Activists in Singapore have condemned this Friday's planned execution of Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, and called for a rethink on the country's use of the death penalty.
Tochi is due to hang at dawn for allegedly trafficking heroin into Singapore on 27 November 2004. He claimed he thought he was carrying a package of herbal medicine for a 'Mr Smith'.
The Singapore Anti Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC) said the impending execution was "particularly disturbing", since the trial judge had acknowledged there were reasonable doubts as to whether Tochi knew he was carrying drugs.
The SADPC said trial judge Mr Kan Ting Chiu made the following finding: "There was no direct evidence that he knew the capsules contained diamorphine. There was nothing to suggest that Smith had told him they contained diamorphine, or that he had found that out of his own." (Paragraph 42 of the judgment [2005] SGHC 233).
The campaign group pointed to a seeming contradiction in Singapore between the death penalty and a prison system increasingly focused on rehabilition.
"At a time when the Singapore prison system has a renewed emphasis upon rehabilitation, and when the Yellow Ribbon campaign asks us to give even seasoned criminals a second chance, can we not find it in our hearts to extend this to a person who--if he indeed is guilty--made a desperate mistake at the age of 19?" an SADPC statement said.
They also highlighted the country's rigid mandatory death penalty for drug offences.
"The death sentence for drug trafficking in Singapore continues to be "mandatory", which means that judges are not able to take into significance and mitigating circumstances (such as the age and general naivity of the accused) when passing their verdict.
"And at a time when even the hangings of persons responsible for mass killings and genocide, such as Saddam Hussein and his cronies are being regarded with disgust by the world at large; are seen as reproducing the criminal cruelty of the original perpetrators, is it not time that we in Singapore reconsider our stance on the repeated, mandatory hanging of small-fry drug mules?" SADPC said.
The SADPC describes itself as "a concerned group of Singaporeans from diverse backgrounds who have come together over the issue of the Death Penalty". It organises debates and other events "to foster a public debate on the practice of capital punishment in Singapore and throughout the world".
In August 2006, the group organised a forum to discuss the case of Tochi and his co-accused Okele Nelson Malachy, who had also received a death sentence.
Related stories:
Singapore to hang Tochi next week -- 18 January, 2007
Nigeria won't act to save man in Singapore -- 01 September, 2006
Singapore forum against death penalty -- 21 August , 2006
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
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