Singapore hanged two prisoners on July 18, 2014. Foong Chee Peng, 48, and Tang Hai Liang, 36, were hanged at dawn inside Singapore's Changi Prison.
The hangings were reported by the Singapore media and all worldwide media - excluding Australia (in the slight chance Australia would be seen to upset the tiny island nation of five million people).
Both men were convicted of drug-trafficking. Tang was found to have trafficked 89.55g of diamorphine and Foong was found to have trafficked 40.23g of diamorphine.
The executions took place despite an appeal to challenge the validity of section 33B of the 'Misuse of Drugs Act', which could have ultimately spared the lives of prisoners on death row who have been mandatorily sentenced under this law. Non-lethal crimes such as drugs offences do not meet the threshold of 'most serious crimes' for which the death penalty may be imposed under International law.
In July 2011 the Singapore government commenced an internal review of the mandatory death penalty laws for drug-trafficking offences. This review took place without any public consultation, nor has it been made available for public scrutiny. Subsequently, changes were passed by parliament in the exact form proposed by the government in July 2012, despite various warnings about their potential problems.
Singapore has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world, warning travellers of "death for drug traffickers" in no uncertain terms. Caning is also a punative punishment for a variety on non-violent offences. Singapore has hanged hundreds of people, including dozens of foreigners for drug-related offences in the last two decades. Australian citizen, Nguyen Tuong Van, 23, was hanged on December 3, 2005.
At least 26 people are on death row in Singapore, most for drug-related offences.
Question: Is Singapore a civilised nation, or what ???
Read more ... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/uk-singapore-execution-idUKKBN0...
Read more ... http://www.icj.org/serious-setback-singapore-breaks-moratorium-on-death-...
