On 17 September, 44-year-old Singaporean Syed Suhail Syed Zin was granted an interim stay of execution after his lawyer stepped in at the last minute, closely freeing him from his fateful execution scheduled for 18 September. Mr Syed was taken into custody in 2011 and was convicted of trafficking 38.8g of diamorphine in December 2016, subjecting him to the capital punishment. 

 

The death penalty in Singapore is very much a secrect affair. With little to no mention about executions in the media, it leaves the general Singaporean public with insufficient knowledge on the matter, hence not driving any change. Fortunately, Mr Syed’s case had garnered substantial public attention and support due to a petition created by citizens urging President Halimah Yacob to use her presidential power to appeal to the courts to grant Mr Syed clemency.

 

Unfortunately, not many death row inmates were able to forfeit their hapless demise. In the last 30 years, Singapore has had over 400 convicts executed by hanging, a concerningly large figure for such a small country.  According to a report done by the UN Secretary-General, Singapore holds the title of the world's highest per capita execution rate- a title that we shouldn’t be lauded for. 

 

The death penalty goes against one of the most rudimentary human rights: the right to life. The law, no matter how powerful it is, is in no position to sanction the awful killing of a human being in the name of justice. No amount of words can explain how cruel, inhumane and archaic the capital punishment is for any crime, especially drug offences.  

 

Singapore is antithetical to the rest of the world in its non-abolitionary stance towards the death penalty and remains as one in four countries that still imposes the death penalty on drug offenders. For a first world country that should be moving towards progressive laws and practices that aim to find the most objective and humane approach to crimes, the death penalty is a lazy solution for the issue of narcotics. It achieves nothing but short term retribution, and immense pain for those related to the victims of this heinous punishment. 

 

The courts rarely look into the facts and details of capital cases to consider mitigating circumstances. Many of the drug offenses in Singapore result in mandatory death sentences. Even the smallest amounts of marijuana, which is a commonly consumed recreational drug that’s legalized in many countries could result in a death sentence.

 

The Singaporean government’s long standing argument has been that the death penalty sends a strong message that prevents drug use and saves more lives in foresight, an ideology that is not a good enough reason to still uphold the unjust practice. 

 

 This short-sightedness fails to analyse the societal patterns we witness and question the reason behind it. The issue of racial discrimination and intersection of class is conveniently swept under the rug  as the death penalty is often unfairly imposed on low level drug mules who come from less fortunate, under educated and fragile backgrounds, while wealthy large scale drug lords never face the consequences of their actions. These vulnerable offenders deserve rehabilitation and proper guidance, not to be hung mercilessly. 

 

There is no doubt that drug trafficking is a severe crime. The impact of illicit drugs to a person’s mental and physical health is a great cause for concern. However, there has to be a more restorative way to overcome this issue, and the answer is not killing those who may need help.