Even as many countries are rapidly doing away with capital punishment, Singapore executed a woman on Friday under its harsh drug trafficking laws — the second such hanging in a week.
Saridewi Djamani, 45, had been sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking nearly 31 grams of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the Central Narcotics Bureau said. Its statement said the amount was “sufficient to feed the addiction of about 370 abusers for a week.”
Singapore’s laws mandate the death penalty for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin.
Though this was the first execution of a woman in 19 years, it happens to be the second hanging this week for drug trafficking and another is reportedly set to take place next week. Two days ago a Singaporean man, Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, was executed for trafficking around 50 grams of heroin.
With growing clamour for ending this cruel punishment, the country’s narcotics bureau said both prisoners were accorded due process, including appeals of their conviction and sentence and petition for presidential clemency.
Human rights groups, international activists and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug offenses and say there is increasing evidence it is ineffective as a deterrent. Singapore authorities insist capital punishment is important to halting drug demand and supply.
According to rights groups, the Singaporean government has executed 15 people for drug offenses since March 2022, an average of one a month.
Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore group advocating the abolishment of capital punishment, said it “condemns, in the strongest terms, the state’s bloodthirsty streak” and reiterated calls for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
Critics say Singapore’s harsh policy merely punishes low-level traffickers and couriers, who are typically recruited from marginalised groups with vulnerabilities. They say Singapore is also out of step with the trend of more countries moving away from capital punishment.
Neighboring Thailand has legalised cannabis while Malaysia ended the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes this year.
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