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Singapore drug trafficker executed despite appeals

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean drug trafficker was hanged yesterday after a rare public appeal by his teenaged sons failed to postpone the execution.

Shanmugam Murugesu, 38, was hanged at 6am in Changi prison despite weeks of campaigning by local and international civil rights groups and his family.  Shanmugam, an ethnic Tamil whose only previous conviction was a traffic offence, was arrested at the Malaysian border in August 2003 with 1.03kg of cannabis. Capital punishment in the city-state has long been shrouded in silence, but the case sparked rare debate on the death penalty after Shanmugam’s twin 14-year-old sons, Gopalan and Krishnan, gathered nearly 1,000 signatures in a petition seeking clemency from Singapore President S R Nathan.
“This is definitely the first time the local community has come forward to look at the death penalty issue,” said Sinapan Samydorai, president of Think Centre, a civil rights group.
“We know it will take time for the death penalty to be abolished in Singapore but at least now we have people saying that things should change,” he said.

There are no official figures on how many people are currently on death row. Since 1991, about 400 people have been hanged in Singapore, mostly for drug trafficking, giving the Southeast Asian island of 4.2mn people possibly the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population, said London-based rights group Amnesty International in its 2004 report. The Singapore government has slammed the report and denied Amnesty’s charge that most of those hanged were foreigners from poorer countries. It rebutted the report with data showing 64% of those executed from 1993 to 2003 were Singaporeans. Only six people sentenced to death in Singapore have been spared execution since independence, a prison official told Reuters yesterday, confirming Amnesty International figures. They included two women convicted of drug trafficking and four men convicted of murder.

The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state has had capital punishment since its days as a British colony. Those found guilty of murder, kidnapping, treason, firearm offences and drug trafficking could face the gallows. Laws enacted in 1975 proscribe death by hanging for anyone aged 18 or over who is convicted of carrying more than 15g of heroin, 30g of cocaine, 500g of cannabis or 250g of methamphetamines. While Shanmugam’s campaign was widely covered in the media, observers say that it is unlikely to have a major impact on policy. Political commentator and former newspaper editor Seah Chiang Nee said there was little public support for abolishing the death penalty for murderers and drug traffickers.
“The public is not sympathetic to these people because capital punishment is seen to have kept crime rates low,” he said.

Singapore has repeatedly defended its use of the death penalty, saying it is imposed only for the most serious crimes and maintaining that capital punishment has deterred major drug syndicates from establishing themselves in the city-state. – Reuters

Thank you to all of you who sent in appeals.

Man to be executed in Singapore this Friday (13th) for importing 1 kg of cannabis

The tiny state of Singapore has the highest per capita execution rate in the world and along with many of its SE Asian neighbours has a zero tolerance policy on drugs that includes the death penalty for trafficking and other drug offences. Shanmugam Murugesu, a father of two 14 year old twins and military veteran who has confessed, repented and only ever had a traffic violation, is due to be executed this Friday for the importation of approximately 1kg of cannabis. The absurdity of the sentence has provoked a rare public outcry in the authoritarian state - with public vigils being held for the first time in many years. For the full story see:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1479037,00.html

Join AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’s appeal to save his life and to change the execution laws in Singapore:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL APPEAL:
PUBLIC AI
Index: ASA 36/001/2005
29 April
2005
UA 104/05
Imminent execution

SINGAPORE
Shanmugam s/o Murugesu (m), aged 38, former taxi-driver and window cleaner is facing imminent execution, following the rejection of his appeal for clemency to the President of Singapore. He was arrested when immigration
officers found 1029.8 grams of cannabis in his motorcycle carrier box as he entered Singapore from Malaysia. It is thought likely he will be hanged at dawn on 13 May.

In April 2004,Shanmugam s/o Murugesu was sentenced to death under the Misuse of Drugs Act, which carries a mandatory death sentence for anyone found guilty of trafficking in more than 500 grams of cannabis. In January 2005 the Court of Appeal rejected his appeal against the death sentence. He has no previous criminal record, has reportedly expressed deep regret for his actions and has asked for the opportunity to be rehabilitated.

Following his divorce in 2002 he was granted custody of his twin 14-year-old sons. The twins have lost contact with their mother and are currently being cared for by their grandmother who is in frail health. In their clemency
appeal to the President of Singapore, the twins wrote: “Now that he is going to be executed we will become orphans. We cannot imagine our lives without him and if he is not with us, we don’t have the strength to take it... We beg you to spare his life”.

There is very little public debate about the death penalty in Singapore due to controls imposed by the government on the press and civil society organizations. However, on 16 April 2005, local activists organized a rare
public forum to highlight Shanmugam’s case. Participants at the forum described the cruel and inhuman nature of the death penalty and its impact on the families of those on death row. They also described the risk of
miscarriages of justice and expressed serious concerns about the Singapore government’s justification of the death penalty as an effective deterrent against drug trafficking and other crimes. An Amnesty International
representative who attended the forum was refused permission by the authorities to address the meeting. Local activists plan to hold a vigil for Shanmugam on 6 May.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Singapore, with a population of just over four million, has the highest per capita execution rate in the world. At least 420 people have been executed since 1991, the majority for drug trafficking. The Singapore government has
consistently maintained that the death penalty is not a human rights issue.

The Misuse of Drugs Act provides for a mandatory death sentence for at least 20 different offences and contains a series of presumptions which shift the burden of proof from the prosecution to the accused. Such presumptions erode the right to a fair trial, increasing the risk that an innocent person may be executed, and conflicting with the universally guaranteed right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Prisoners facing execution may be
granted clemency by the President, on the advice of the Cabinet, but it is extremely rare for clemency to be given.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty worldwide in all cases as a violation of one of the most fundamental of human rights: the right to life.It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and is imposed disproportionately on the poorest, least educated and most vulnerable members of society. It takes the lives of offenders who might otherwise have been rehabilitated. There is no escaping the risk of error which can lead to the execution of an innocent person. In April 2005 the UN Commission on Human Rights renewed calls upon all states which still maintain the death penalty to abolish it completely and, in the meantime, to establish a
moratorium on executions.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

- urging the authorities to reconsider the decision to refuse clemency in the case of Shanmugam s/o Murugesu and urging them to commute his death sentence;

urging the authorities to impose a moratorium on executions, with a view to complete abolition, in line with the April 2005 UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) resolution on the question of the death penalty;

noting that the UNCHR has urged states which still maintain the death penalty not to impose it as a mandatory sentence, or for crimes without lethal or extremely grave consequences.

APPEALS TO (Time difference = GMT + 8 hrs / BST + 7 hrs):
Minister of Law
Prof. S. Jayakumar
Ministry of Law
100 High Street
The Treasury #08-02
Singapore 179434
Fax: 0065 6332 8842
[Salutation: Dear Minister]

Attorney General
Chan Sek Keong
Attorney General’s Chambers
1 Coleman Street #10-00
Singapore 179803
Fax: 0065 6332 5984
[Salutation: Dear Attorney General]

Chief Justice
Yong Pung How
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Building
St Andrew’s Road
Singapore 178957
Fax: 0065 6337 9450
[Salutation: Dear Chief Justice]

PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO: His Excellency Mr Michael Eng Cheng
Teo,
High Commission of the Republic of Singapore, 9 Wilton Crescent,
London
SW1X 8SP. Fax: 020 7235 5874 Email: info@singaporehc.org.uk

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY

Thank you.