Singapore, Republic of Singapore- Amnesty International has expressed its complete dissatisfaction with the government of Singapore over the recent execution of two drug traffickers.
Singaporean Norasharee bin Gous, 48, and Malaysian national Kalwant Singh, 31, had their capital sentences carried out on Thursday at Changi Prison Complex.
According to the Central Narcotics Bureau, both men were sentenced to death in June 2016. Singh had been found guilty of possessing 60.15 grams of heroin and trafficking while Norasharee was convicted of soliciting a man to traffic 120.9 grams of heroin.
“Singapore has once again executed people convicted of drug-related offences in violation of international law, callously disregarding public outcry. The death penalty is never the solution and we oppose it unconditionally. There is no evidence that it acts as a unique deterrent to crime.
The government of Singapore’s persistence in maintaining and utilizing the death penalty has only led to global condemnation and tarnishes Singapore’s image as a developed nation governed by the rule of law.
We urge the Singaporean authorities to immediately stop this latest wave of hangings and impose a moratorium on executions as a step towards ending this shameful and inhuman punishment,” said Emerlynne Gill, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for research.
Their executions come just two months after Singapore controversially hanged a man with intellectual disabilities for drug trafficking, bringing the total number of death sentences carried out by the country this year to four.
Singapore has repeatedly defended the death penalty by saying the law was needed to keep people safe, though critics have alleged that strict punishment has done little to deter drug traffickers.
In Singapore, trafficking a certain amount of drugs for example, 15 grams of heroin results in a mandatory death sentence under the Misuse of Drugs Act, though the law was recently amended to allow for a convicted person to escape the death penalty in certain circumstances.
