Death Penalty News

Amnesty International network members may well remember Alan Shadrake 's 2010 revealing book on executions in Singapore, Once A Jolly Hangman .  It made an immediate impact with its analysis of the heartlessness and futility  of the judicial system, its accounts of individual cases, and the emotional suffering of those on death row and their families.  Based partly on astonishing  interviews with Singapore's former hangman and courageous defense lawyers, the book made an indisputable argument against the death penalty.  Shadrake's immediate post-launch arrest and imprisonment for "scandalising the judiciary" only served to heighten interest in the book and the issues it raises.  The book is still banned in Singapore, and unconscionably Singapore retains the death penalty to this day. RELATED |  Alan Shadrake, jailed in Singapore for writing a book they didn't like However, Once A Jolly Hangman continues to play a crucial ro...

Human rights and law reform organisation Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) released a statement today (16 July) calling for Singapore authorities to withdraw “baseless allegations and unwarranted threats” against Malaysian lawyer and founder of LFL N Surendran who has been representing Malaysians death row prisoners, including Pannir Selvam Pranthaman. It appears that the Singapore-General’s Chambers has made the accusation in a letter dated 12 July noting that the lawyer has made “scandalous allegations against Singapore and its legal system, including accusing Singapore of acting in total disregard of international legal norms and decent world opinion,” said LFL director Melissa Sasidaran in a statement. She added, “Coming from the Attorney General’s office in a formal note to the High Court, this amounts to a serious threat against Surendran. Singapore is notorious for bringing contempt of court or criminal defamation charges against its critics. British author Alan Shadrake was ...

SINGAPORE: The death penalty for drug traffickers is “not the solution that solves all the problems”, it is part of Singapore’s total anti-drug framework that also includes rehabilitating abusers, said Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on Thursday (Oct 26). “You have to focus on reducing supply and the death penalty comes within the context of trying to reduce the supply by making it clear to traffickers that if they get caught, they will face the death penalty,” said Mr Shanmugam at the opening of the second Asia-Pacific Forum Against Drugs. “I have said repeatedly, (we) do not take any joy or comfort in having the death penalty, and nobody hopes or wants to have it imposed,” he added. “We do it reluctantly, on the basis that it is for the greater good of society … it saves more lives. That is the rationale on which we have it.” Mr Shanmugam said traffickers know that the likelihood of being caught and prosecuted is “quite high”. “So the stakes are made very...

The government of Singapore does not want anyone to read this book. When it was first published in Singapore, police raided [author] Alan Shadrake 's hotel room and arrested him. He was taken into custody and interrogated for two full days and two sleepless nights, then charged with contempt of court by "scandalising the judiciary". As Shadrake awaited trial, he discovered to his discomfort just what happens when a person challenges the Singapore system. He was followed everywhere. Journalist friends reacted with alarm if Shadrake called them from his mobile, concerned that their association with him would then be known to the police. They knew, although at first he did not, that his mobile phone was bugged by the police. Most local journalists did not have the stomach to be seen as opponents of the regime. His trial in the Singapore Supreme Court started on Monday, 18 October 2010. At the heart of the prosecution was the allegation that Shadrake had commit...

Aiman, a 28-year-old correctional officer, is transferred to a maximum security prison. He strikes up a friendship with Rahim, who is revealed to be the chief executioner of the prison, and one of the world’s most prolific. Can Aiman overcome his conscience and a past that haunts him to become the executioner’s apprentice?  SINGAPORE: Boo Junfeng’s sophomore feature Apprentice did not come away completely empty-handed when it failed to pick up an award at the recent Cannes Film Festival. Following its premiere in the progressive Un Certain Regard section of the festival, where it received positive feedback from film critics and a standing ovation, the prison drama also got picked up for distribution in the UK and Ireland. Arrow Films, a multi-platform distributor of feature films and TV series, picked up the distribution rights to the film in these markets after being “totally struck by director Boo Junfeng’s power and skilful execution”, according to Arrow’s acquisiti...

Darshan Singh, Singapore's chief executioner for 50 years Before he made his new film about the death penalty, Boo Junfeng sat down to tea with some of Singapore's retired hangmen. He also talked to the priests and imams who helped condemned prisoners make their last walk to the gallows. And most difficult of all, the young filmmaker spent years trying to reach through the curtain of shame to families who had lost fathers and sons to the hangman's rope. But it was only after Boo, whose film premieres at the Cannes film festival Monday, met one particularly "humane" executioner that he had an epiphany. He realized that no movie has ever dealt with the whole horrible business from the perspective of the man who pulls the lever. "I had already started to write (the film) but after I met the first hangman I couldn't write for three months. What completely threw me was how much I enjoyed his company," said Boo. "He was not like I tho...

Kho Jabing KUCHING (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A petition urging for clemency for Jabing Kho, who is awaiting a death sentence in Singapore for murder, could buy the Sarawakian three more months of life. An organisation called We Believe in Second Chances is making a last-gasp move to get as many signatures as possible for a petition to be submitted to Singapore's President Tony Tan Keng Yam. "Usually from the day the petition is submitted, there is around three months before the President's decision is announced," said Ms Kirsteen Han, a founding member of the group, which is also working with the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign group. Ms Han, who held a press conference with Jabing's family members in Sarawak's capital Kuching on Sunday (May 2), urged for more support from Sarawakian politicians. "We understand it (hanging) can be any time. We wish to have Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem's help. Help us appeal to Si...