SINGAPORE HANGS MALAYSIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER

July 14, 2017:

Singapore executed a Malaysian drug trafficker despite a plea for clemency from the United Nations and concerns expressed by rights groups over alleged flaws in his trial.
Prabagaran Srivijayan was arrested in 2012 after 22.24 grams (0.8 ounces) of heroin was found in the car he was driving when it was stopped at a checkpoint going to Singapore.
He was sentenced to death two years later after being convicted of drug-trafficking. Trafficking certain volumes of illegal drugs into Singapore carries a mandatory death penalty unless certain conditions are met for the sentence to be commuted.
The 29-year-old was executed in prison on July 14, the city-state’s Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement. Executions in Singapore are carried out by hanging.
The bureau said the amount of drugs he was caught with “is sufficient to feed the addiction of about 265 abusers for a week.”
He had maintained his innocence and had launched appeals in both Singapore and his home country, including a bid in Malaysia’s Court of Appeal to get the neighbouring city-state referred to the Hague-based International Court of Justice.
His appeals in Singapore, including a last-ditch court challenge July 13 and an appeal to the president, were all rejected.
The United Nations had opposed the planned execution, with the UN rights body’s Southeast Asia office this week urging Singapore not to proceed while the Malaysian appeal was still pending.