Changi Prison

SINGAPORE: MAN HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING, A WOMAN SET TO BE EXECUTED THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

July 26, 2023:

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, a 56-years-old Singaporean Malay man, was hanged on July 26, 2023 at dawn at Changi Prison in Singapore. He had been convicted for trafficking about 50 grams of heroin and sentenced to death under the Misuse of Drugs Act, a 1973 law imposing the mandatory death penalty for trafficking of very low thresholds of narcotics. Aziz had argued that he had been intimidated by the investigating officer during his interrogation without a laywer, and he had been tricked into making certain admissions with the false promise of a reduced non-capital charge.
Saridewi binte Djamani, a 45-years-old mother, will follow the same destiny the day after tomorrow. Her execution is scheduled at midnight CET on Friday 28 July, and could only be avoided with the clemency of the President of Singapore, who has not granted any since the past thirty years. Saridewi is a former drug addict, she was sentenced to death for trafficking about 30 grams of heroin. She claimed her statements to the police were not accurate because she had been suffering from drug withdrawal at the time of her arrest and she could not think clearly, but these circumstances were not deemed relevant by the Court.
This is the first hanging of a woman in Singapore since nearly twenty years. The country has already executed 11 small drug traffickers in 2022, and three this year. Nevertheless, this ongoing zero-tolerance policy has not led to the arrest of the kingpins in the last half-century, as admitted by the Minister of Law and Home Affairs Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan himself.