The message of Singaporean anti-death penalty activists recently lit up the Singaporean Consulate building in New York City.
The Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a Singaporean justice reform advocacy group, shared pictures of the display this morning, showing a bold statement being projected onto the Singaporean outpost stating: “Singapore stop the killings.”
TJC said the picture was taken on Nov 2.
“The goal is to name and shame on the international arena, to increase awareness outside of Singapore and show our support for those in Singapore fighting for justice,” TJC quoted an unnamed organizer behind the display as saying.
This installation was part of an anti-death penalty movement in New York done in collaboration with political projection project Illuminator, which has done projections for causes such as Black Lives Matter and Free Palestine.
TJC said the display was done to prove that even Singapore communities overseas are “increasingly taking a stance against the death penalty.”
The group has been pushing to end capital punishment in Singapore with their #StopTheKilling campaigns and “Free Them, Free Us” events since 2020. Local activists have made countless calls to abolish the death penalty, but the government has done little to engage with their concerns, instead choosing to focus on vociferously defending the policy against international criticism.
Just last month, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs called out billionaire Richard Branson and challenged him to a live debate on national television to hash out Branson’s public disagreements with the country’s use of the death penalty, instead of speaking to local activists as Branson had suggested instead.
Branson ultimately declined the offer, saying the debate would not allow the topic to be discussed with the nuance it deserved, but the Ministry took offense at his reasons and called him “lame.”
As far as we know, Singapore has executed at least 11 people this year.
Read our breakdown of what we currently know (and don’t know) about the Singapore’s controversial use of the death penalty:
