Singapore executes two prisoners convicted of drug trafficking
Bangkok, Jul 7 (EFE).- Singapore executed two prisoners Thursday sentenced to death for drug crimes more than two months after it hanged an intellectually disabled Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking.
Malaysian Kalwant Singh, 31, and Singaporean Norasharee Gous, 48, were hanged early morning at Changi Prison.
Kirsten Han, activist and coordinator of the Transformative Justice Collective that calls for the abolition of capital punishment, confirmed the executions.
“I am sad to be able to confirm the executions of both Kalwant Singh and Norasharee bin Gous. Both families have been handed their belongings and death certificates. Kalwant’s family are still in prison; I am on my way to Norasharee’s funeral,” Han said on Twitter.
Kalwant was arrested in October 2013 in possession of 60 grams of heroin, while Norasharee, the alleged mastermind of the operation, was arrested in July 2015 and charged with trafficking 120 grams of heroin.
Both were sentenced to death in October 2016 for crimes related to drug trafficking, while a third detainee – who testified against Kalwant and Norasharee – was sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes with the cane.
Han said 29 people have been executed in Singapore since 2017 mostly for drug-related offenses.
On Apr. 27, Singapore executed Malaysian prisoner Nagaenthran Dharmalingam – convicted of drug trafficking – despite criticism from the international community and requests for the suspension of his sentence on the grounds that he had an intellectual disability.
Singapore has one of the world’s most draconian anti-drug laws that punish most drug-related crimes with the death penalty, which is carried out by hanging and in a very opaque manner without revealing all those affected.
Activists such as Han have warned the large number of death row inmates in the city-state is leading to an acceleration in executions after a hiatus of two years.
Executions resumed in the city-state on Mar. 30 with the hanging of a Singaporean, also convicted of drug trafficking. EFE
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