Singapore set to execute first woman in nearly 20 years
text_fields
Singapore is set to carry out two executions this week, including that of the first woman to be put to death in nearly two decades, said rights groups urging authorities to halt the executions.
The Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a local rights organisation, reported that a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at Changi Prison. Along with him, a 45-year-old woman convict identified as Saridewi Djamani by TJC is also set to be executed on Friday for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.
If the execution of Saridewi Djamani is carried out, she would become the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai to AFP.
Both prisoners are Singaporeans, and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.
Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and certain forms of kidnapping. The country also has some of the world's toughest anti-drug laws, where trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can lead to the death penalty.
Singapore resumed executions following a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, at least 13 people have been executed under this resumption.
Rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on Singapore to halt the impending executions. Amnesty's death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said, "It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control. 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 international trends move away from the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore's authorities appear to be diverging from this direction. Despite this, Singapore maintains that the death penalty is an effective deterrent against crime.