Hotline Asia
regrets the execution of Mr. Shanmugam Murugesu, 38,
in the morning of 13 May 2005.
Shanmugam Murugesu was sentenced to death for
trafficking about one kilogram of cannabis into
Singapore in August 2003.
Weeks of campaigning by local and international civil
groups and his family continued until the last
moment, urging the authorities to commute the death
sentence of Mr. Shanmugam, and abolish the use of
death penalty.
On 6 May, a three-hour vigil was organized for Mr.
Shanmugam. Under the tight control of Singapore
government, it was the first public gathering
organized solely by citizens demanding for a change
to the law. Think Centre also initiated a signature
petition on 11 May 2005, calling for immediate
moratorium on death penalty. In one of the last
minute campaigns, the injustice and arbitrary
situation was emphasized with 6 similar cases dealt
with differently, some involving more than 2kg of
cannibis but was given a lighter sentence. Hotline
Asia also issued SUA050422(1) and its update in support.
Unfortunately, all these efforts could not impress
the President to show mercy, and the reconsideration
of the sentence was rejected.
The appeals in commuting the death sentence may have
been unsuccessful, but the issue has mobilized the
public expressing their opinions, and led to a little
change. In Singapore, the date of hanging is not made
known even to the families until the execution is
carried out. However, in this case, the date of
execution was announced to the family a few days
before the execution. Mr. Shanmugam's execution was
also delayed for a week apparently because of the
appeals made directly to the President, from "on
or before the first week of May 2005" to 13 May
2005.
Singapore is believed to have the highest per capita
rate of executions in the world, more than 400 people
were hanged since 1991. There are 8 more people on
the death row waiting for the President's clemency.
The local groups will continue calling for the
moratorium of death sentence, and the removal of the
mandatory sentence for drug possession. (To support
Think Centre's signature campaign, click here: http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=2574) Hotline Asia, together
with other international human rights organization,
stresses that death penalty is a violation of right
to life and should be repealed.
For further information about this case and about
death penalty in Singapore, please refer to the web
site of Think Centre www.thinkcentre.org and SUA050422(1).
Source:
Think Centre