Singapore executed the first prisoner sentenced to death in two years

Singapore executed a prisoner convicted of drug trafficking on Wednesday in the first execution in two years in the prosperous city-state, where oenegés warn that almost full capacity on death row may speed up hangings.

Abdul Kahar bin Othman, a 68-year-old Singaporean, was executed at 6:00 local time (22:00 GMT Tuesday), in Changi prison, as confirmed by human rights lawyer Ravi MrAvi and activist Kirsten Han, coordinator of the NGO Transformative Justice Collective.

“The families of other prisoners are talking about the funeral coming soon,” told Efe Han, who had participated the previous day in a vigil for the prisoner at the gates of Changi prison.

Kahar's execution has not been confirmed by the authorities, who deal with these issues with opacity and usually only reveal an annual list of hangings, the method used in Singapore, while activists say this is the first city-state execution in the last two years.

Kahar was sentenced to death for two drug trafficking offences in 2015 — totaling 66.77 grams of diamorphine (heroin) — and a week ago his brother, Mutalib, received a letter from the Singapore Prison Service announcing that the execution was scheduled for March 30.

“He doesn't want to die (...) for something so stupid,” Mutalib said in a conversation Tuesday with Transformative Justice Collective that oenegé posts on her Instagram account.

“Tomorrow I will collect his body and bury him so that his best life begins (..) It's okay to punish people, but kill them. Kill them, no,” the man lamented.

Born into a family with financial difficulties, Kahar had spent much of his life behind bars due to drug problems, and, after serving a first sentence in 2005, he tried to rehabilitate himself especially with the help of his brother, who regrets the lack of programs and guidance on the part of the authorities.

The case of Kahar exemplifies, according to Han and other activists on the semi-autocratic island, the alleged biases against the population with the least resources, a circumstance, they say, shared by most prisoners on death row, where convictions for drug trafficking abound.

Transformative Collective Justice and other NGOs in the region warn that the capacity on death row could be almost full, so they believe that executions could be accelerated.

Several prisoners have already exhausted the latest remedies, including the Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, after a court yesterday rejected an appeal based on his intellectual disability, according to medical diagnoses, which has prompted criticism from the UN and the EU, among others.

Singapore has one of the most draconian drug trafficking laws on the planet, stipulating the death penalty from the 15 grams of heroin trafficked, while organizations against capital punishment denounce its futility in curbing consumption and encouraging rehabilitation.

(With information from EFE)

KEEP READING: