The decision by Singapore's Supreme Court to issue a capital punishment sentence to a drug-trafficking offender via a video call is draconian and untimely when the world's attention is focused on battling the coronavirus pandemic, an international rights organization said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) The decision by Singapore's Supreme Court to issue a capital punishment sentence to a drug-trafficking offender via a video call is draconian and untimely when the world's attention is focused on battling the coronavirus pandemic, an international rights organization said on Wednesday.
Last Friday, media in Singapore reported that the country's Supreme Court issued its first ever death sentence during a remote hearing. On Wednesday, the court's spokesman confirmed that 37-year-old Malaysian national Punithan Genasan was sentenced to capital punishment on charges of drug trafficking via a Zoom call.
"Whether via Zoom or in person, a death sentence is always cruel and inhumane. This case is another reminder that Singapore continues to defy international law and standards by imposing the death penalty for drug trafficking, and as a mandatory punishment," Amnesty International said in a press release, quoting its death penalty adviser Chiara Sangiorgio.
According to the press release, Singapore is currently only one of four countries known to still execute people for drug-related offenses.
"At a time when the global attention is focused on saving and protecting lives in a pandemic, the pursuit of the death penalty is all the more abhorrent," Sangiorgio said.
She described Singapore's approach as "draconian" and called upon the government to abolish the death penalty once and for all.
Singapore indeed is among countries with the strictest stances on drug trafficking. Presumption of innocence does not apply to drug-related cases, and storing even insignificant amounts of drugs is punishable by death.
