Singapore Executes First Woman in 20 Years

Facts

• According to authorities, Singapore hanged Saridewi Djamani on Friday in what was the country's first execution of a woman in nearly 20 years.¹
• Djamani — found guilty of trafficking heroin in 2018 — was one of two women on death row in Singapore. The last woman to be put to death was Yen May Woen in 2004 on drug-related charges, according to the human rights group Transformative Justice Collective.²
• This comes after Singapore reportedly executed Mohammed Aziz Hussain on Wednesday after being put on death row for trafficking heroin in 2018.³
• Singapore has some of the harshest drug laws in the world and has drawn international criticism in recent years for its executions of prisoners convicted of drug offenses.⁴
• According to a joint statement made by Amnesty International, the Transformative Justice Collective, and seven other groups, Djamani's hanging marks the 15th drug-related execution since it resumed hangings in March 2022, for an average of one execution every month.⁵
• Singapore imposes the death penalty for violent crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping, but also for drug offenses, including trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin.⁶

Sources: ¹CNN, ²BBC News, ³NPR Online News, ⁴Guardian, ⁵Mirror, and ⁶VOA.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by South China Morning Post. Singapore's zero-tolerance stance and strict narcotics laws have allowed the country to remain safe, secure, and relatively drug-free — which shows that capital punishment does work to deter drug traffickers. The death penalty is essential to Singapore's criminal justice system, and since it is an effective deterrent against drug-related crimes, the public widely supports it.
• Narrative B, as provided by Guardian. Those on death row in Singapore are often from the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in the city-state, and executing these people just goes to show that the Singaporean state views them just as disposable as their drug kingpins do. There's no evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent for drug-related crimes or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs. Singapore needs to repeal the death penalty.