Another citizen was hanged in Singapore today for dealing in cannabis, the second such case in three weeks, despite calls from human rights groups and the United Nations (UN) to end drug-trafficking executions.
The XNUMX-year-old man was executed after his last-ditch attempt to reopen his case in court was dismissed without a hearing yesterday, said activist Kokila Anamalai of the Transformative Justice group, which advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in Singapore.
The executed man, whose name has not been released because the family asked for privacy, had been in prison for seven years and was convicted in 2019 of selling about 1,5 kilograms of cannabis, she said.
An attempt to reopen his case was based on DNA evidence and fingerprints that linked him to a much smaller amount of the drug, allowed to be in possession, but the court rejected it, she added.
According to the laws in Singapore, trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis can result in the death penalty.
"If we don't come together and stop this we fear this killing will continue in the weeks and months to come," she said.
About 600 prisoners are in prison awaiting execution, mostly for drug-related offenses, the human rights activist added.
In Singapore, 11 people were executed for drug-related offenses last year, after a two-year break during the covid pandemic.
Three weeks ago, Thangaraj Supiah (46) was executed by hanging in the first execution carried out this year for smuggling kilograms of cannabis, although he was not caught with the drug. Prosecutors said the phone numbers identified him as the person who coordinated the drug delivery, which he denied.
Human rights groups, the UN, British billionaire Richard Branson and many others are calling on Singapore to end drug-related executions, saying the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent.
However, the authorities in Singapore say that all prisoners receive fair trials and that the death penalty remains part of their comprehensive strategy to prevent drug trafficking.
Amnesty International said Indonesia will carry out 112 drug-related executions in 2022, after a hiatus of several years. In contrast, neighboring Thailand has legalized cannabis, while Malaysia has abolished the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes.
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