SINGAPORE: DRUG-TRAFFICKER ON DEATH ROW SPARED GALLOWS

May 26, 2014: A 42-year-old Singaporean who has spent more than four years on death row for drug trafficking was spared the gallows.
Yip Mun Hei, who attended the High Court hearing, was instead given life in prison and the minimum 15 strokes of the cane.
He is the fourth convicted drug courier to have successfully applied to the High Court to be re-sentenced on the grounds of having substantially assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau in the fight against drugs.
This follows changes to the law which give judges the discretion to impose life terms and caning, instead of the death penalty, for drug couriers who help the authorities in a substantive way.
Yip was convicted in September 2009 of trafficking in not less than 18.43 grams of heroin and given the then-mandatory death penalty. His appeal was dismissed the following year.
As of 26 May 2014, there were 20 condemned drug offenders whose cases were pending re-sentencing. (Sources: Straits Times, 27/05/2014)