Singapore on Wednesday hanged a man for drug trafficking, the city-state’s second execution in three weeks, according to authorities.
The man was convicted of trafficking around 1.5 kilos of cannabis in 2019, Kokila Annamalai of local rights group Transformative Justice Collective told AFP.
In Singapore, one of the most repressive countries in the world when it comes to drugs, trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis is punishable by the death penalty.
“The death sentence against a 36-year-old Singaporean was carried out today at the Changi prison complex,” a spokesman for the city-state’s prison administration told AFP.
Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a separate statement that the man’s identity would not be revealed to respect his family’s desire for privacy.
“The individual benefited from all the guarantees provided by law and had access to a lawyer throughout the process,” the CNB assured.
A last-minute appeal to reconsider the case and stay the execution was denied on Tuesday, Annamalai said.
Despite growing international calls to abolish the death penalty, Singapore, a major financial center in Asia, sees it as an effective deterrent to human trafficking.
Wednesday’s execution was Singapore’s second this year, following the execution of 46-year-old Tangaraju Suppiah, who was hanged on April 26 for trafficking a kilogram of cannabis.
Thirteen death row inmates have been hanged in Singapore since the city-state resumed executions in March 2022 after a hiatus of more than two years.
The hanging of Tangaraju Suppiah sparked outrage abroad. Human rights groups pointed to “many flaws” in the case, but the Singapore government said his guilt had been proven in court. Without any reasonable doubt.
Human rights organizations said they would continue to press for Singapore to abolish the death penalty, which has been shown to do nothing to deter crime.
“The call to the Singapore government has been loud and clear around the world and we will say it again: Singapore must end executions,” Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, Malaysia chief of Amnesty International, told reporters on Tuesday.