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

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 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.

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 set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

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.

Alabama Set To Carry Out Execution This Week

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

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.

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.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues three death penalty reprieves

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.

Arizona prosecutors seek death penalty a second time for 2 inmates

County Attorney Brad Miller said Aug. 6 that the nature of the attack and both men's past criminal records meet the strict legal bar required for execution under Arizona law. FLORENCE, Ariz. - Pinal County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against two inmates accused of violently killing a fellow prisoner behind bars, officials announced Thursday. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty against Pete Van Winkle and Tracy Hampton in connection with the fatal attack on Kenneth Thompson.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog