The nation’s second drug-related hanging this week occurred on Friday when Singapore executed a woman for trafficking 31 grams of heroin for the first time in 19 years.
In 2018, Saridewi Djamani, 45, received a death sentence for trafficking enough of the drug to support the addiction of “about 370 abusers,” according to the Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore.
According to the agency, anyone caught with more than 15 grams of heroin in Singapore is immediately sentenced to death.
According to CNB, Djamani was discovered in 2018 with six packets and seven straws of pure heroin.
She was the country’s first female execution since 2004. Her death came two days after Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, was hung following his 2018 conviction for trafficking approximately 50 grams of heroin.
Anti-death penalty activists opposed Djamani’s hanging, claiming that capital punishment does not discourage crime and that another execution is scheduled for next week.
CNB, on the other hand, stated that her punishment was “accorded full due process under the law, and she was represented by legal counsel throughout the process.”
Djamani had filed an appeal against her conviction, but it was dismissed in October. According to CNB, her clemency request was also denied.
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was executed three months before Djamani and Hussain for trafficking 2.2 pounds of cannabis.
He had not been caught with the substance, but phone numbers linked back to him indicated that he was in charge of coordinating the marijuana supply.
At a United Nations Human Rights Council briefing in April, spokesman Ravina Shamdasani urged Singapore’s government to implement a “formal moratorium” on drug-related executions.
“Imposing the death penalty for drug offences is incompatible with international norms and standards,” Shamdasani said, adding that increasing evidence indicates the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrence.
According to Singapore officials, there is a deterrence impact, citing studies that show traffickers carry amounts less than the threshold that would result in the death penalty.
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