Singapore is set to execute a woman this week for the first time in twenty years, prompting renewed calls for a halt to capital punishment in the country.
Convicted of trafficking approximately 30g of heroin, the 45-year-old Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in 2018, according to the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), which tracks death row cases.
Under Singapore law, the death penalty can be applied for trafficking of more than 15g of heroin and more than 500g of cannabis.
The last woman to be executed in Singapore was Yen May Woen, a 36-year-old hairdresser, who was hanged for drug trafficking in 2004.
Singapore has some of the world’s harshest drug laws, with many international human rights activists calling for change.
Harm Reduction International, along with seven other human rights groups, released a joint call for the country to halt executions immediately, pointing out that it’s been confirmed the “harsh policy on drugs is not resulting in the arrest of the so-called ‘Kingpins’”.
“In sum, instead of disrupting drug cartels, as it often claims to be the objective, the Government of Singapore deliberately retains capital drug laws that, in practice, operate to punish low-level traffickers and couriers, who are typically recruited from marginalised groups with intersecting vulnerabilities,” the statement says.
British billionaire Sir Richard Branson has also given public criticism of Singapore’s capital punishment in the past and has renewed his calls for change once again.
In a post to Twitter, Branson wrote: “Small scale-drug traffickers need help, as most are bullied due to their circumstances. The death penalty is not a deterrent.”
“Today, Singapore’s authorities hanged a man.’ On Friday, they plan to execute a woman. It’s time for Singapore’s killing spree to stop before its reputation is permanently damaged. It’s still not too late to grant mercy to Saridewi Djamani.”
Shameful that Singapore’s leaders continue to hang people for non-violent drug offences, joining countries like North Korea and Iran that still do so against evidence and better judgement.
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 26, 2023
The man executed by Singapore officials on Wednesday was 56-year-old Mohammed Aziz Hussain. The Singaporean national was hanged after being convicted of trafficking 50g of heroin.
In April this year, the country also executed a 46-year-old man after he was accused of coordinating a marijuana delivery.
In the joint statement from eight human rights groups, it’s noted that if Singapore goes forward with Djamani’s hanging, the country will have executed 15 people for drug offences since it resumed hangings in March 2022, which equates to an average of one execution every month.
Amnesty International has said that Singapore is one of only four countries to have recently carried out drug-related executions, alongside China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The human rights group’s 2022 Death Penalty report notes that “drug-related executions are in violation of international human rights law which states that executions should only be carried out for the ‘most serious crimes’– crimes that involve intentional killing.”