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Journalism of Courage
Singapore on Wednesday, May 17, executed another citizen for trafficking cannabis – the second hanging of this kind in less than a month. The move comes even as international bodies have decried the country’s harsh punishment for drug-related offences.
The big story: The 37-year-old man, executed on Wednesday, had been under incarceration for seven years, and had been convicted in 2019 for trafficking around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of cannabis. His bid to reopen his case had been dismissed by the court on Tuesday without a hearing, news agency AP reported, citing an activist.
FYI: Under Singapore laws, trafficking more than 500 grams (1.1 pound) of cannabis may result in the death penalty. Almost 600 Singaporean prisoners are on death row for drug-linked crimes.
The pushback: The United Nations (UN) had strongly condemned the hangings in April this year, calling the number of such punishments “highly alarming.”
“We have concerns around due process and respect for fair trial guarantees. The UN human rights office calls on the authorities not to proceed with his execution,” a UN human rights office spokesperson had said last month, pushing against the hanging of Malaysian citizen Tagaraju Suppia. Despite the backlash, Suppia was hanged on April 25.
What Singapore has said: The city-state’s authorities insist that all prisoners get due process of law and that capital punishment remains “part of Singapore’s comprehensive harm prevention strategy which targets both drug demand and supply.”
Look back: In 2022, 11 people were executed over drug-related offences in Singapore, eliciting international outrage over the country’s capital punishment regulations.
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