Singapore executes two more death sentences for drug trafficking

Despite protests from human rights activists, two drug traffickers were executed in Singapore on Thursday.

The executed were Kalwant Singh, a 32-year-old from Malaysia, and Norasharee Gous from Singapore, Singaporean human rights activist Kirsten Han announced. Both had been convicted of trafficking heroin in 2016.

This brings the number of executions in Singapore to four since March. Kalawant had filed a last-minute appeal Wednesday. His lawyers argued he had provided information that helped authorities arrest a suspected drug trafficker.

But judges rejected the appeal, saying drug enforcement authorities did not use the information he provided to arrest the suspect. Singapore’s drug laws are among the strictest in the world, and the country’s judiciary sees the death penalty as an effective deterrent.

Amnesty International, on the other hand, calls it a “flagrant violation of human rights.” In April, the execution of a mentally disabled man in Singapore had caused widespread outrage at the UN and the EU, among others.

After a hiatus of more than two years, Singapore began carrying out the death penalty again in March. Activists fear that more executions will follow in the coming months.

Source: https://www.nau.ch/news/ausland/zwei-weitere-todesurteile-in-singapur-vollstreckt-66217466