Asia

SINGAPORE Execution for drug offenses reopens Singapore death penalty debate

The last executions had been carried out a year ago. City-state authorities say the majority of the population is in favor of hanging, but an inquiry questions the government figures. The decision to fine lawyers who want to represent those sentenced to death is also criticized.

Singapore () – Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, convicted in 2017 of smuggling a kilo of cannabis from Malaysia, was hanged this morning. The execution of the sentence ended a turbulent week of attempts to suspend it. The sentence came one year and one day after that of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam and 11 others convicted of drug offences, after executions by hanging were suspended for two years due to the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Singapore government, the application of the death penalty has the overwhelming support of the population, 83% favorable. According to surveys cited by authorities in response to criticism from various quarters, the death penalty would be considered a more effective deterrent than prison sentences in stopping the entry of drugs into the city-state. However, according to critics of the government’s position, this figure would show more the persuasiveness of the authorities than a spontaneous position of Singaporeans, an opinion confirmed in 2018 by a survey by the University of Singapore in which 60% of those surveyed said they knew “little or nothing” about capital punishment.

Today’s execution has restored the issue of the death penalty as one of the most contentious related to the city-state. The legal battle to suspend the punishment did not help, but it exposed a number of deficiencies in the jurisprudence on the taking of evidence and the confession that underlie the subsequent trial and sentencing. Appeals from local and international groups opposed to the death penalty were also ignored, and the intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was ignored.

Even the disagreement expressed through British businessman Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, was seen as undue interference in internal affairs. The businessman launched a bitter debate with the Singapore authorities through his blog, calling the use of executions against small drug dealers and people belonging to minorities “disproportionate”. In response, the city authorities charged him with falsehood.

On the other hand, the International Commission of Jurists had intervened last year on the limitations imposed on defense lawyers, in particular to prevent them from being present at the decisive stages of the trial. He had called for an end to the practice of fining lawyers who purport to represent death row inmates, a condition that prevents many lawyers from taking up the defense of suspected criminals, who are consequently forced to defend themselves before criminals. judges.



Source link