The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) is concerned with the scheduled execution of Kalwant  Singh, a young Malaysian individual convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore in 2016. His execution has  been scheduled to take place on 7 July 2022. 

Kalwant Singh was convicted of possession of 60.15 grams of diamorphine and trafficking 120.9 grams of  diamorphine. Kalwant was 23 years old at the time of the offence. A co-accused was also convicted of  possessing the same 120.9 grams of diamorphine, for the purposes of trafficking. Both the Trial Court and  Court of Appeal found that Kalwant Singh and his co-accused were acting as nothing more than a courier.  While the co-accused was granted a Certificate of Substantive Assistance by police, he was sentenced to  life imprisonment and fifteen strokes of the cane. Kalwant Singh received the death penalty. 

The government of Singapore has, on multiple occasions, claimed that without the death penalty,  Singapore would not be able to protect its citizens from the drug menace. Yet the death penalty has done  little to eliminate the syndicates that recruit and exploit people as drug couriers and profit from the  distribution of drugs in Singapore. The series of executions by Singapore since its resumption in 2022 has  only involved couriers and petty peddlers, and there are no indications that this scheduled execution  would be any different. 

On 28 April 2022, immediately after executing Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, an intellectually disabled man,  Singapore intended to execute Datchinamurthy Kataiah, who still had an outstanding legal challenge in  the court. The Public Prosecution had insisted that his execution would not affect the legal challenge  posed and persisted in appealing against the stay of execution. It should also be noted that  Datchinamurthy had to file the appeal himself with no legal representation due to the onerous conditions  and punitive cost measures imposed against capital defence lawyers in Singapore previously. 

Singapore’s eagerness to pursue executions for drug offences is a flagrant disregard for the right to a fair  trial, and in April 2022, it was described by the United Nations as “incompatible with human rights law”.  Pursuing these cases has substantially damaged Singapore’s reputation. This further planned execution  will only cement the perception that Singapore does not value human life but only cares to maintain the  façade of success in their ‘war on drugs’. 

ADPAN calls for Singapore to halt the scheduled execution, impose a moratorium on further executions  and bring Singapore’s law in line with international standards where the death penalty can only be applied  for the most serious crime involving intentional killing.

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) welcomes the announcement by the Malaysian government  that it will be reviewing and abolishing the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia. 

The mandatory death penalty regime does not provide justice as it deprives judges of the discretion to  sentence based on the situation of each individual offender. This regime has resulted in absurd sentences  that have led to public outcries, such as those involving Hairun Jalmani, a single mother sentenced to  death for drug trafficking in Tawau, and Mainthan Arumugam, a person on death row for a murder that  never happened. 

In addition to abolishing the mandatory death penalty, critical reform, including but not limited to mental  health and criminal culpability; redefining drug offenses to account for drug mules and other exploited  individuals within the drug trade; and strengthening rehabilitative justice and victim support system needs  to be considered. 

ADPAN reiterates our support for Malaysia’s abolition of the mandatory death penalty and calls on the  Malaysian government to engage with key stakeholders and experts to support and further the systemic  reform suggested by the Minister of Law.

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) is appalled by the rejection of the appeal by activist Khaw  Min Yu and lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw and two other political prisoners against the death sentence  imposed by a military tribunal. 

Since the military coup, Myanmar has witnessed a rise in the number of death sentences issued by military  tribunals, accompanied by a growing prevalence of extrajudicial killings involving protestors and pro democracy activists in Myanmar. In addition to violence resulting directly from the coup, the military junta  has resumed its military campaigns across Myanmar, leading to large-scale killings, arbitrary detentions and displacement of civilians in several states. 

The Tatmadaw has no legitimacy as a government and must cease the atrocities committed against the  people of Myanmar. Execution of world-renowned human rights activists, lawmakers and political actors  will only further contribute to the Tatmadaw’s besmirched history of human rights violations and  atrocities and deprive the Myanmar of the peace, stability and growth it deserves. 

ADPAN echoes the sentiment of the ASEAN Parliamentarian for Human Rights (APHR) that the executions  are nothing less than cold-blooded political assassinations and call on the Tatmadaw’s senior leadership  to return democracy to Myanmar and put an end to executions and extrajudicial killings.