Woman Executed In Singapore First Time In Decades

Singapore is one of four countries, alongside China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, to carry out executions over drug charges.

Anyone convicted of trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin faces the mandatory death penalty. Djanami’s execution brings the total number of executions for drugs offences to 15 since March 22 last year.

According to report, Singapore hung a woman on allegations of drug trafficking on Friday, the first such execution in the country for 19 years.

Saridewi Djamani, 45, was executed for trafficking nearly 31 grams (1.09 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the country’s Central Narcotics Bureau said.

She is the first woman to be executed in the southeast Asian country since 2004.

It comes after Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, a 56-year-old Singaporean man, was executed on Wednesday for trafficking 50g of heroin.

The narcotics bureau said both prisoners hung this week were accorded due process, including appeals of their conviction and sentence and petition for presidential clemency.

Ms Djamani said she had been unable to give accurate statements to the police as she was suffering from symptoms of drug withdrawals, but this was dismissed by a judge.

According to activists Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) , Mr Hussain had argued that his statements were not admissible as the investigating officer had coerced him into making certain admissions, and had promised him a reduced non-capital charge. These claims were disputed by the investigating officer.

More than two-thirds of countries all over the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, according to Amnesty International.

Singapore’s close neighbour Malaysia has observed an official moratorium on executions since 2018 and recently repealed the mandatory death penalty, including for drug-related offences.

Amnesty International’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 countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither.

“The only message that these executions send is that the government of Singapore is willing to once again defy international safeguards on the use of the death penalty.”

The Singaporean Government claims that the policy helps to deter drug use and organised crime.

The TJC has said a new execution notice has been issued to another prisoner for August 3. It said the prisoner was a delivery driver who was convicted in 2019 for trafficking around 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin. The group said the man had maintained in his trial that he believed he was delivering contraband cigarettes for a friend he owed money and he didn’t verify the contents of the bag as he trusted his friend.

The previous last woman to be executed over drugs trafficking charges in Singapore was Yen May Woen, a 36-year-old hairdresser from China.