Indian-Origin Man Executed In Singapore Over Trafficking 1Kg Cannabis
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was put to death at dawn on Wednesday in Changi Prison, Singapore Prison Service said in a brief statement.
An Indian-origin Singaporean cannabis trafficker, convicted in 2018 of trafficking more than 1kg (2.2 pounds) of cannabis, was executed on Wednesday. Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was put to death at dawn on Wednesday in Changi Prison, Singapore Prison Service said in a brief statement. Tangaraju was executed despite last-minute appeals for clemency from his family and activists. According to PTI, Justice of the Court of Appeal Steven Chong, had on Tuesday, dismissed Tangaraju's review application and further stay his execution. In a 15-page judgment, Justice Chong explained that Tangaraju had failed to show a legitimate basis for the court to review his case.
"There is also no basis for the court to exercise its inherent power to reopen a concluded criminal appeal," he said.
"This application is therefore dismissed without being set down for hearing,” Justice Chong was quoted as saying in the report.
Singapore has some of the world's toughest anti-drug laws, which it says are necessary to protect society.
Tangaraju was convicted in October 2018 by a High Court judge of a capital charge of abetting an accomplice by conspiring to traffic cannabis. This was by delivering about 1 kg of cannabis to himself, an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Tangaraju was sentenced to death after failing to fulfil any of the criteria that would free him from death row.
He later appealed against his conviction and sentence, but it was dismissed in August 2019, with the court agreeing that Tangaraju had conspired to traffic in cannabis, and that he had used a phone to communicate with his accomplice, Mogan Valo.
Tangaraju filed a criminal motion in November 2022 for permission to apply to review the concluded appeal. The court dismissed this as well in February 2023.
In his latest bid, Tangaraju, who was self-represented, argued that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he and Mogan had an agreement to traffic the specific quantity of 1017.9 g of cannabis.
Justice Chong, however, said it was never Tangaraju's case at trial that the agreement with Mogan was to traffic an amount that was below the threshold amount for capital punishment, or any lesser quantity.
"It thus appears that the applicant is essentially seeking to advance an entirely new argument," Justice Chong was reported as saying. He added that the agreement to traffic the quantity found in Mogan's possession was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, in any event.
Justice Chong agreed with the prosecution that this new argument was premised on "false assertions'', PTI reported.
Singapore law mandates the death penalty for drug trafficking and has lesser penalties for couriers.
Tangaraju had drawn support from various activists and even British billionaire Richard Branson. In a blog post, according to BBC, he claimed that his conviction did not meet standards and that "Singapore may be about to kill an innocent man".
While Singapore has some of the strictest rules its neighbours' made recent changes. Thailand legalised the trade of cannabis while Malaysia ended the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes.
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