Capital punishment in Singapore
Capital punishment in Singapore is a legal penalty. Executions in Singapore are carried out by long drop hanging,[1] and usually take place at dawn. Thirty-three offences—including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, use of firearms and kidnapping—warrant the death penalty under Singapore law.
In 2012, Singapore amended its laws to exempt some offences from the mandatory death sentence.[2] In a 2005 survey by The Straits Times, 95% of Singaporeans were of the view that their country should retain the death penalty.[3] The support steadily fell throughout the years due to the increasing liberal opinions of society. Despite the decline, a large majority of the public remains supportive of the use of the death penalty, with more than 80% of Singaporeans believing that their country should retain the death penalty in 2021.[4]
The most recent execution to be conducted in Singapore took place on 28 February 2024, when 35-year-old Ahmed Salim, a Bangladeshi national, was hanged for the murder of his former fiancée back in 2018.[5]
Legislation[edit]
Procedures[edit]
Section 316 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that the death penalty in Singapore is to be conducted by hanging.[1]
Hangings always take place at dawn and are conducted by the long drop method. The Singapore government has affirmed its choice of execution by hanging in favour of other methods.[6]
It is a normal practice for everyone present in the courtroom to stand and remain silent before the death sentence is passed.[7] The judge will then proceed to announce the death sentence on the accused, who has been found guilty and convicted of the capital offence. The condemned will be given notice at least four days before execution. In the case of foreigners sentenced to death, their families and diplomatic missions or embassies will be given one to two weeks' notice.[8]
Death row conditions[edit]
A 1978 newspaper article described the death row section of the original Changi Prison as consisting of 24 cells arranged in a horse shoe shaped block around an open air grassy exercise yard. The exercise area itself was enclosed in steel bars and had a wire mesh roof to prevent escape by helicopter.[93] Amnesty International reports that death row inmates are housed in cells of roughly three square metres (32 square feet).[16] Walls make up three sides, while the fourth is made up of vertical bars. They are equipped with a toilet, a sleeping mat, and a bucket for washing. Exercise is permitted twice a day for half an hour at a time.[8] Four days before the execution, the condemned is allowed to watch television or listen to the radio.[16]
Special meals of their choice are also cooked, if within the prison budget. One documented last meal of an inmate was the last meal order of Tangaraju Suppiah, who asked for chicken rice, ice cream soda, nasi biryani and Milo-flavoured sweets before his hanging, while another was John Martin Scripps, who ordered a pizza and a cup of hot chocolate before his execution.[94][95]
Visiting rights are increased from one 20-minute visit per week to a maximum of four hours each day,[8] though no physical contact is allowed with any visitors.[16] In addition, two days before an execution, an inmate is allowed to have a photo shoot and be given their own clothes to pose during a photoshoot; the photo will be given to their families as remembrance.[96]
Public debate[edit]
Public response[edit]
Public debate in the Singaporean news media on the death penalty is almost non-existent, although the topic is occasionally discussed in the midst of highly publicised criminal cases. Efforts to garner public opinion on the issue are rare, although it has been suggested that the population is influenced by a legalist philosophy which holds that harsh punishment deters crime and helps maintain social peace and harmony.[97] In October 2007, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee said in Parliament that "Certain of us may hold the view that the death penalty should be abolished. But in a survey done two years ago, reported in the Straits Times, 95% of Singaporeans feel that the death penalty should stay. This is something which has helped us to be safe and secure all these years and it is only reserved for a very few select offences."[3]
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, an opposition Member of Parliament, was reportedly only given a few minutes to speak in Parliament on the issue before his comments were rebutted by Ho Peng Kee.[16][98]
There were a few instances where in certain high-profile cases, the public would argue for the death penalty to be imposed on those who allegedly committed murder. In the case of Annie Ee Yu Lian who was abused and murdered by her two friends, some Singaporeans were angered at the cruelty displayed by the offenders and felt that the sentences (which were between 14 and 16 years) for grievous hurt were too light, which prompted them to petition for harsher punishments; some even demanded for the death penalty to be imposed on the couple.[99][100][101] In another case regarding the death of four-year-old Mohamad Daniel Mohamad Nasser due to child abuse perpetuated by his mother and her boyfriend, some Singaporeans felt that their sentences of ten to eleven years were too light and petitioned to the courts to sentence the couple to death.[102][103]
Younger generations of Singaporeans tend to have a more liberal approach towards drug use. The government, in response, has introduced education programmes on the dangers of drugs.[104] There were cases of ex-drug convicts who also advocated against the use of drugs; some even agree that the death penalty was effective. A former trafficker once stated that in the past, he would always make sure the measurement of his delivered drugs were below the minimum amount to avoid capital punishment.[105] A female prisoner and drug convict also spoke up about the death penalty while being interviewed in prison, where she was serving 26 years' jail since 2014. She agreed to the relevance and effect of the death penalty in stopping people from selling and taking drugs, as she knew how drug trafficking caused damage to families and inflict sufferings especially to the children of drug addicts.[106] Simon Khung, a social media influencer who eventually stopped taking drugs after the 2020 murder of his daughter Megan Khung (who was allegedly killed by her mother),[107] told a newspaper in 2024 that he supported the death penalty for drug trafficking, as he felt that the drug situation in Singapore would grow worse in the absence of capital punishment and more people would become drug abusers and ruin their lives like he and the former abusers had in their pasts; Khung's stance was supported by other ex-abusers, and one of them, Bruce Mathieu (who overcame his drug addiction seven years prior), said that the death penalty had deterred him from resorting to drug smuggling.[108]
In the aftermath of several executions, there were discussions among the Singaporean public about the need for compassion for some death row inmates, owing to arguments that many death row inmates had come from low-income families or had drug addictions before ending up on death row. However, the public sentiments remained leaning towards capital punishment for drugs, owing to arguments concerning rampant rates of drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia, the effectiveness of the death penalty in maintaining Singapore's low crime rate, and the impact drugs have had on the addicts and their families.[109]
When 31-year-old Singaporean Shen Hanjie was sentenced to death for trafficking 34.94g of pure heroin in October 2022,[110] a huge majority of the netizens showed support for the death sentence in Shen's case, with some expressing sympathy for his family, especially his parents. Most of the supporters also stated that the death sentence should be deployed for drug crimes due to its strong deterrent effect.[111] Shen's death sentence was subsequently upheld after he lost his appeal on 1 March 2024.[112]
Protests and opposition[edit]
Before the hanging of Shanmugam Murugesu, a three-hour vigil was held on 6 May 2005. The organisers of the event at the Furama Hotel said it was the first such public gathering organised solely by members of the public against the death penalty in Singapore. Murugesu had been arrested after being caught in possession of six packets containing just over 1 kg of cannabis after returning from Malaysia. He admitted knowledge of one of the packets, which contained 300 grams, but not the other five.[113][114] The event was reportedly unreported by mainstream media outlets, and was later shut down by the police.[113][115]
After the hanging of Australian citizen Van Tuong Nguyen on 2 December 2005, Susan Chia, province leader of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Singapore, declared that "the death penalty is cruel, inhumane and it violates the right to life." Chia and several other nuns comforted Nguyen's mother two weeks before his execution for heroin trafficking.[116]
Singapore's death penalty laws have drawn comments in the media. For example, science fiction author William Gibson, while a journalist, wrote a travel piece on Singapore that he sarcastically titled "Disneyland with the Death Penalty".[117]
In 2010, British author Alan Shadrake published his book, Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock, which was critical of the Singapore judicial system.[118] The main criticism of the book asserted that wealthy, often well-connected foreigners, could expect leniency from law enforcement, while the poor and disenfranchised were in effect "summarily executed".[119] Shadrake's book [120] highlighted the contrasting fortunes of German citizen Julia Suzanne Bohl, who ran a major drug ring catering to well off professionals and was herself caught with a capital amount (over 500 grams) of cannabis when police raided her apartment,[121] to Singaporean drug addict Yen May Woen who was caught in possession of 30 grams of low quality heroin. While Bohl had her charges reduced after German diplomatic pressure was allegedly applied amidst much media coverage of her plight and returned to Germany after 3 years imprisonment,[122] the case of Woen received very little coverage in the local newspapers and she was executed [123] after the trial judge handed down the mandatory death sentence.[124]
Shadrake was arrested whilst promoting the book in Singapore and later sentenced to six weeks in prison for contempt of court. He is also charged with criminal defamation. The case attracted worldwide attention, putting the Singapore legal system in the spotlight.[125][126] Shadrake apologised to the court if he had offended the sensitivities of the judiciary and did not mean to undermine the judges or the judiciary, but stood by his book, apart from a mistake contained within.[127] The judge, Quentin Loh, dismissed his apology as "nothing more than a tactical ploy in court to obtain a reduced sentence".[128] Shadrake's conviction for scandalising the court was upheld by the Court of Appeal.[129]
On 5 October 2018, Singapore carried out three executions of drug traffickers - Zainudin bin Mohamed, Abdul Wahid Bin Ismail, and Mohsen Bin Na’im, it led to the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and 28 civil society organizations in Asia showing condemnation over the triple hangings, and these groups the death sentence was a grave violation of the right to life, which was "the most fundamental and essential human right for other rights to be realized". They also argued that the executions of Zainudin, Abdul Wahid and Mohsen did not serve any purpose for the island-state and its citizens in terms of fulfilling the ends of justice.[130]
In March 2022, when Singapore dismissed the final appeal of Malaysian death row prisoner Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam and later authorized the execution of Singaporean drug convict Abdul Kahar Othman, which was its first execution during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 400 Singaporeans, including rights activists Jolovan Wham, Kirsten Han and Kokila Annamalai, who took part in a protest against the government's use of the death penalty at Hong Lim Park.[131][132] With regards to Abdul Kahar's execution, the European Union (EU) condemned it and stated that capital punishment is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which not only failed to deter crime but also defied both humanity's dignity and integrity.[133] Two days prior to Nagaenthran's execution (which took place on 27 April 2022), a candlelight vigil was held on his behalf.[134][135][136]
In October 2023, former Mongolia president Elbegdorj Tsakhia wrote to CNN, expressing his opposition to the death penalty and he cited Singapore as an example. Stating that Mongolia had abolished capital punishment and the crime rate in Mongolia never increased in the aftermath, Elbegdorj stated that he was concerned with the past 16 executions of low to mid-level drug traffickers in Singapore since March 2022, especially the July 2023 hanging of Saridewi Djamani (Singapore's first female to be put to death since 2004), and while he avers his respect for Singapore in terms of its prosperity and stability, Elbegdorj hoped that Singapore could re-evaluate the effectiveness of using the death penalty to curb drug crimes in favour of eventual abolition, due to the death penalty not able to fully uproot the cause of drug trafficking. He also stated that with the newly elected president Tharman Shanmugaratnam taking office, he hoped that the president could affirm the presidential powers of granting clemency to those on death row to soften the government's retentionist stance on capital punishment.[137]
Law Society review[edit]
In December 2005, the Law Society revealed that it has set up a committee, named Review Committee on Capital Punishment, to examine capital punishment in the country. The President of the Society, Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam, said that the main focus of the review was on issues regarding administering the death penalty such as whether it should be mandatory. A report of the review would be submitted to the Ministry of Law.[138] On 6 November 2006, they were invited to give its views on proposed amendments to the Penal Code to the Ministry of Home Affairs. In their report, issued on 30 March 2007, they argued against the mandatory death penalty:
International impact of Singapore's death penalty laws[edit]
Impact on negotiations of extraditing suspects to Singapore[edit]
In 2002, Singapore tried to negotiate with Australia for the extradition of a British murder suspect and fugitive Michael McCrea, who was wanted for the double murder of a couple whose corpses were discovered abandoned in a car at Orchard Towers. However, McCrea, who was arrested in Australia, was not extradited as Australia, which abolished the death penalty for all offences by then, was not legally allowed to extradite suspects back to countries where they would face the death sentence. It was only after Singapore gave the Australian government the assurance that McCrea would not be hanged even if he was convicted of murder, which allowed McCrea to be sent back to Singapore for trial. McCrea was eventually convicted of culpable homicide and destroying evidence of a murder case, and sentenced to a total of 24 years in jail.[145] This left an impact and precedent on Singapore's avenues to successfully negotiating for extradition of suspects from countries where the death penalty or caning was not practised, including the extradition of suspected bank robber David James Roach, whom the Singapore government promised would not face caning for robbery.[146] Roach was eventually sent back to Singapore, where he later served five years in prison, and he was pardoned from caning by President Halimah Yacob.[147][148]
Impact on official debate and discussion in the United States[edit]
In 2012, a number of American elected officials and office-seekers suggested that Singapore's success in combating drug abuse should be examined as a model for the United States. Michael Bloomberg, a former Mayor of New York City, said that the United States could learn a thing or two from nations like Singapore when it came to drug trafficking, noting that "executing a handful of people saves thousands and thousands of lives."[149] The last execution in New York took place in 1963. Several courts have ruled that the death penalty violates the New York Constitution (see People v. LaValle). In 2007, the state of New York abolished the death penalty. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states, as well as in Washington D.C., with the most recent being Virginia in 2021. However, certain states, such as Texas and Georgia, still regularly execute prisoners for aggravated murder.
Former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich repeated his longstanding advocacy for Singaporean methods in the United States' War on Drugs during campaign interviews and speeches.[150]
In popular culture[edit]
In 2016, Singaporean director Boo Junfeng directed and released a film titled Apprentice, starring Firdaus Rahman and Wan Hanafi Su. The film, which narrates the fictional story of newly appointed prison officer and executioner Aiman Yusof, touched on the subject of the death penalty in Singapore and an executioner's perspective of the practice, as well as the experiences and ostracisation of the families when their loved ones were tried and executed. The director also revealed that he had gathered information through interviews of the retired executioners, imams and priests who counselled the death row inmates, and also the families of the executed prisoners while producing the film. The film, which was released in several international film festivals, was met with positive public responses and it attracted both nominations and awards for the director and production team.[361][362][363][364]
In Singapore, there were local crime shows like In Cold Blood, Crimewatch, and True Files which re-enact the real-life crimes in Singapore. Among these cases, there were murder and drug trafficking cases which attract the death penalty in the city-state. Often, the re-enactments of these capital cases would also show the final verdicts of the convicts, where it revealed the dates of their sentencing and/or executions. Notably, executed criminals like English serial killer John Martin Scripps,[365] child killer Adrian Lim,[366] notorious wife-killer Anthony Ler[367][368] and cop-killer Zainal Abidin Abdul Malik featured in these re-enactment shows since the 1980s till the present.[369]