4 days, 4 executions?

This week is shaping up to be a busy week for the staff who operate the gallows in Changi Prison in Singapore as 4 men are set to be executed in the span of 4 days. There are 2 double executions planned for Tuesday, 2 August 2022 and Friday, 5 August 2022.

In line with recent norms, the respective families of the persons who face execution were notified of the date of execution a week prior.

2 executions on Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Kokila Annamalai, who is in touch with the families of death row inmates, tweeted that a 32-year-old Malaysian man, and a 44-year-old Singaporean man, are set to be executed on 2 August 2022.

The 2 men were arrested in May 2015 for trafficking diamorphine. They were jointly tried and convicted of trafficking 53g of diamorphine by the High Court of Singapore in January 2018. As the Prosecution did not issue any certificate of substantive assistance to either man (which may have allowed the High Court Judge to sentence the men to life imprisonment), the Judge imposed the mandatory sentence of death on both.

Their appeals against their conviction were dismissed by the Court of Appeal in October 2018.

In August 2021, the Court of Appeal dismissed a criminal motion that one of the men filed in a bid to seek the Apex Court to review its decision of October 2018 in light of the Court’s decision in Gobi Avedian. The man was represented by a senior counsel for the criminal motion. In dismissing the application, the Court of Appeal held that “the Judge imposed the mandatory sentence of death on both.”

Abdul Rahim Bin Shapiee and Ong Seow Ping may be executed on Friday, 5 August 2022

Abdul Rahim Bin Shapiee, a 45-year-old male Singaporean, and Ong Seow Ping, a 49-year-old male Singaporean, may be executed on Friday. They were jointly tried and convicted in 2018.

On the morning of Friday, 29 July 2022, Abdul Rahim Bin Shapiee’s sister was notified that her brother’s execution has been scheduled for Friday, 5 August 2022. It was the news that she been dreading for years, her worry heightened in recent months by the multiple executions that have already been carried out by the prison this year.

Ong Seow Peng, his co-accused, may also be executed on the same day. As was the case with the double executions of Kalwant Singh and Norasharee Bin Gous, who were co-accused persons, on 7 July 2022, co-accused persons are generally hanged on the same day provided that both are alive and on death row during the same period.

In a previous article, we took a closer took at the reasons behind their conviction and sentence. We also explored why Abdul Rahim Bin Shapiee faces the death penalty despite the Public Prosecutor’s certification that, in his determination, Abdul has substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau in disrupting drug trafficking activities within or outside Singapore.

Abdul’s case involved issues relating to whether his role exceeded that of a mere courier, whether the drugs found in his possession were for his personal consumption or for trafficking, and whether his allegations against the police officers who recorded his statements had basis.

In essence, despite being issued a certificate of substantive assistance, Abdul role in the transactions was adjudged to have exceeded the role of a mere courier. His defence of consumption was rejected, and his allegations against did not affect the reliability of his statements. These issues were canvassed at length in our previous article.

Abdul’s appeal against his conviction by the High Court was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 5 March 2020 with no written grounds of decision. The Court determined that all of the key points had been canvassed before the Judge, and that she was correct in her analysis.

8 executions in 4 weeks?

This is the 3rdd time in less than 4 weeks that a double execution has been scheduled. On 7 July 2022, Norasharee bin Gous and Kalwant Singh were both executed.

If all 4 executions scheduled this week go ahead, a total of 8 men would have been executed in less than 4 weeks. It will also bring the total number of men executed in 2022 thus far to 10.

Activists note that these are the executions that their groups, through communications with the families of death row inmates, know about. They do not discount the possibility that there may have been men and women executed that they do not know of. As far as these activists know, the Singaporean authorities do not publish notices of executions.

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