Singapore hangs man for trafficking 1kg cannabis

Family of Tangaraju Suppiah had pleaded for clemency, saying he had not had adequate legal counsel or an interpreter.

Singapore has hanged 46-year-old Tangaraju Suppiah who was found guilty in 2018 of trafficking more than 1kg (2.2 pounds) of cannabis, despite last-minute appeals for clemency from his family and activists.

His family said they had been given Tangaraju’s death certificate, anti-death penalty campaigner Kirsten Han wrote on Twitter.

A spokesperson for the country’s prison service told the AFP news agency that the sentence had been carried out at Changi prison in the island’s east.

Tangaraju Suppiah was sentenced to death in 2018 for abetting the attempted trafficking of just over 1kg of cannabis. A judge found he was using a phone number that was communicating with traffickers attempting to smuggle the drugs into Singapore.

Tangaraju’s family and activists had argued that the 46-year-old was not provided with adequate legal counsel and that he was denied access to a Tamil interpreter while he was being questioned by the police.

Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson deplored the execution and said the evidence against Tangaraju was “far from clear cut – since he never actually touched the marijuana in question, was questioned by police without a lawyer, and denied access to a Tamil interpreter when he asked for one”.

The execution was the first in Singapore in six months, following 11 last year.

An increasing number of Singaporeans have expressed concern about the use of the mandatory death penalty in drug cases with last year’s hanging of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam prompting rare protests in the tightly-controlled city-state.

Malaysia recently passed legal reforms to remove the mandatory death sentence for offences including drugs and give judges the discretion to decide on sentencing.

Singapore argues its tough stance is a deterrent to drug trafficking.

The United Nations says countries that retain the death penalty should only use it for the most serious crimes, which does not include drug offences. On Tuesday, it urged Singapore to halt Tanagarju’s execution.

“Singapore’s continued use of the death penalty for drug possession is a human rights outrage that makes much of the world recoil, and wonder whether the image of modern, civilised Singapore is just a mirage,” Human Rights Watch’s Robertson said.