PETALING JAYA: Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has slammed Singapore’s Law and Home Ministries for claiming that Malaysian citizen Abd Helmi Ab Halim’s execution on Friday was justified as part of its anti-drug strategy.
LFL Advisor N Surendran (pix) said the statement is a combination of dishonest excuses and false statements, and also arrogant.
“Firstly, the statement deliberately and dishonestly avoids admitting to the fact that Helmi was hanged for allegedly trafficking a mere 16g of drugs. The punishment of death over just 16g is clearly disproportionate and a grave injustice,” he said in a statement today.
He added, the statement issued by Singapore suggested that Malaysia is not doing enough to arrest drug kingpins in Malaysia, which is an undiplomatic swipe at a friendly neighbour.
“Singapore itself has done little to catch the drug kingpins, while regularly executing low-level drug mules. It is significant that Singapore is unable to point to a single major drug kingpin arrest by their own enforcement bodies,” he said.
Surendran said, claims that the death penalty has been an effective deterrent against drug trafficking in Singapore is a blatant lie, as there are no known studies or statistics proving this, and the statement issued by Singapore does not provide any evidence.
“The claim that the use of the death penalty for drug crimes in Singapore is ‘in accordance with its international law obligations’ is also patently false. The UN Human Rights Committee as well as UN Special Rapporteurs have categorically stated that the death penalty for drug crimes contravenes international standards and amounts to unlawful killing,” he said.
Surendran also revealed that he received shocking information relating to the process of execution at Changi prison.
“We have incontrovertible evidence that unlawful and extremely brutal methods are secretly used in carrying out hangings by the Singapore Prison Services (SPS). We are prepared to reveal this evidence, supplied by prison officers, in due course,” he said.
He also urged the government of Singapore to emulate Malaysia by placing an immediate moratorium on executions for drug offences, and review the imposition of the death penalty for drug offences.
“We hope Singapore will do so, before we are compelled to disclose the above-mentioned evidence, which will prove to be an international embarrassment for them,” he said.
