
A person takes a nap because the central enterprise district is shrouded by haze in Singapore, on Sept. 23, 2019. Singapore executed a person Wednesday, July 26, 2023, for drug trafficking and is about to hold a girl Friday — the primary in 19 years — prompting renewed requires a halt to capital punishment.
Vincent Thian/AP
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Vincent Thian/AP

A person takes a nap because the central enterprise district is shrouded by haze in Singapore, on Sept. 23, 2019. Singapore executed a person Wednesday, July 26, 2023, for drug trafficking and is about to hold a girl Friday — the primary in 19 years — prompting renewed requires a halt to capital punishment.
Vincent Thian/AP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Singapore executed a person Wednesday for drug trafficking and is about to hold a girl Friday — the primary in 19 years — prompting renewed requires a halt to capital punishment.
Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, was hanged at Singapore’s Changi Jail and has been buried, stated activist Kirsten Han of Transformative Justice Collective, which advocates for abolishing the demise penalty in Singapore. A citizen of the city-state, he was sentenced to demise in 2018 for trafficking round 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin, Han stated.
Saridewi Djamani, a 45-year-old Singaporean lady, is because of be hanged Friday after she was convicted and sentenced in 2018 for trafficking round 30 grams (1.05 ounces) of heroin, the group and different human rights organizations stated. Han stated the final lady recognized to have been hanged in Singapore was 36-year-old hairdresser Yen Might Woen, additionally for drug trafficking, in 2004.

“Singaporean authorities should instantly cease these blatant violations of the appropriate to life of their obsessive enforcement of misguided drug insurance policies,” Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary-general of the Worldwide Federation of Human Rights, stated in an announcement.
If Djamani’s is executed as deliberate, Singapore could have executed 15 folks for drug offenses because it resumed hangings in March 2022, a mean of 1 execution each month, Transformative Justice Collective, Amnesty Worldwide and 7 different teams stated in a joint assertion.
Anybody — residents and foreigners alike — convicted of trafficking greater than 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of hashish and 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of heroin faces the necessary demise penalty.
Human rights teams, British enterprise mogul Richard Branson and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug-related offenses as growing proof reveals the demise penalty is ineffective as a deterrent. However Singapore authorities insist that every one prisoners get due technique of regulation and that capital punishment stays key to serving to halt each drug demand and provide.
The joint assertion by Transformative Justice Collective and different teams famous that Legislation Minister Ok. Shanmugam reportedly acknowledged in a 2022 interview that Singapore’s harsh coverage on medication has not led to the arrest of the so-called drug kingpins.
“As an alternative of disrupting drug cartels … the federal government of Singapore intentionally retains capital drug legal guidelines that, in follow, function to punish low-level traffickers and couriers, who’re sometimes recruited from marginalised teams with intersecting vulnerabilities,” the assertion stated.
The teams stated Singapore is out of step with the worldwide pattern of extra international locations transferring away from capital punishment. Neighboring Thailand has legalized hashish whereas Malaysia ended the necessary demise penalty for critical crimes this yr. The teams urged Singapore to halt all executions and as a substitute pursue efficient measures to humanely deal with drug trafficking within the nation.