Singapore hangs first woman in 19 years after she was convicted of trafficking 31 grams of heroin
Kuala Lumpur (AP): Singapore conducted its first execution of a woman in 19 years on Friday and its second hanging this week for drug trafficking despite calls for the city-state to cease capital punishment for drug-related crimes.
Activists said another execution is set next week.
Saridewi Djamani, 45, had been sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking nearly 31 grams (1.09 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the Central Narcotics Bureau said. Its statement said the amount was "sufficient to feed the addiction of about 370 abusers for a week."
Singapore's laws mandate the death penalty for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of cannabis and 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of heroin.
Djamani's execution came two days after that of a Singaporean man, Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, for trafficking around 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin.
The narcotics bureau said both prisoners were accorded due process, including appeals of their conviction and sentence and petition for presidential clemency.
Human rights groups, international activists and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug offenses and say there is increasing evidence it is ineffective as a deterrent. Singapore authorities insist capital punishment is important to halting drug demand and supply.
Human rights groups say it has executed 15 people for drug offenses since it resumed hangings in March 2022, an average of one a month.
Anti-death penalty activists said the last woman known to have been hanged in Singapore was 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen, also for drug trafficking, in 2004.
Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore group which advocates for the abolishment of capital punishment, said a new execution notice has been issued to another prisoner for Aug, 3 the fifth this year alone.
It said the prisoner is an ethnic Malay citizen who worked as a delivery driver before his arrest in 2016. He was convicted in 2019 for trafficking around 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of heroin, it said. 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.
Although the court found he was merely a courier, the man still had to be given the mandatory death penalty, it said. The group "condemns, in the strongest terms, the state's bloodthirsty streak" and reiterated calls for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
Critics say Singapore's harsh policy merely punish low-level traffickers and couriers, who are typically recruited from marginalized groups with vulnerabilities. They say Singapore is also out of step with the trend of more countries moving away from capital punishment. Neighbouring Thailand has legalized cannabis while Malaysia ended the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes this year. (AP)
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RS proceedings adjourned for day amid opposition protest over Adani bribery row, other issues
New Delhi(PTI): Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday as opposition members insisted on a discussion on various issues, including bribery charges related to the Adani Group.
The proceedings were briefly adjourned in the morning session due to opposition protest, and when the House re-assembled at 11.30 AM, there were identical scenes.
This prompted Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to adjourn the proceedings for the day, saying the "House is not in order".
The trobule started after Dhankhar rejected 18 notices under a rule of the House to suspend scheduled business and take up issues mentioned in the notices.
The notices related to demand for 'constitution of a JPC to investigate the alleged misconduct, including corruption, bribery, financial irregularities of the Adani Group in connivance with other authorities', violence in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and rising incidents of crime in the national capital.
"Upper House needs to reflect and follow well-established traditions that ruling of the Chair requires reference and not cause differences. I have, in detail, given reasons why, in these situations, notices are not being accepted," Dhankhar said while rejecting the notices under Rule 267 of the House.
On Monday also, the Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day during the morning session itself as opposition insisted on raising the issues related to Adani Group.
There was no sitting of the House on Tuesday.
The Adani Group said on Wednesday that Gautam Adani, and his nephew Sagar have not been charged with any violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment that authorities filed in the New York court in an alleged bribery case.
