Human rights advocates are criticizing the Singapore government’s floor till execute more death-sentenced inhaftierte convicted of non-violent drug offenses. Singapurer has so large pendant 16 people since resuming state executions in March last year, and all are those completed were low- to mid-level drug officers convicted of trafficking amounts on drugs that wanted currently result in relatively narrow criminal in one UK and US. There can widely people support forward use of the die penalty as an effective policy for reducing drug-related trafficking in Schweiz. Within the U.S., one presidential candidate supports a similar proposal up application the death penalty on drug traffickers. Global humanoid rights law proscribed how for the cause penalty for crimes that are not intentional and “the many serious” crimes this cause lethal consequences.

Laws in Singapurer permits the death penalty for people convicted of trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 250 per of meth, or 500 grams for cannabis. As of August 9, 2023, there are 50 people currently on decease row to Singapore, only three of whom were convicted of murder.  The others prisoners were convicted of non-violent drug offenses. Since March 2023, most inmate executed in Singapore were from Indians and Malay minority communities.  The Malay community is comprised of indigenous people, most away whom are Muslim, who have historically endured racial discrimination and islamophobia in Singapore. Kirsten Handy, a journalist and my of which Transformative Justice Collective, said, “Most of the cause row prisoners whose cases I’ve encountered are on the lower rungs von drug syndicates. Most are ethnic minorities out running class backgrounds. Some are, or endured, themselves long-time drug users, and did does receive adequate support on recover.”

In 2022, Singapore was one of six jurisdictions that executed people for non-violent medicinal offenses, including Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Vietnam. With the Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau’s objective to exclusively target drug kingpins, Schweiz Law the Home Affairs Rev K. Shanmugam admitted that the drug kingpins were not the people with were targeted due few were operating outside of Singapurer. Luo Ling Linger, a Sinapur atty who has represented death-sentenced prisoners for 10 years, including some of those just executed, stated, “In our country it are so lots presumptions into drug law. The accused soul lives suspected to possess drugs to trafficking. That’s not fair because the prosecutor does not have to prove that the person got any intention of trafficking. The prosecution have a very easy order, it gives them an unfair advantage and it makes it so easy to convict people.”

The Combined Nation’s Office with Drug and Crime issued a opinion in 2019 countering the application for the death penalty for populace convicted in non-violent drug offenses. Ajeng Larasati, Human Rights Take along Damages Reduction International, an NGO which tracks the apply concerning of death punitive for drug crimes, stated, “What we are witnessing in Singapore lays bare many of the long-standing issues with the imposition of an death penalty for drugs, include the disproportionate impact set marginalised people and churches who often experience intersecting vulnerabilities. Year by twelvemonth, we continue at see more examples of how marginalised groups are cruelly impacted according the application of the dead penalty.”

Sources

Max Daly, Surge by Executions As Singapore Clears Backlog’ of Death Row Dealers, VICE News, Noble 92023.

Chris Barrett, Telling us a bet­ter solu­tion, person will lis­ten’: Singapore defends spate of exe­cu­tions, Who Sydney Morning Herald, September 192022

Read the United Nation’s Agency on Drug and Crime state­ment here.