Singaporean Man Executed for Trafficking Cannabis
At dawn on 26 July 2022, barely 4 days after Nazeri Bin Lajim was executed on 22 July 2022, a man who was convicted of trafficking Cannabis was reportedly executed in Singapore.
In Singapore, under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the thresholds for the mandatory death penalty are more than 500 grams for the offence of trafficking in cannabis, and more than 1,000 grams for the offence of trafficking in cannabis mixture.
At 11.03am on 26 July 2022, Singaporean anti-death penalty activist Kokila Annamalai tweeted that “a 49 year-old Singaporean Malay man was executed today at Changi Prison”. She added that the man was arrested in 2015 for trafficking in Cannabis.
The man, who was arrested in 2015, was convicted of trafficking in Cannabis by the High Court of Singapore in 2018. As neither the Prosecution nor the Defence contended before the High Court Judge that the Judge’s discretion not to impose the death penalty under s 33B of the Misuse of Drugs Act applied, the sentence of death was passed.
The man’s appeal was dismissed by Singapore’s apex Court in February 2019 with no written grounds of decision rendered.
This is not the first time a man has been sentenced to death for trafficking Cannabis. Last October, news that a man who was convicted of trafficking Cannabis was sentenced to death made international headlines.
A lack of transparency surrounding hangings
On Saturday, 23 July 2022, the Transformative Justice Collective posted a public call-out after learning from the families of 5 other death row inmates that an execution has been scheduled for 22 July 2022. In the post, TJC stated that it was not currently in contact with the family. It asked anyone who knew them to let them know that they could get in touch with TJC should they require any help or support.
In the comments section of the post, TJC remarked that the fact of execution should be highlighted to the public. The group shared that it relies largely on families of death row inmates to alert them to executions due to a lack of transparency.
The Sixth Execution of 2022
The execution of the 49-year-old Malay man is the 6th known execution in Singapore in 4 months. The names of the people who have been executed thus far, and the dates of their executions, are set out below:
- Abdul Kahar Othman (30 March 2022)
- Nagaenthran Dharmalingam (27 April 2022)
- Norasharee Bin Gous (7 July 2022)
- Kalwant Singh (7 July 2022)
- Nazeri Bin Lajim (22 July 2022)
- 49-year-old Malay man executed for trafficking Cannabis (26 July 2022)
We send our deepest condolences to the family of the man.
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