Their executions come just two months after Singapore hanged a controversial mentally disabled man for drug trafficking, bringing the country’s total number of death sentences this year to four. In a statement on Tuesday, Singaporean authorities said Norasari and Singh — both convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty — had exhausted their legal appeals. Both men had been on death row for the past six years, with many campaigners calling for clemency. The two executions “appear to be part of a new wave” of hangings in Singapore, Amnesty International Malaysia said in a statement earlier this week. According to the Central Narcotics Bureau, both men were sentenced to death in June 2016. Singh was found guilty of possessing 60.15 grams of heroin and trafficking 120.9 grams of the drug, while Norasharee was convicted of enticing a man to traffic 120.9 grams of heroin. In Singapore, trafficking a certain amount of drugs — for example, 15 grams of heroin — results in the mandatory death penalty under the Misuse of Drugs Act, although the law was recently amended to allow a convicted person to avoid the death penalty under certain conditions.
“It tarnishes the image of Singapore”
In April, Singapore executed Malaysian national Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, 34, in a case that sparked an international outcry after psychologists assessed him as mentally disabled with an IQ of 69. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking 42.7 grams of heroin and then sentenced to death in 2010. Singapore courts rejected multiple appeals to overturn Dharmalingan’s execution, in which his lawyers argued he should not have been sentenced to death because he was unable to understand his actions. The case has put the city-state’s zero-tolerance drug laws under renewed scrutiny, with human rights advocates arguing that the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking is inhumane punishment. Amnesty International’s deputy regional director of research Emerlyn Gill on Thursday urged Singapore to immediately impose a moratorium on executions. “Singapore has once again executed people convicted of drug-related offenses in violation of international law, callously ignoring the public outcry,” Gill said. Activists say tough drug laws in many Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, have done little to stop the region’s multibillion-dollar illegal drug trade.” The Singapore government’s insistence on maintaining and using death penalty has only led to global condemnation and tarnishes the image of a developed nation governed by the rule of law,” the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network said in a statement on June 30.
