Activists said the prison department handed over the belongings and death certificates of Malaysian national Kalwant Singh and Singaporean Norasharee Gous to their families after their execution on Thursday morning. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other anti-death penalty groups said the executions were a flagrant violation of international human rights norms. Amnesty said Singapore is one of only four countries known to have executed people for drug-related offenses in recent years, bucking a global trend to abolish the death penalty. “The death penalty is never the answer and we are against it unconditionally. There is no evidence that it acts as a sole deterrent to crime,” said Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director of research. “We urge the Singaporean authorities to immediately halt this latest wave of hangings and impose a moratorium on executions as a step towards ending this shameful and inhumane punishment,” Gil said in a statement. Kalwad, who was convicted in 2016 of importing heroin into Singapore, was the second Malaysian to be executed in less than three months. In late April, the hanging of another Malaysian man caused an international outcry because he was believed to be mentally disabled. Kalwad filed a last-minute appeal on the eve of his execution on the grounds that he was a mere courier and had cooperated with police, but it was rejected by Singapore’s high court, activists said. Critics say Singapore’s death penalty has mostly trapped low-level mules and done little to stop drug dealers and organized syndicates. But Singapore’s government defends it as necessary to protect its citizens and says all those executed have been given full due process under the law. The story continues Four other drug dealers, including two more Malaysians, were scheduled to be hanged earlier, but their executions were delayed pending legal appeals. Human Rights Watch has reiterated calls for Singapore to end executions for all drug-related crimes and commute the sentences of those sentenced to death. “Recent drug busts in the country show how hollow Singapore’s claims about the supposed deterrent effect of these harsh executions are,” said its deputy director for Asia, Phil Robertson. to stop Singapore’s reckless behavior and demand a halt to all executions.”
