UN deplores double execution in Singapore
Two more convicted drug traffickers are to be hanged on Friday
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations (UN) said two men convicted of trafficking drugs were put to death in Singapore on Tuesday, voicing alarm at further planned executions.
“We deplore the hanging today of two men in Singapore and are deeply troubled by the planned execution of two others on August 5,” UN Rights Office spokesperson Liz Throssell said in a statement.
Two other men, Abdul Rahim bin Shapiee and Ong Seow Ping, are expected to be executed on Friday.
A Malaysian and a Singaporean were hanged at Changi Prison after being convicted in May 2015 of drug trafficking and their appeals subsequently rejected, she said.
Two other men, Abdul Rahim bin Shapiee and Ong Seow Ping, are expected to be executed on Friday after the latter’s family was notified of his fate on 29 July, Throssell added.
They were both convicted in 2018 of possessing drugs for trafficking and their sentences upheld on appeal, she said.
“We urge the Singapore authorities to halt all scheduled executions,” Throssell said.
“We also call on the government of Singapore to end the use of mandatory death sentences for drug offenses, commute all death sentences to a sentence of imprisonment and immediately put in place a moratorium on all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”
After a hiatus of more than two years, the city-state resumed executions in March with the hanging of a Singaporean drug trafficker.
The execution in April of Malaysian trafficker Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam sparked international outrage due to concerns that he was mentally disabled.
A fifth execution since March was carried out in late July and activists fear more will be carried out in coming months.