Singapore on Wednesday (April 26) hanged an Indian-origin man till death, who was convicted of conspiring to traffic one kilogram of cannabis. The decision to execute the man was taken despite pleas for clemency from his family, activists and also the United Nations.
A spokesman for the Singapore Prison Service told the news agency AFP that the “Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, had his capital sentence carried out today at Changi Prison Complex”.
Reuters reported that Kokila Annamalai, who is a Singapore-based rights activist representing the family, confirmed that Suppiah had been executed by hanging. It also mentioned that the president had rejected pleas for clemency on the eve of the execution.
The United Nations Human Rights Office for Singapore had urged the authorities to “urgently reconsider” the decision of hanging, and British tycoon Richard Branson also asked to halt it.
Branson, who is a member of the Geneva-based Global Commission on Drug Policy, wrote a blog earlier this week about Tangaraju. He mentioned that the Singaporean man was “not anywhere near” the drugs at the time of his arrest and that Singapore may be about to put an innocent man to death.
He was convicted in 2017 of “abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic” 1,017.9 grams of cannabis. The quantity was twice the minimum volume required for a death sentence in Singapore. In 2018, Tangaraju was sentenced to death and the Court of Appeal upheld the decision.
The Singapore government has not released an official statement yet, but had slammed Branson for peddling falsehoods and disrespecting its justice system. The government stated that its courts spent more than three years examining the case and Branson’s claim was “patently untrue”.
In reaction to Branson’s blog post “Why Tangaraju Suppiah doesn’t deserve to die”, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the British billionaire’s views on a Singaporean on death row showed “disrespect” for the country’s judges and criminal justice system.
As quoted by news agencies, the ministry said: “Tangaraju’s defence was that he was not the person communicating with the two others involved in the case. However, the High Court found Tangaraju’s evidence unbelievable and found that he was communicating with the two others and was coordinating the delivery and receipt of cannabis to himself through the two others.”
Further mentioning that the High Court also found that Tangaraju had the intention to traffic the cannabis, the ministry also said that “Tangaraju was involved in a case with two others, where his phone numbers were used to communicate with the two others involved in the delivery of the cannabis”.
(With inputs from agencies)
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