For the first time in 20 years, Singapore is about to execute a woman who was convicted of drug trafficking, a local human rights organisation has claimed, urging the government to halt executions.
The 45-year-old woman, identified as Saridewi Djaman, is among the two convicts who will be sent to the gallows.
While the other convict—a 56-year-old man found guilty of trafficking 50 grams of heroin— is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday (July 26).
Saridewi, who was convicted of trafficking around 30 grams of heroin—will be sent to the gallows this Friday (July 28). She was sentenced to death in 2018.
If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for the same crime, said activist Kokila Annamalai— a member of the local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC)— AFP news agency reported on Tuesday (July 25).
The human rights organisation said that the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.
Prison officials are yet to confirmed TJC’s claim of the two upcoming executions.
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Human rights watchdog urges govt to halt executions
On Tuesday, rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.
“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.
“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.
“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.
Singapore tough on crimes
Singapore has some of the world’s stringent anti-narcotic laws, with major convictions turning into the death penalty.
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, reports AFP news agency.
Capital punishment is also given for other certain crimes such as murder and some forms of kidnapping.
The activists have for many years been demanding the state to soften its stand on narcotics laws, but the government believes that this mode of punishment is an effective deterrent against crime.
(With inputs from agencies)
