Singapore Executes A 45-Year-Old Woman For Drug Trafficking: A First After Almost Two Decades

As per a statement issued by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), a 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani was hanged to death on Friday, in Changi Prison. The Singaporean Woman was convicted of attempting to traffic an ounce of heroin- 31 grams precisely. Human Rights Groups, worldwide denounced the judicial exececution, identifying it as a 'grim milestone' for the country. . Chiara Sangiorgio, death penalty expert at Amnest International said that the latest execution “defied international safeguards on the use of the death penalty.”Although the CNB assured that convict was “accorded full due process under the law and was represented by legal counsel throughout the process.” 

The death sentence of Saridewi came after an interval of around 20 years, since the last execution of hairdresser Yen May Woen in 2004. Yen was also convicted of drug trafficking. Singapore's laws permit a death penalty for trafficking anything over 15 grams of heroin. The Lion City maintains some of the world's harshest drug laws- under which anyone caught trafficking, importing or exporting particular quantities of certain illegal drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine or cannabis and its related products, receives the mandatory death sentence.  

Since the pandemic induced furlough, Singapore has now executed 15 people- signalled as an accelerated pace by activists. The government remains adamant on capital punishment to curtail drug trafficking and ensure public safety. “Capital punishment is used only for the most serious crimes, such as the trafficking of significant quantities of drugs which cause very serious harm, not just to individual drug abusers, but also to their families and the wider society,” the CNB stated. 

According to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in June, the illegal drug trade in Asia had surged to “extreme levels.” The report underligned that crime groups were establishing new trafficking routes to evade enforcement crackdowns. Activists argue that the death penalty is proven ineffective in curbing illegal drug trade across the country. A joint statement by Transformative Justice Collective and other human rights groups emphasised on the need to disrupt drug cartels than to retain jarring drug laws- which in practice oust low level traffickers and couriers who are typically recruited from the margins with intersectional vulnerabilities.