Singapore hangs man for trafficking 36g of heroin

Singapore’s narcotics bureau says convict was ‘accorded full due process under law’

Singapore police (AFP via Getty)

Singapore has executed a man for trafficking 36.93g of heroin, making it the city-state’s second hanging this year.

The 45-year-old man was sent to the gallows at the Changi prison after being found guilty of trafficking more than twice the 15g of pure heroin that merits the death penalty, the Central Narcotics Bureau said on Friday.

Under Singapore’s law, which dictates harsh punishments for drug trafficking, anyone convicted of trafficking more than 500g (17.6oz) of cannabis or 15g (0.5oz) of heroin will be executed.

The identity and details of the case were kept private by rights groups at the request of the man’s family.

The man was convicted and subsequently sentenced to death in February 2019, AFP reported. His legal petitions for clemency were dismissed.

“He was accorded full due process under the law, and was represented by legal counsel throughout the process,” the narcotics bureau said.

In February, Singapore executed Bangladeshi national Ahmed Salim, making him the first person convicted of murder to be hanged since 2019.

Singapore’s authorities had put execution sentences on hold in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but resumed the hangings in 2022 despite calls to cease capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

In 2023, Singapore conducted its first execution of a woman in 19 years for trafficking nearly 31g of pure heroin.

Human rights groups, international activists and the UN 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 key to halting drug demand and supply. “Capital punishment is used only for the most serious crimes in Singapore that cause grave harm to the victim, or to society,” the Singapore Police Force previously said in a statement.

There are just over 50 people on death row with all but two convicted of drug offences, according to the Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore-based NGO that campaigns against the death penalty.

Singapore has so far executed 18 convicts since 2022.

“Singapore reversed the Covid-19 hiatus on executions, kicking its death row machinery into overdrive,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, previously said.

“The government’s reinvigorated use of the death penalty merely highlighted its disregard for human rights protections and the inherent cruelty of capital punishment.”