British man serving 20 years in jail in Singapore sentenced to 24 lashes

'We strongly oppose corporal punishment,' says FCO

The 29-year-old is being held at Singapore's Changi Prison (Getty)

A British man already serving 20 years in prison in Singapore has also been sentenced to 24 lashes for drug offences, the harshest caning sentence that can be handed out in the country.

Ye Ming Yuen was first arrested in August 2016 and was convicted for seven drug offences.

The flogging sentence requires him to be tied, naked, to a wooden trestle and hit with a four foot long cane.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, had personally raised the case during a meeting with Vivian Balakrishnan, his Singaporean counterpart, earlier this month.

“We strongly oppose the use of corporal punishment, such as caning, in all cases,” an FCO spokesperson said.

“Our consular staff have been assisting a British man and his family since his arrest in Singapore in 2016”

The 29-year-old was originally facing the death penalty but the capital sentence charge was dropped because the weight of the drugs involved was below 500g, according to the Daily Mail.

His offences include two counts of repeat drug trafficking – one of 69g and one of 60g of cannabis.

Mr Yuen’s family have described his caning sentence as “a form of torture”.

He is serving his sentence at Singapore’s Changi prison.