a statement on 9 September 2025 welcoming the Court’s decisions.

It reiterated that Sections 17 and 18 of the MDA, which allow statutory presumptions of possession and knowledge, are crucial for combating drug trafficking.

Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam has previously argued that these presumptions, first introduced in 1973 and reaffirmed in 2023, remain essential for deterrence.

The Ministry emphasised that Singapore’s strict policies have kept drug abuse rates among the lowest globally.

Meanwhile, on 13 September 2025, families of Datchinamurthy and Jumaat joined in a clemency appeal to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

The letters, also signed on behalf of families of Saminathan and Lingkesvaran, were delivered to the Istana mailroom by relatives accompanied by journalist Kirsten Han and members of Student Actions for Transformative Justice (SATU).

The four prisoners have each spent between seven and ten years on death row.

With the courts dismissing their challenges, and clemency appeals pending, advocates warn that executions could be scheduled at any time.

The solidarity rally at Hong Lim Park will highlight these cases while demanding systemic change.

Howe urged Singaporeans to “come and tell the AGC and the Government—there’s blood on your hands, end the killing spree now.”

In separate news, alleged trafficker released after charge withdrawn

In a separate development, Benny Kee Soon Chuan, a 32-year-old Singaporean, is set to be released from remand after the prosecution applied for a discharge not amounting to acquittal on 8 September 2025.

Kee had been held for more than 11 months after his arrest in Thailand and extradition to Singapore on a capital drug trafficking charge in September 2024.

Described by Thai authorities as a high-level trafficker linked to a transnational drug network, Kee allegedly dealt in methamphetamine, ketamine, and Ecstasy, destined for Singapore and Australia.

Assets worth approximately S$585,000 were seized during his arrest, and he had reportedly entered Thailand using a Vanuatu passport.

The withdrawal of the charge, although not a full acquittal, permits the prosecution to revive proceedings should new evidence emerge.

Source: theonlinecitizen.com, Staff, September 18, 2025

"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

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Kuwait | New Anti-Drug Law Introduces Death Penalty, Surprise Testing, and Strict Enforcement

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 26: Divorce rates in Kuwait are rising, with recent statistics indicating that addiction—particularly among wives—has become a significant contributing factor. In response, authorities are preparing to introduce surprise premarital drug testing as part of a broader set of reforms under Kuwait’s new drug law. The countdown has officially begun for the enforcement of this new legislation, which was drafted by a judicial committee formed by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef. The committee is headed by Counselor Mohammed Rashid Al-Duaij.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog