The three convicted killers were eventually hanged on 27 January 1973. [41] Four days before the execution, the condemned is allowed to watch television or listen to the radio. Capital punishment has been carried out in Singapore since the days of colonial rule. Executions peaked under Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong; the city-state had the second highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1998, estimated by the United Nations to be 13.83 executions annually per one million people during that period. China, Vietnam and Iran are three notable nations for executing corrupt officials to death by firing the corrupt officials with firearms/lethal injection or (in latter) sending businessmen to gallows. He cited the statistics of the rate of firearms-related offences and kidnapping cases had dropped dramatically after the introduction of the death penalty as evidence of its deterrence. Plus, corruption practices and other financial crimes should always deserved capital, lethal punishment. Why imprisonment won't serve as deterrent for financial crimes? Extract of the Council's Report on the proposed Penal Code Amendments submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 30 March 2007, the kidnapping and murder of Ong Beang Leck, Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 2006 child rape and murder of his step-daughter Nuraysura binte Mohamed Fauzi, also known as Nonoi, outcome of the prosecution's appeal against Kho Jabing's life sentence, "Kho Jabing executed at 3.30pm, first execution in Singapore not carried out at dawn of Friday", "Singapore Amends Death Penalty Law to Exempt Some Offences", "Singapore: The death penalty - A hidden toll of executions", "Singapore court rejects death-row Malaysian's appeal", "Massive leap backwards as Singapore resumes executions", "Malaysian, Nigerian men hanged in Singapore for drug trafficking", "Enhancing Inmates' Employability to Prevent Re-offending", "Hanged because he had not "substantively assisted" the CNB", "Singaporean drug trafficker executed at Changi Prison for heroin offence", "Singapore executes Malaysian for drug trafficking", https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5079552018ENGLISH.PDF, "Singapore: Ghanaian Drug Trafficker Hanged after Clemency Plea Rejected", "Singapore: Drug Trafficker Hanged after Last-ditch Bid to Reopen Case Fails", https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Amnesty-Death-Sentences-and-Executions-2019.pdf, "The Singapore Government's Response To Amnesty International's Report "Singapore - The Death Penalty: A Hidden Toll of Executions, "Man jailed for 6 years acquitted of murder charges", "Convicted killer executed after final plea failed", "19 murders in first 11 months of 2006, one more than same period in 2005", "From death sentence to life in prison to freedom", "Man serving life sentence to be released", "Mathavakannan s/o Kalimuthu v Attorney-General [2012] SGHC 39", "Murderer fails to escape the gallows: 6 other cases involving the revised death penalty laws", "Singapore Death Penalty Shrouded in Silence", Second Schedule - Offences Punishable on Conviction, "Results on Poll: Would you support a total abolishment of the death sentence? Figures released by the Singapore government show that between 1993 and 2003, 36% of those executed were foreigners, including some residents in Singapore (half of Singapore residents are foreigners). This discretion is similarly applied to those convicted of drug trafficking, provided that they only act as couriers, suffering from impaired mental responsibility (e.g. We don’t know exactly how many inmates there are on death row in Singapore. Chia and several other nuns comforted Nguyen's mother two weeks before his execution for heroin trafficking. Capital punishment for corruption practices, money laundering and other kinds of economic crimes can serve as a deterrent to everyone, and can have long-term benefits to the global development. Sentencing a officer or businessman to death for corruption and bribery and embezzlement however should stop severe bleeding in the national economy and society. Due to this, Kho was once again given the death penalty and he was eventually hanged on 20 May 2016.[109][110]. A report of the review would be submitted to the Ministry of Law. “The Singapore authorities must immediately halt this callous hanging. They would be required to serve a minimum of 20 years before they can be reviewed for possible release. Death penalty is the only deterrent for financial crimes, but Singapore should never waste it. Judges should be given the discretion to impose the death penalty only where deemed appropriate.[67]. In July 2012, the government decided to make a review of the mandatory death penalty applied to certain drug trafficking or murder offences. I personally and wholeheartedly want mandatory capital punishment for financial crimes, like hanging corrupt officers or money launderers to death under gallows. No one has been executed from the start of 2020 to August 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. And it's more disproportionate to have imprisonment for economic crimes than using mandatory death penalty to combat corruption. 32.7% supported the mandatory death penalty for drugs—where, once an accused person is found guilty, judges have no option but to sentence the individual to death—where 54.2% preferred to leave sentencing to the judges’ … As someone living in Singapore I must say I am damn glad we have the death penalty. A group of activists even defied police orders to hold a vigil outside Changi jail in the 24 hours before Van Nguyen was executed. In February 1995 her lawyer submitted a petition for clemency to the President of Singapore. This included 18 people on one day, using three ropes at a time. We are writing to urge you to pass the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2021 to abolish the federal and military death penalty in the United States. Even when an American politician mentions capital punishment in Singapore, the application of the death penalty in the United States is limited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution to only aggravated murders committed by mentally competent adults. In 2010, the law was amended to allow judges to mete out life imprisonment on offenders who were convicted of capital offences but aged below 18 at the time of their crimes instead of subjecting them to indefinite imprisonment under the TPP. One case where an appeal to the Privy Council was successful was the case of death row convict and murderer Mohamed Yasin bin Hussein (also spelt Mohamed Yasin bin Hussin). Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told the BBC in September 2003 that he believed there were "in the region of about 70 to 80" hangings in 2003. In 2012, however, Singapore amended its laws to exempt some cases from the mandatory death sentence.[3]. Capital punishment is considered the norm in East Asia in contrast to Western countries which have largely abolished it within the last century (with a notable exception being the United States), with its use also legal in Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. [59], In 2010, British author Alan Shadrake published his book Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock, which was critical of the Singapore judicial system. For example, no one was executed in 2012 and 2013, and two persons were executed in 2014. According to a Singaporean civil rights group, the Think Centre, 70% of hangings are for drug-related offences. These people will be detained at medical facilities, prisons or at some other safe places in custody, and will be subjected to psychiatric review of their mental conditions until they were suitable for release. This proved again that the judiciary is not independent from the executive – a fact which the International Bar Association ably pointed out in its 2008 report on Singapore – and that the judiciary has to do the government's bidding when it suits them. [48] The validity of these figures is disputed by other Singaporeans, such as the Singaporean drugs counsellor Tony Tan. Yet it is clear that the sponsors of this draft resolution have decided that there can only be one view on capital punishment, and that only one set of choices should be respected... [the death penalty] is an important component of the administration of law and our justice system, and is imposed only for the most serious crimes and serves as a deterrent. [4], In addition to the Penal Code, there are four Acts of Parliament that prescribe death as punishment for offences. He admitted knowledge of one of the packets, which contained 300 grams, but not the other five. Under the Penal Code,[43] the commission of the following offences may result in the death penalty: Since the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2007,[44] Singapore no longer allows for the death penalty for rape nor mutiny. Judges were empowered with the discretion to sentence such offenders to life imprisonment, which suggests the prisoner lives his entire natural life in jail with the possibility of appeal after 20 years (Before the landmark judgement of Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hamsah's appeal on 20 August 1997, a life sentence meant 20 years' imprisonment, and with one-third remission for good behaviour, it would be 13 years and 4 months for the offender receiving the said sentence). Published 20 Mar 2019, 8:58 am. [72], In July 2012, the government decided to make a review of the mandatory death penalty applied to certain drug trafficking or murder offences. "The court recognises that the mandatory death penalty Hello, greetings to everyone and have a good time in doing your best job. They point out that in 1994 and 1999 the United Nations General Assembly failed to adopt resolutions calling for a moratorium on the death penalty worldwide, as a majority of countries opposed such a move. Besides, the jury verdicts were decided not based on facts, evidence and law, but based on emotions, which allowed cases where people are clearly guilty as charged, yet escaped the penalties they deserved with lesser crimes or go scot-free, or cases of wrongful convictions or sentences or both. [42] In 2017, all 8 hangings were for drug offences that year, and 11 of 13 in 2018.[14]. Sunny Ang was eventually hanged on 6 February 1967 after he lost all his appeals to both the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council, and the failure of his clemency plea to President Yusof Ishak.[25]. On 14 January 2015, a landmark ruling was made by the Court of Appeal in the prosecution's appeal against the re-sentencing case of one former death row inmate Kho Jabing, who was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane for being guilty of murdering 40-year-old Chinese PRC citizen Cao Ruyin during a robbery under Section 300(c) of the Penal Code of Singapore. La personne qui a lancé cette pétition a décidé d'agir. Dustin Higgs was convicted and sentenced to the federal death penalty as an accomplice to the 1996 murders of Tanji Jackson, Tamika Black and Mishann Chinn. The main piece of official information published about the death penalty is the number of judicial executions that took place the year before — it’s buried in annual reports by the Singapore Prison Service. I did not 'apologise' at all and welcomed the prison sentence which drew even more attention to the real issues. [52], Public debate in the Singaporean news media on the death penalty is almost non-existent, although the topic does occasionally get discussed in the midst of major, well-known criminal cases. It has destroyed everyone's lives and caused various crimes to rise. And imprisoning a corruption practitioner would leave higher risks of them continuing such crimes and thus leaving long-term loss in economy. Augustine Tan Kim Siah), and his two, Mohammed Ali bin Johari, who was executed on 19 December 2008 for the, Iskandar bin Rahmat, a former police officer who was sentenced to death in December 2015 for the, Whether an offender displayed viciousness during the time of the commission of the offence of murder, Whether an offender demonstrated a blatant disregard for human life at the time of the killing, Whether the offender's actions sparked an outrage of the feelings of the community, This page was last edited on 21 March 2021, at 22:15. In December 2005, the Law Society revealed that it has set up a committee, named Review Committee on Capital Punishment, to examine capital punishment in the country. However, the judicial jury system was met with inefficiencies, because it became harder for the jurors to decide if a person is guilty or not due to their lack of professional legal background. Each execution in Singapore is carried out by long drop hanging in Changi Prison at dawn, except once on 20 May 2016 when the execution of Kho Jabing was carried out at 3:30 pm after his appeal for a stay of execution was dismissed that same morning. shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have had that drug in his possession. Singapore—In the wake of recent near-executions, discussions are ongoing as to whether the death penalty should be abolished, with rights groups renewing this call. Singapore has had capital punishment since it was a British colony and became independent before the United Kingdom abolished capital punishment. [95][96] Abdul Haleem's accomplice and friend, 28-year-old Muhammad Ridzuan bin Md Ali, on the other hand, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking and later put to death on 19 May 2017. Two wrongs do not make a right. [98][99] There were also some cases where some death row inmates declined to be re-sentenced, including Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng (whose hangings were mentioned in the above paragraph). Murugesu had been arrested after being caught in possession of six packets containing just over 1 kilograms of cannabis after returning from Malaysia. He is also charged with criminal defamation. The judges in Singapore were given a discretion to impose a sentence of life imprisonment with mandatory caning for offenders who commit murder but had no intention to kill, which came under Sections 300(b), 300(c) and 300(d) of the Penal Code (the death penalty remains mandatory only for murder offences committed with intention to kill, which came under section 300(a) of the Penal Code). My so-called apology was to merely point out that my book was sub-titled Singapore Justice in the Dock – NOT Singapore Judiciary in the Dock. Hope CPIB relearn this and reconsider implementing death sentence for these financial crimes. [35] The last clemency granted to a death row inmate was in April 1998 when then President Ong Teng Cheong pardoned a 19-year-old death row inmate and convicted murderer Mathavakannan Kalimuthu, and reduced his sentence to life imprisonment. The death penalty has been effective in keeping Singapore one of the safest places in the world to work and live in. [49] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime notes that Singapore remains a transit destination for drug traffickers in Asia, drug seizures continue to increase and heroin drug use within Singapore is continuing to rise.[50]. The Singapore government states that the death penalty is only used in the most serious of crimes, sending, they say, a strong message to potential offenders. Numbers in curly brackets are the number of foreign citizens executed, according to information disclosed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. [45] Any person who uses or attempts to use arms (Section 4) can face execution, as well as any person who uses or attempts to use arms to commit scheduled offences (Section 4A). After hearing the case, the judges would sum up the case and the arguments from the defence and the prosecution on behalf of the jurors to allow them to consider before they reached on their final verdict. INTRODUCTION1. 03-09-2019 17:53. in News. "[2], Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, a former opposition Member of Parliament, was reportedly only given a few minutes to speak in Parliament on the issue before his comments were rebutted by Ho Peng Kee.[4][54]. In 2012, a couple of American elected officials and office-seekers have suggested that Singapore's success in combating drug abuse should be examined as a model for the United States. While the local abolitionist movement has grown over the years, … The government have said that they: Since the use of the death penalty in Singapore, it is a normal practice that in the court, before the death sentence was passed, everyone who are present in the courtroom are told to stand up from their seats and remain silent, and by which moment, the judge would proceed to pronounce and pass the death sentence on the defendant, who was found guilty and convicted of the capital offence by the judge before sentencing. The many cases I exposed where various judges sentenced some accused to death despite dubious, suspect evidence concocted by the police and their informers while others with powerful countries behind them had their charges inexplicably reduced to a non-hanging offence. Consequently, the guiding principles from Kho Jabing's case also impacted on several subsequent murder cases and influenced the sentencing or appeal outcomes of these murder cases, which included the 2010 Kallang Slashings,[142][143] the Gardens by the Bay murder case,[144] the Circuit Road flat murder,[145][146] and the murder of Dexmon Chua Yizhi[147][148][149] etc. Before its abolition in 1970, there were jury trials conducted to hear capital cases in Singapore since the British colonial rule of Singapore. [51] The President of Singapore has the power to designate certain security areas. Since then, execution has become far less common, with some years having no executions at all. It defended Singapore's policy to retain the death penalty, predicating its arguments on, among others, the following grounds:[41], The Ministry of Home Affairs also refuted Amnesty International's claims of the majority of the executed being foreigners, and that it was "mostly the poor, least educated, and vulnerable people who are executed". Sign the petition Sponsor The first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was a staunch supporter of capital punishment. Ferez-vous la même chose ? [26][27][28] The capital cases were instead heard before two judges in the High Court; this practice lasted from 1970 to 1992. Singapore currently doesn't have death sentence for corruption, but they have imprisonment and fines, which are NEVER SUITED for corruption. The Arms Offences Act under Singapore law regulates criminal offences dealing with firearms and weapons. The Ministry stated: "Singaporeans, and not foreigners, were the majority of those executed... Of those executed from 1993 to 2003, 95% were above 21 years of age, and 80% had received formal education. According to Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, being found in possession of 15g of heroin, or 500g of cannabis, is enough for one to be presumed to be trafficking. Explaining the process in Singapore, Surendran said the Singapore government’s rejection of a clemency petition from a prisoner who had been sentenced to death “is usually followed soon after by the prisoner’s execution”. She was sentenced to death in July 1994 for importing heroin into Singapore. This avenue of appeal was fully abolished for all criminal and civil matters in April 1994. These people, once they were proven to be of unsound mind when they commit capital crimes, and once they were found guilty, they will not be given the death penalty but were sentenced to another form of indefinite detention at the President's Pleasure, different from the type of the TPP applied to underaged offenders (at least until 2010). Vui Kong who just want to redeem his past sins is actually an unrecognized ally of the Singapore Government in the latter’s anti-drug campaign. Corruption is the root cause of all crimes in a single country and is actually a lethal crime that has taken lives of everyone, via bribery, embezzlement, and other financial crimes. In exceptional cases since 2012, the Court of Appeal would be asked to review its previous decisions in concluded criminal appeals where it was necessary to correct a miscarriage of justice, most of which involved drug cases attracting the death penalty. Since 2010, 23 prisoners have been executed for drug offences, while only 5 have been executed for other offences, such as murder. For example, science fiction author William Gibson, while a journalist, wrote a travel piece on Singapore that he sarcastically titled "Disneyland with the Death Penalty". SINGAPORE The death penalty: A hidden toll of executions "Singapore recognizes that the death penalty is a severe penalty and cannot be remedied in the event of any mistake in its application. The terms of the Kidnapping Act designate abduction, wrongful restraint or wrongful confinement for ransom as capital offences. In the midst of this review, a moratorium was imposed on all the 35 pending executions in Singapore at that time (7 for murder and 28 for drug trafficking). depression), substantively assisting the authorities in tackling drug trafficking activities or any other conditions. It is applied in practice mainly for murder and drug-related crimes, as well as some firearm-related offences. [22], Under Section 316 of the Criminal Procedure Code:[23]. Despite this discretion, a sentence of life imprisonment is the mandatory minimum penalty one will face for capital murder or drug trafficking offences in these circumstances. Death penalty is the only deterrent for financial crimes, but Singapore should never waste it.
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