Geeeeze...most folks can feel the ice in the room....
Posted on 01/25/2007 6:59:30 PM PST by maui_hawaii
Singapore has hanged two convicted African drug traffickers after their appeals for clemency were turned down and despite protests from rights activists.
Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, 21, of Nigeria, and 35-year-old Okeke Nelson Malachy, who officials said was stateless, were hanged at Changi prison in the early morning as anti-death penalty campaigners held vigil outside.
"The appeals of both Tochi and Malachy to the Court of Appeal and to the President (S.R. Nathan) for clemency have been turned down. Their sentences were carried out this morning at Changi Prison," the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.
Activists had been lobbying the government to halt Tochi's execution, but expressed shock Malachy was also hanged as there had been no word on his case.
"I'm surprised. From what I have heard from... other people, Malachy was not suppose to hang. I was not expecting it," Chee Siok Chin, a member of Singapore's anti-death penalty campaign, told AFP.
Tochi was arrested trying to smuggle 727.02 grams (more than 25 ounces) of heroin through Changi Airport in November 2004, while Malachy, who Amnesty International believes was South African, was charged as an accomplice.
Under Singapore's tough anti-drug laws, the death penalty is mandatory for anyone caught trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine or 500 grams of cannabis.
About 10 activists and sympathisers held a somber overnight vigil outside the prison compound, hanging Tochi's football shirt on the wall above photographs of him surrounded by candles.
Shortly after 6:00 am (2200 GMT), the time when prisoners are normally hanged, each protester laid a bunch of red roses in front of the photographs.
On the eve of the hanging, the government released a letter from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"Mr. Tochi has committed a serious offence under Singapore law. He was convicted for importing over 700 grams of diamorphine. This amounts to more than 48,000 doses of heroin on the streets, enough to have destroyed many lives and families," Lee said.
"There are no new grounds for the case to be reconsidered and all legal avenues have been exhausted."
Lee said the government "takes a firm stance against drugs to deter Singaporeans and others from importing drugs into Singapore or using the country as a transit hub for narcotics" and has made its position publicly known
There are reasons Singapore is a clean, prosperous, low-crime country, and executions like this are among them.
No "justice delayed is justice denied" in Singapore!
Good for them!
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Changi prison is where the captured British soldiers were kept during WW2 after the fall of Singapore. Clavell's "King Rat" takes place there. By all accounts it was a pretty brutal place.
watch your luggage in Singapore...
Has Singapore yet abandoned its government policy of suing people whose criticism they don't like?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
You know everyone makes fun of her appearance ... but really the main issue is she always looks so miserable.
Has Singapore yet abandoned its government policy of suing people whose criticism they don't like?
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Not really -- most people do not realize that Singapore is a "government state" -- a "polite dictatorship" if you will. While we Americans do not like such systems, Singapore has a very unique set of circumstance under which order and non-violence must be maintained. They are surrounded by Muslim countries, and have had sectarian uprisings and riots which were very bad. Singapore is also a VERY TINY country. They do not want the negative influences of the outside world affecting their system there. You can walk across it in a day if you try. A government like that of the USA, would fail there in very short order and Singapore would be chaos and/or gone.
In fact, our Constitution forbids it.
I like it. Good for them.
The conversation turned to the local drug laws and it was plain he was quite proud of what Singapore had accomplished in the last generation or so. He told me that in the late 1950's and early 1960's heroin use was so prevalent they figured 10% of the population of Singapore might have been addicted. Their society felt draconian drug laws were the only way out. He proudly proclaimed "Look what it has done for us."
He told me drug addicts who wouldn't take the cure after two or three tries were exiled to one of the small islands off-shore where they had to survive on their own. Every month or so, a boat from the mainland would drop off some basic foodstuffs and take back any applications for those who felt they were cured, but most remained on the islands.
As for the drug traffickers, he told me that Singapore hanged maybe 50 or 60 per year, overwhelmingly foreigners as Singaporeans wouldn't risk it. He asked me how many people died of drug overdoses and drug related violence in a similar-sized American city. I had to admit it was a lot more than the 50 or 60. These hangings, he said, are the price we pay to keep Singapore prosperous and relatively free of crime. I'm sorry some foreigners have to learn the hard way just how serious we are because of what we went through.
Haven't you heard the opponents of the death penalty? The death penalty is not an effective deterrent!! Those fellows may have been hanged, but that will not deter them from doing it again.
We lived in Singapore for some years..and there were some close calls with the American School. They were not willing to crack down on some of the kids who got involved with drugs. The Government warned them that there was a problem..then struck. They gave the kids and their families 24 hours to get out of town..or face trial.
Since then the American School has adopted more progressive standards.
I spent 12 years in law enforcement. There is no JUSTICE in our justice system. After quitting that job I am a firm believer in vigilante justice. The judges in L.A. Co. never ever inform the victims in front of them, or the criminals either that when they assess a fine in the court room its going to line their pockets. The County of L.A. pays the judicial retirements out of the fines imposed by the courts. Did somebody say "conflict of interests".
Good.
Sounds like the movie Return to Paradise. Good movie it showed how the US only wanting to make a story got someone killed.
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