Singapore: Indian-origin man hanged in Singapore, convicted on charges of drug smuggling
The ministry said that drugs will not be tolerated at all. To deal with this, Singapore has adopted a zero tolerance approach.
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A 46-year-old Indian-origin man was hanged in Singapore on Wednesday for drug trafficking. Human rights activists along with his family members were opposing the order to hang the smuggler. Tangaraju Suppaiah was hanged at Changi Jail in the early hours of Wednesday, a day after the court rejected his appeal against the sentence.
Actually, anti-death penalty campaigners had filed a petition in the court to stop the hanging. Tangaraju Suppaiah was convicted by a High Court judge in October 2018 of conspiracy to smuggle cannabis as well as abetment of an accomplice. Along with this, he himself had smuggled one kilogram of Ganja. On October 9, 2018, he was sentenced to death on this charge. He was caught in 2014. Later he also failed the drug test.
After hanging, Tangaraju's sister Lilavati Suppaiya has given information. The family has got the death certificate, he said. It was Singapore's first execution in six months.
In the matter, the Singapore Foreign Ministry gave its response on Tuesday to the blog post of British billionaire Richard Branson. Branson had said in his post why Tangaraju Supayya should not be hanged? Suppaiah's sentence has not lived up to the standards. In such a situation, Singapore is going to hang an innocent person tomorrow.
There was opposition to the decision to hang
The ministry said Branson's approach showed disrespect to Singapore's judges and rules for the death penalty. Besides Branson, the EU delegation in Singapore and Australian MP Graham Perrett also issued statements. The European Union member states present in Singapore in this case, in their statement issued jointly with Norway and Switzerland, called for Tangaraju's execution to be halted and his sentence commuted.
The Foreign Minister of Singapore had said this
Responding to the billionaire's post, Singapore's foreign minister said his claim is not true at all. It is regrettable that Branson is arguing the case of Tangaraju. To know more about the courts of Singapore they must first understand the seriousness of the matter. The court has given its verdict on the basis of evidence and arguments in more than three years. Still, if the billionaire feels that he knows more than the court, then it is a disrespect to the judiciary.