Death Penalty News

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 5 June 2026: Afsaneh Zandabadi, a 22-year-old woman on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. Despite her testifying throughout the proceedings that she had been raped, threatened, abused and groomed from childhood by her stepfather to carry the drugs, he faced no legal consequences. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 18 May 2026. Her identity has been established as 22-year-old Afsaneh Zandabadi who was a victim of rape, grooming and abuse at the hands of her stepfather.

The judges argued he would be aware that the job involved something dangerous or illegal, because he was "accustomed to criminal activities". A 73-year-old Singaporean man was unsuccessful in appealing against his conviction and sentence for drug trafficking in 2019. Previously, Low Sze Song and his accomplice, 37-year-old Malaysian national Sivaprakash Krishnan, were each found guilty of trafficking at least 43.2g of pure heroin, exceeding the 15g threshold for the mandatory death penalty under Singapore law. After a trial, they were both sentenced to death on Apr. 14, 2023.

Ani Anggraeni spent nearly 15 years in prison for drug trafficking before her death sentence was commuted and she was later pardoned An Indonesian woman who spent nearly 15 years on death row in a Malaysian prison for drug trafficking has returned home after receiving clemency, in a case rights groups say highlights the exploitation of poor migrant women in cross-border drug operations. Ani Anggraeni, also known as Asih, boarded a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta late on Thursday after being freed from custody.

Singapore’s Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Mustaqim bin Abdul Kadir, who was convicted of trafficking a capital quantity of drugs to justify a death penalty. The court ruled that his attempt to introduce fresh psychiatric evidence amounted to an “abuse of process”. In its judgement text released on Tuesday (24 March), the Court of Appeal upheld both his conviction and sentence. They found no merit in his arguments, calling his account “self-interested” and inconsistent.

SINGAPORE – Despite criticism against Singapore and international tolerance in attitudes towards drug abuse, the Republic will continue to take a very tough line in its war against drug abuse. Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said this on March 12 at the Community Resilience Against Drug Abuse Roundtable 2026 held at Furama RiverFront hotel. Citing the World Drug Report 2025, Mr Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, said 292 million people worldwide used drugs in 2022. This figure jumped to about 316 million in 2023. He said that while many countries had either given up on the fight against drugs or were planning to legalise drugs, Singapore had done the opposite by continuing to be tough on drugs.

Lingkesvaran was sentenced to death in 2018.  A Malaysian man convicted of trafficking a significant quantity of heroin was executed in Singapore on Feb. 11, 2026, according to an official statement issued by the Singapore authorities.  Lingkesvaran Rajendaren, 33, had been found guilty of trafficking not less than 52.77 grammes of diamorphine, also known as pure heroin.  Singapore law mandates the death penalty for cases involving more than 15 grams of the drug.  The authorities said the amount involved was enough to sustain the addiction of approximately 630 abusers for a week, highlighting the harm caused by large-scale drug trafficking.

Officials described in silence the day Mary Jane Veloso returned to Philippine custody in December 2024 after spending over fifteen years overseas. However, many Filipinos found it emotionally charged, particularly those who had family members employed abroad. Not only did someone return, but the topic we’ve been trying to answer—what happens when the system fails the weakest?—also came back into focus. She had departed the nation in 2010 with common aspirations: modest but determined. To provide for her family, she sought domestic work overseas, just like a startlingly high percentage of Filipina workers. What happened next was a destructive spiral. Mary Jane, who was arrested in Indonesia after more than two kilograms of heroin were discovered in her suitcase, said she had no idea what she was carrying.

SINGAPORE — Singapore executed two local men for drug trafficking on Friday, officials said, as the city-state maintains its zero-tolerance stance on narcotics despite continued criticism from international human rights groups. The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) confirmed in a statement that the capital sentences for a 62-year-old man and a 54-year-old man, both Singaporean nationals, were carried out on Jan. 9. Both had been convicted of possessing controlled drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

SINGAPORE, Dec 29 — A 39-year-old Malaysian man has been arrested at Singapore’s northern border after authorities found more than 3kg of cannabis and 1.7kg of Ice during checks at Woodlands Checkpoint, in a case that crosses the city-state’s capital punishment thresholds for drug importation. According to a joint statement issued today by Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau and Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, the man was flagged for enhanced screening on the evening of December 22 after information from ICA’s Integrated Targeting Centre.

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again.  Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams.  Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium. 

International pressure on Singapore to reconsider its death penalty for drug offences has increased SINGAPORE — Singapore has executed 17 individuals this year on drug and murder charges, marking the highest annual tally since 2003 amid renewed debate over the city-state’s use of the death penalty. Over two days last week, three convicted drug traffickers were executed: Singaporean Mohammad Rizwan bin Akbar Husain, 44; another Singaporean whose name wasn’t released; and Saminathan Selvaraju, 42, a Malaysian. The hangings come ahead of a hearing on Wednesday in which activists will seek to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Singapore will not alter its capital punishment laws, maintaining that the death penalty is a crucial deterrent against drug offences, its Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said.  Speaking at a media roundtable during the 17th Malaysian Journalists' visit programme organised by Singapore's Digital Development and Information Ministry, Balakrishnan said the punishment remains in place with strong public support despite international pressure and human rights concerns.  "There is no change to the law," he said, stressing that drug trafficking presents a clear and present threat. 

Relatives share with the Guardian final words of those killed amid ‘horrifying’ surge in capital punishment under Mohammed bin Salman’s rule In the city of Tabuk in the far north of Saudi Arabia, neon lights flicker on in an overcrowded ward of a prison marking the start of a new day. The prisoners are waiting. When the guards enter, they know someone is about to be taken away. An execution squad of about 20 guards will approach an inmate quietly, whisper something in their ear and escort them out. Some break down in tears, others simply ask for forgiveness.

Two British drug convicts, including a grandmother who had been on death row in Indonesia for more than a decade, arrived back in the UK on Friday. Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws, but has moved to release more than half a dozen high-profile detainees in the last year. Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was sentenced to death on the tourist island of Bali in 2013 for smuggling $2.14 million worth of cocaine into Indonesia. She was released on humanitarian grounds along with Shahab Shahabadi, 36, who had been serving a life sentence for drug offences after his arrest in 2014.

Lindsay Sandiford, 69, will be handed a UK-funded seat on a flight leaving Bali this afternoon. She was sentenced to death in 2013 after being caught smuggling £1.6million of cocaine into Indonesia. The 69-year-old pensioner has been granted a UK-funded seat on a flight leaving Bali this afternoon. The legal secretary, who was sentenced to death in 2013, will have a brief layover before landing at London Heathrow Airport following a 20-hour journey. This marks the end of a distressing period for Sandiford, during which she spent 13 years awaiting execution for smuggling £1.6million worth of cocaine into Indonesia.

Singapore has executed 14 prisoners this year. Among them was Pannir, hanged earlier this month for a first-time drug offence. Death is the courtesy extended to you as a mercy. This is the first line of a poem called You Die from Within , written last year by then 37-year-old Pannir Selvam Pranthaman while on death row in Singapore. Pannir was convicted of smuggling drugs after 51 grams of pure heroin were found on him at a checkpoint on Singapore's border with Malaysia. According to Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau, there were three packets of a "granular/powdery substance" found on his body and one packet in a compartment on his motorbike.

When Malaysia, through a deputy minister, allegedly said it was “useless” (or “of no operational value”) to keep a Malaysian at risk of being executed in Singapore , it was totally unjust, wrong and contrary to Malaysia’s own position of a moratorium on executions, pending the abolition of the death the penalty, and the obligation to act against the crime of drug trafficking , and, most importantly, Malaysia’s duty to protect the lives of Malaysians. Worse, the minister revealed that no investigation papers were opened and the matter was not even referred to the public prosecutor. It is the public prosecutor who should have decided whether it was important to keep such a possible material witness alive or not and whether to commence investigations on those whose names were provided by Pannir Selvam Pranthaman.

The Singaporean government hanged Pannir Selvam this month, the 10th convict to be executed in 2025 for nonviolent narcotics violations. When I met Angelia Pranthaman and her brother Joshua in Singapore two years ago, they were still cheerful and upbeat. They had a couple of hours to kill before their bus back to Malaysia, a long journey they undertook as often as they could to visit their brother Pannir Selvam. Growing up in a Christian, Indian-Malaysian family, Pannir's five brothers and sisters remember him as a playful, naughty boy who was always getting into trouble, but also a talented musician who played drums and guitar at their local church.

The British national, 69, could be free to return home following an agreement between Indonesia and the UK A British grandmother who was facing a death sentence in Bali for smuggling a large haul of cocaine into the island will be freed, more than a decade after her arrest. Lindsay Sandiford, 69, is currently being held in the notorious Kerobokan prison, which holds around 1,000 inmates. Sandiford, from Redcar in Teesside, could be free to return home as soon as Tuesday after an Indonesian government source told AFP that an agreement had been reached with the UK government.

Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) unreservedly condemn the execution of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman in Singapore on 8 October 2025, the latest in a string of arbitrary deprivations of life in the country.  Amnesty International and ADPAN renew their call on the government of Singapore to urgently establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards full abolition of this cruel punishment.