Singapore will execute two more death row inmates convicted of drug trafficking this week, according to reform group Transformative Justice Collective.
The group last night said that a 56-year-old Singaporean Malay man and a 45-year-old Singaporean woman will be hanged on Wednesday and Friday respectively after being sentenced to death for drug offenses on separate accounts in 2018.
They were both given the harrowing week’s notice before the execution.
The woman named Saridewi Djamani is allegedly the first female to be executed since 2004. She was caught trafficking 30g of diamorphine aka heroin. During the trial, she claimed that her statements to the police weren’t accurate because she was experiencing drug withdrawal at the time and wasn’t able to “think properly.”
But the High Court found that her withdrawal symptoms were “minimal and not noticeable” and not detrimental enough to give statements.
The unnamed man, who was convicted of trafficking around 50g of diamorphine, also argued that the investigating officer had coerced him into making statements that the officer said would reduce his charges.
While the officer had disputed the claims, the High Court found that all the statements were given voluntarily.
The government has been quiet about reporting on the details of all the executions that have taken place since they resumed the hangings after the pandemic in 2022. They have been selectively defending the draconian drug laws to international media and have paid no attention to local anti-death penalty activists like TJC, where all known information about the executions comes from.
“The Transformative Justice Collective condemns the state’s determination to keep taking lives in our name, as part of a ruthless and unjust war on drugs. We reiterate our call for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty pending a full and independent review of the capital punishment regime in Singapore #StopTheKilling,” the group wrote.
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