Singapore: A Singapore The court on Wednesday dismissed the last-ditch appeal of a convicted Malaysian drug traffickerCleared the way for him to be hanged within hours.
Kalwant SinghTwo months after a mentally challenged man was hanged in Singapore, there was international outrage.
Kalwant, who was convicted in 2016 of smuggling heroin into the city-state, had tried last-gasp with the Court of Appeals to delay his sentencing.
His lawyer, Tu Jing Jie, on Wednesday sought a review of the case, arguing that his client had provided information that helped authorities arrest a key suspected drug trafficker.
While the death penalty is mandatory for certain amounts of drug trafficking in Singapore, a judge can change the sentence to life imprisonment if the offender only works as a courier and cooperates with the authorities.
One of the co-accused in Kalwant’s case had his sentence commuted after he cooperated adequately with the investigators.
But the three-judge panel rejected Kalwant’s appeal, citing an affidavit from Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau, which said that its officers had not received any information provided by him to arrest a suspect. did not use.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said during a hearing, “We reject the application for adjournment.”
In April, Naghenthran K., a mentally challenged Malaysian drug smuggler in Singapore. The hanging of Dharmalingam caused widespread outrage.
including critics United Nations And The European Union Said that the execution of a person with intellectual disability is a violation of international law.
But in a recent BBC interview, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam disputed that Naghenthran was mentally disabled despite having an IQ of 69, a level medical experts said represented an intellectual disability.
He said the courts “found that he had the work of a criminal mind, and made a deliberate, objective, calibrated, calculated decision to make money to bring in drugs”.
Shanmugam said Singapore upheld the death penalty because “there is clear evidence that it is a serious deterrent to drug traffickers”.
But Kirsten Hahn, a prominent Singapore-based rights activist, said research showed it was not an effective deterrent and called the executions “terrible”.
Campaigners fear Singapore is preparing for more executions in the coming months.
Han said that so far this year, eight death row convicts have been informed that they are to be hanged, two of whom have already been hanged.
Another drug smuggler, 48-year-old Norashari Gous from Singapore, is also to be hanged on Thursday, he said.
Kalwant SinghTwo months after a mentally challenged man was hanged in Singapore, there was international outrage.
Kalwant, who was convicted in 2016 of smuggling heroin into the city-state, had tried last-gasp with the Court of Appeals to delay his sentencing.
His lawyer, Tu Jing Jie, on Wednesday sought a review of the case, arguing that his client had provided information that helped authorities arrest a key suspected drug trafficker.
While the death penalty is mandatory for certain amounts of drug trafficking in Singapore, a judge can change the sentence to life imprisonment if the offender only works as a courier and cooperates with the authorities.
One of the co-accused in Kalwant’s case had his sentence commuted after he cooperated adequately with the investigators.
But the three-judge panel rejected Kalwant’s appeal, citing an affidavit from Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau, which said that its officers had not received any information provided by him to arrest a suspect. did not use.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said during a hearing, “We reject the application for adjournment.”
In April, Naghenthran K., a mentally challenged Malaysian drug smuggler in Singapore. The hanging of Dharmalingam caused widespread outrage.
including critics United Nations And The European Union Said that the execution of a person with intellectual disability is a violation of international law.
But in a recent BBC interview, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam disputed that Naghenthran was mentally disabled despite having an IQ of 69, a level medical experts said represented an intellectual disability.
He said the courts “found that he had the work of a criminal mind, and made a deliberate, objective, calibrated, calculated decision to make money to bring in drugs”.
Shanmugam said Singapore upheld the death penalty because “there is clear evidence that it is a serious deterrent to drug traffickers”.
But Kirsten Hahn, a prominent Singapore-based rights activist, said research showed it was not an effective deterrent and called the executions “terrible”.
Campaigners fear Singapore is preparing for more executions in the coming months.
Han said that so far this year, eight death row convicts have been informed that they are to be hanged, two of whom have already been hanged.
Another drug smuggler, 48-year-old Norashari Gous from Singapore, is also to be hanged on Thursday, he said.