Hello Deep Dives platform! It's a beautiful day to share with you news from Singapore and how a man was hanged for attempted drug trafficking in the country. Good morning!
It's been a serious fight the world over to combat drug and human trafficking, although many have been accused and sentenced illegally for the alleged crimes without proper prosecution by the state and her legal institutions.
Singapore has hanged 46-year-old Tangaraju Suppiah who was found guilty in 2018 of trafficking more than 1kg (2.2 pounds) of cannabis, despite last-minute appeals for clemency from his family and activists.
His family said they had been given Tangaraju’s death certificate, anti-death penalty campaigner Kirsten Han wrote on Twitter.
Both civil rights activists in Singapore and other international human rights activists including amnesty international have condemned the hanging of Tangaraju due to the fact that proper investigations and representation in court wasn't carried out.
The young man wasn't given a lawyer to represent him as well as the inability for him to receive proper interpretation of what he was charged for. This is a violation of his right as a person, which is against international humanitarian laws.
An accused has the right to representation and should be given one if he can't afford to hire one, but in this case the deceased wasn't properly represented in court. This is unfortunate.
A spokesperson for the country’s prison service told the AFP news agency that the sentence had been carried out at Changi prison in the island’s east.
Tangaraju Suppiah was sentenced to death in 2018 for abetting the attempted trafficking of just more than 1kg of cannabis. A judge found he was using a phone number that was communicating with traffickers attempting to smuggle the drugs into Singapore.
I think the court and it's jury went too far to sentence him to death by hanging when he didn't actually carry out the trafficking of the said drugs. I know he's guilty of other crimes like conspiracy, aiding and abetting of crime but not warranting death penalty. I stand to be corrected if my views in this matter isn't in line with singaporean laws on drug trafficking.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson deplored the execution and said the evidence against Tangaraju was “far from clear cut – since he never actually touched the marijuana in question, was questioned by police without a lawyer, and denied access to a Tamil interpreter when he asked for one”.
Amnesty International described the execution as “unlawful” and said that proceedings “violated international law and standards”.
The execution was the first in Singapore in six months after it carried out 11 death sentences last year.
Many have been concerned about death penalty for drug trafficking in Singapore after Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was hanged last year for drug trafficking prompting rare protests.
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