A 46-year old man has been hanged after being convicted of attempting to smuggle a kilogram of cannabis in Singapore.
The death sentence was executed with the city-state ignoring international calls to abolish the extreme sentence.
“Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, had his sentence carried out today at Changi Prison Complex,” Singapore Prisons Service spokes person told AFP.
The United Nations Human Rights Office as well British tycoon Richard Branson have called upon Singapore to urgently reconsider the hanging and halt it.
Tangaraju was convicted in 2017 of “abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic” 1,017.9 grams (35.9 ounces) of cannabis, twice the minimum volume required for a death sentence in Singapore. He was sentenced to death in 2018 and the Court of Appeal upheld the decision.
According to Branson, Tangaraju was nowhere close to the drugs at the time he was arrested. The tycoon noted that the country might be putting an innocent man to death.
Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry responded Tuesday that Tangaraju’s guilt had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The ministry said two mobile phone numbers that prosecutors said belonged to him had been used to coordinate the delivery of the drugs.
In many parts of the world — including neighbouring Thailand — cannabis has been decriminalised, with authorities abandoning prison sentences, and rights groups have been heaping pressure on Singapore to abolish capital punishment.