SINGAPORE, July 25 (EW): Two drug offenders in Singapore are scheduled to be hanged this week, including the first woman to be executed in almost 20 years, said the rights organizations, who also called for an end to the executions on Tuesday.
A 56-year-old man found guilty of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is set to be hung on Wednesday at Changi Prison in the Southeast Asian city-state, claimed the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).
Saridewi Djamani, a 45-year-old female prisoner, is also scheduled to be executed on Friday, according to TJC. For trafficking about 30 grams of heroin, she received a death sentence in 2018.
According to TJC campaigner Kokila Annamalai, if executed, she will be the first woman to be hanged in Singapore since the 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for narcotics trafficking in 2004. The two prisoners, according to TJC, are from Singapore, and their families have been notified of the dates of their executions.
AFP asked for confirmation through email from prison administrators, but they have not responded. Singapore has a death sentence for various crimes, including kidnapping and murder.
It also has among the strictest anti-drug legislation in the world, with the death sentence an option for trafficking 15 grams of heroin and more than 500 grams of cannabis.
At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amnesty International, a human rights organization, pleaded with Singapore on Tuesday to end the upcoming executions. In a statement, Chiara Sangiorgio, an expert on the death sentence for Amnesty International, stated, “It was “unconscionable” that Singaporean authorities were still pursuing additional executions in the name of drug control. There is no proof that the death penalty has a special deterrent effect or that it affects drug usage and availability in any way. Singapore’s authorities are adopting neither drug policy reform nor the death penalty abolition,” Sangiorgio continued.
