Singapore hangs man over a kilo of weed

Singapore officials today executed – by hanging – a man found guilty of smuggling a kilogram of cannabis into the country in drug trafficking.

NDTV in India reports that Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was executed at dawn on Wednesday, repelling a growing chorus of anti-death penalty campaigners to end the country’s cruel use of the death penalty.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, a longtime opponent of the death penalty, and a group of world leaders have called for action on what they say is a disturbing case involving a potentially innocent man.

Branson wrote a lengthy blog post asking for clemency while European Union (EU) and Australian MP Graham Perrett issued statements in defense of the man. The EU statement, issued jointly with the diplomatic missions of EU member states Norway and Switzerland on April 24, called on the authorities to halt Tangaraju’s execution and commute his sentence to a non-death sentence.

When a criminal justice system fails to protect and protect those under execution despite credible claims of innocence, the system has broken down beyond repair. This is why Tangaraju Suppiah (a man on death row in Singapore) doesn’t deserve death: https://t.co/zMQ4owW4os pic.twitter.com/bUWYXhTUEc

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) April 24, 2023

Chicken rice, nasi biryani, ice cream and Milo flavored sweets. These are the food items Tangaraju requested from Changi Prison authorities in the run-up to his scheduled April 26 execution

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) April 25, 2023

Parrett was visibly disgusted with the choice of punishment.

“Imagine being hung by the neck until you’re dead for some dope,” Parrett tweeted in a series of posts. “This is the fate that awaits Tangaraju Suppiah from Singapore. Yesterday, Tangaraju’s family received his execution warrant, which announced he would be hanged the day after ANZAC Day.” (Anzac Day is Australia’s Memorial Day.)

Imagine being hanged by the neck until you die for a little dope. Such is the fate that awaits Tangaraju Suppiah from Singapore. Tangaraju’s family received his execution warrant yesterday, announcing that he would be hanged the day after ANZAC Day. Tangaraju (46)

— Graham Perrett (@GrahamPerrettMP) April 20, 2023

Bizarre that a thoroughly modern country like Singapore with international brands and companies like @Optus & @SingaporeAir & Goodman Fielder (Helgas Bread, White Wings, Buttercup, CSR Sugar etc.) is planning Tangaraju Suppiah tomorrow at 6am Singapore- Time to execute for some cannabis.

— Graham Perrett (@GrahamPerrettMP) April 25, 2023

Tangaraju was sentenced to death on October 9, 2018 for attempting to smuggle more than 1 kilogram of cannabis into Singapore. He was originally jailed in 2014 for drug use and failing to show up for a drug test.

Tangaraju was being held at Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex in the eastern part of the city.

Branson argued that “the system is broken beyond repair”. He claims that since 1976 nearly 190 people have been exonerated and freed from death row in the US alone. Branson also tried to free “drug trafficker” Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, who was executed by hanging in 2022. Live TV debate with the city-state’s interior minister, K. Shanmugam, but refused.

In 1994, a 19-year-old American was beaten for graffiti in Singapore and left in a bloody mess. Drug laws are similar. “Drug traffickers are less likely to deal in drugs and reduce the amount of drugs trafficked if they are aware of the penalties involved,” the Singapore MHA claims, referring to the use of the death penalty by hanging.

Branson wrote a blog post titled “Why Tangaraju Suppiah Doesn’t Deserve to Die” and published it on his website, a powerful plea supported by photos of the man with his family. “Singapore may be about to kill an innocent man,” he pleads.

“Tangaraju’s case is shocking on several levels,” Branson wrote. “Singapore has a long and troubled history of executing drug offenders under compulsory sentencing laws that prohibit the death penalty for certain threshold levels of drugs.”

He continued: “The country’s government has repeatedly claimed that its draconian laws are an effective deterrent to drug-related crime. However, Singaporean authorities have repeatedly failed to provide concrete evidence to support this claim. Killing those at the bottom of the illicit drug supply chain, often minorities living in poverty, is hardly effective in curbing an international trade worth hundreds of billions each year.”

Branson claims that Tangaraju was nowhere near the pot at the time, and some more details about his arrest are sketchy, to say the least.

Singapore’s Home Office (MHA) fired back on April 25, saying Branson’s remarks were “disrespectful”.