KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Singapore performed its first execution of a girl in 19 years on Friday and its second hanging this week for drug trafficking regardless of requires the city-state to stop capital punishment for drug-related crimes.
Activists mentioned one other execution is about subsequent week.
Saridewi Djamani, 45, had been sentenced to loss of life in 2018 for trafficking almost 31 grams (1.09 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the Central Narcotics Bureau mentioned. Its assertion mentioned the quantity was “adequate to feed the habit of about 370 abusers for every week.”
Singapore’s legal guidelines mandate the loss of life penalty for anybody convicted of trafficking greater than 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of hashish and 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of heroin.
Djamani’s execution got here two days after that of a Singaporean man, Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, for trafficking round 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin.
The narcotics bureau mentioned each prisoners had been accorded due course of, together with appeals of their conviction and sentence and petition for presidential clemency.
Human rights teams, worldwide activists and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug offenses and say there may be rising proof it’s ineffective as a deterrent. Singapore authorities insist capital punishment is essential to halting drug demand and provide.
Human rights teams say it has executed 15 individuals for drug offenses because it resumed hangings in March 2022, a median of 1 a month.
Anti-death penalty activists mentioned the final girl recognized to have been hanged in Singapore was 36-year-old hairdresser Yen Could Woen, additionally for drug trafficking, in 2004.
Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore group which advocates for the abolishment of capital punishment, mentioned a brand new execution discover has been issued to a different prisoner for Aug, 3 — the fifth this 12 months alone.
It mentioned the prisoner is an ethnic Malay citizen who labored as a supply driver earlier than his arrest in 2016. He was convicted in 2019 for trafficking round 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin, it mentioned. The group mentioned the person had maintained in his trial that he believed he was delivering contraband cigarettes for a buddy he owed cash and he did not confirm the contents of the bag as he trusted his buddy.
Though the court docket discovered he was merely a courier, the person nonetheless needed to be given the necessary loss of life penalty, it mentioned. The group “condemns, within the strongest phrases, the state’s bloodthirsty streak” and reiterated requires an instantaneous moratorium on the usage of the loss of life penalty.
Critics say Singapore’s harsh coverage merely punish low-level traffickers and couriers, who’re usually recruited from marginalized teams with vulnerabilities. They are saying Singapore can be out of step with the pattern of extra nations transferring away from capital punishment. Neighboring Thailand has legalized hashish whereas Malaysia ended the necessary loss of life penalty for severe crimes this 12 months.