For the first time in 20 years, death penalty for a woman in Singa

Latest World News: For the first time in 20 years, death penalty for a woman in Singa

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, while having strict anti-drug laws.

Singapore:

Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said on Tuesday, while calling for a halt to executions.

Local rights organization Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is set to be hanged at Changi Prison in the Southeast Asian city-state on Wednesday.

A 45-year-old convicted woman identified by TJC as Saridewi Djamani is also expected to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If executed, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, TJC activist Kokila Annamalai has said.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families received notices setting the dates for their executions.

Prison officials did not respond to AFP email questions asking for confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the toughest drug laws in the world: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions after a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Singapore on Tuesday to halt impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that the Singaporean authorities continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty’s death penalty expert, said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has an impact on drug use and availability.

“While countries around the world are scrapping the death penalty and enacting drug policy reform, Singaporean authorities are doing neither,” Ms Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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