What's Happening In Singapore? Anti-Drug Law Imposes Death Penalty

By Lucía Tedesco via El Planteo. 

Singapore has a completely rigid anti-drug law compared to many other countries in the world. It provides for the death penalty by hanging, a sentence that has already been carried out on more than one prisoner.

According to Amnesty International, Singapore had not carried out any executions for two years, until March 30, 2022, when Abdul Kahar bin Othman, who had been convicted of drug-related offenses, was sent to die by hanging. "This is a shameful breach of international law," Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International's Southeast Asia researcher, said at the time.

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Despite attempts by international human rights law and standards to curb the death penalty for drug-related offenses, 11 men were hanged for drug offenses in Singapore last year, reported Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a local anti-death penalty group.

Today, Singapore is back in the news for having sentenced a man named Tangaraju Suppiah to death for attempting to traffic one kilogram of cannabis. This case reopens the debate, due to the impartiality of his conviction.

Singapore's Anti-Drug Law That Convicts Tangaraju

Leelavathy, Tangaraju's sister received a letter stating that her brother's execution will be next April 26. "The fear that he would be next was constant," the woman told Vice News.

See Also: Singapore Hangs Man Convicted Of Cannabis Smuggling Despite International Outcry

Tangaraju had been arrested for drug use in 2014. While on remand, authorities identified his phone number in a cannabis trafficking case in September 2013. They then found him guilty of instigating the trafficking attempt. He denied any involvement in the crime. As it is, Tangaraju will be executed for a cannabis shipment he may not even have seen. In fact, he filed a criminal motion seeking review of his sentence and represented himself, because he could not find counsel to take on his case. To no one's surprise, that motion was dismissed.

There is more than one story related to Singapore's punitive policies. "It's amazing how little it takes to sentence someone to death," TJC activist Kokila Annamalai told VICE. Despite support from activist groups and personalities such as Richard Branson, a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, who wrote a blog post titled: "Why Tangaraju doesn't deserve to die," this seems to be a reality and there is no sign that it will change in the near future.

Read Next: Billionaire Branson Criticizes Singapore's Decision To Execute Man Over Kilogram Of Pot: This Week In Weed Chronicles

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