Singapore Hangs Indian-Origin Man; What Was His Crime?

New Delhi: A man of Indian origin was hanged to death in Singapore’s Changi Prison complex on Wednesday.

The 46-year-old Tangaraju Suppiah, was convicted of a conspiracy to smuggle 1 kilogram of cannabis.

“Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, had his capital sentence carried out today at Changi Prison Complex,” a spokesperson for Singapore Prisons Service told AFP.

There were widespread calls by international organisations, including United Nations Human Rights Office, urging Singapore government to ‘urgently reconsider’ the execution.

The convict’s family had also appealed for clemency and sought a retrial. But those pleas fell on deaf ears.

Tangaraju was convicted in 2017 of “abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic” 1,017.9 grams of cannabis, which is double the minimum volume needed for a death sentence in Singapore.

He was handed a death sentence in 2018. The verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

“Tangaraju’s guilt had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” Singapore’s Home Affairs ministry said on Tuesday.

Two mobile phone numbers, which the prosecutors alleged belonged to him, were used to coordinate delivery of the narcotics, according to the ministry.

Singapore, which has some of the strictest anti-drug laws, asserted that death penalty acts as an effective deterrent against drug trafficking.

UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has disputed Singapore government’s argument.

“The death penalty is still being used in a small number of countries, largely because of the myth that it deters crime,” OHCHR said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since March 2022, when Singapore resumed executions after a gap of over two years, it was the 12th hanging, but the first in six months.

Pressure has been mounting on Singapore to abolish capital punishment for drug smuggling, especially after neighbouring Thailand decided to do so.