Household of Tangaraju Suppiah had pleaded for clemency, saying he had not had enough authorized counsel or an interpreter.
Singapore has hanged 46-year-old Tangaraju Suppiah who was discovered responsible in 2018 of trafficking greater than 1kg (2.2 kilos) of hashish, regardless of last-minute appeals for clemency from his household and activists.
His household stated that they had been given Tangaraju’s demise certificates, anti-death penalty campaigner Kirsten Han wrote on Twitter.
A spokesperson for the nation’s jail service informed the AFP information company that the sentence had been carried out at Changi jail within the island’s east.
Tangaraju Suppiah was sentenced to demise in 2018 for abetting the tried trafficking of simply over 1kg of hashish. A decide discovered he was utilizing a cellphone quantity that was speaking with traffickers making an attempt to smuggle the medication into Singapore.
Tangaraju’s household and activists had argued that the 46-year-old was not supplied with enough authorized counsel and that he was denied entry to a Tamil interpreter whereas he was being questioned by the police.
Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson deplored the execution and stated the proof towards Tangaraju was “removed from clear lower – since he by no means really touched the marijuana in query, was questioned by police and not using a lawyer, and denied entry to a Tamil interpreter when he requested for one”.
The execution was the primary in Singapore in six months, following 11 final 12 months.
An growing variety of Singaporeans have expressed concern about the usage of the necessary demise penalty in drug instances with final 12 months’s hanging of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam prompting uncommon protests within the tightly-controlled city-state.
Malaysia just lately handed authorized reforms to take away the necessary demise sentence for offences together with medication and provides judges the discretion to determine on sentencing.
Singapore argues its robust stance is a deterrent to drug trafficking.
The United Nations says nations that retain the demise penalty ought to solely use it for essentially the most severe crimes, which doesn’t embody drug offences. On Tuesday, it urged Singapore to halt Tanagarju’s execution.
“Singapore’s continued use of the demise penalty for drug possession is a human rights outrage that makes a lot of the world recoil, and ponder whether the picture of recent, civilised Singapore is only a mirage,” Human Rights Watch’s Robertson stated.
