Human rights organizations in Singapore reported that Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, will be executed next week for complicity in the trafficking of one kilogram of cannabis, leading to Amnesty International’s condemnation as “extreme cruelty” and a “violation of international law.” The Prison Service sent a notice to the family of Suppiah, who was convicted in 2017 and whose sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal.
What has been particularly troubling to human rights activists is that Suppiah never had physical contact with the drug in question. Kirsten Han, a human rights activist, explained that “Tangaraju Suppiah’s execution for his alleged involvement in a drug-related crime is one of the many atrocities taking place in Singapore in the name of the fight against drugs. The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment that should not be a tool to combat crime. This is especially true in a case like Tangaraju’s, where he never touched the drug in question.”
The abolition of the death penalty in Singapore is a constant request from human rights organizations, given that the city-state has one of the toughest laws worldwide against drugs and considers that capital punishment remains an effective tool to deter drug trafficking.
Notably, Singapore resumed execution by hanging in March 2022 after a pause of more than two years, and 11 executions were carried out last year, all related to drug offenses.