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Singapore Two convicted drug dealers were executed Thursday morning, including Kalwant Singh, a 32-year-old Punjabi-Malaysian man convicted of bringing heroin into the city-state in 2016. Another man hanged was Singaporean Norasharee Gous, 48.
Kalwant Singh was the second Indian-Malaysian to be hanged by Singaporean authorities in the past three months; Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, was executed in April for drug trafficking. Despite calls to abolish the death penalty, four people have been hanged in Singapore so far this year.
“Singapore has again violated international law by executing people convicted of drug-related crimes, in defiance of public outcry,” Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for research, Emmeline Gill, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
“The death penalty has never been the solution, and we unconditionally oppose it. There is no evidence that it is a unique criminal deterrent,” Gill said in a statement.
read | Singapore to hang second Indian man in three months, loses appeal
A Singapore court on Wednesday rejected a last-minute appeal by Kalwant Singh, with his lawyers arguing that the information he provided helped make the arrest of a key suspected drug dealer.
The appeal was dismissed after the Central Drug Enforcement Administration said the information he provided was not used. “We dismissed the stay application…” Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said.
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, which represented Singh, also intervened, writing to the Singapore embassy to demand a moratorium on executions. It was also pointed out that Kalwant Singh was forced to ship drugs to Singapore to pay off football gambling debts.
read | Singapore urges end to executions of drug dealers from Punjab
In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for traffickers of 15 grams or more of pure heroin. However, judges can commute the sentence to life imprisonment if the offender simply acts as a courier and cooperates with the authorities. A co-defendant in the Kavant Singh case had his sentence reduced after cooperating with investigators, AFP said.
In April, Singapore executed Damalingam, who had been on death row for more than a decade. He was convicted of trafficking about 43 grams of heroin.
Critics say the death penalty in Singapore is largely about entrapment of low-level mules and does little to stop drug dealers and organised syndicates. But the Singaporean government believes it is necessary to protect its citizens.
Input from AP
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