A Singapore citizen named Tangaraju Suppaiah is set to be hanged on Wednesday, April 26, for the crime of ‘abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic’ 1 kg of cannabis from Malaysia to Singapore. This is the first case of the death penalty to be carried out after the city-state executed a mentally handicapped man for drug trafficking charges in September 2022.
46-year-old Tangaraju was not caught during the delivery. But the authorities stated that he was responsible for coordinating it. Two phone numbers used by a deliveryman were traced back to Tangaraju. Tangaraju had claimed that he had lost one phone and never owned the second number.
Tangaraju was held guilty by the court in 2018 for the 2017 offence. A recent appeal has upheld the initial verdict.
His sister Leela Suppaiah has stated that her brother has done nothing wrong and the court should re-examine the case from the beginning. Activists across the world have been saying that Singapore is set to hang Tangaraju on weak grounds, based on flimsy evidence.
Tangaraju also has faced a language problem during his hearing. Activists protesting against the death penalty have stated that he was denied proper and continuous access to an interpreter and he had to argue his last hearing by himself because his family could not afford a lawyer.
The authorities in Singapore deny these allegations, insisting that Tangaraju had requested an interpreter only during the court trial and that he was provided legal counsel throughout the case.
Singapore has one of the toughest laws in the world against drug cases.
Activists across the world criticise executions in Singapore
Amnesty International called the death penalty and scheduled execution of Tangaraju ‘extremely cruel’. Billionaire Richard Branson, who had also criticised the September 2022 execution of mentally disabled Nagaentthran Dharmalingam, stated in a blog post that the death penalty against Tangaraju is “shocking on multiple levels”.
Singapore hanged 11 persons in 2022 alone, all for drug-related offences. Despite an international outcry, the Singapore government insists that the death penalty helps reduce drug trafficking in the country.
