a fruitful life.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Singapore hangs Nigerian drug smuggler

SINGAPORE, Jan 26 (Reuters) at 8.57am - Singapore hanged a 21-year-old Nigerian man for drug smuggling on Friday, despite pleas from the Nigerian president, the United Nations and international human rights groups to spare his life.

Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi was hanged at about 6 a.m. (2200 GMT) at the city-state’s Changi prison, Stanley Seah, assistant superintendent at Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau, told Reuters.

No further details were immediately available.

Tochi was arrested at Singapore’s Changi Airport in November 2004 for carrying about 727 grams (25.6 ounces) of heroin.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asked the Singapore government on Tuesday to grant a reprieve to Tochi, who was a champion football player in Nigeria according to human rights group Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.

In Geneva, the United Nations’ special investigator for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said on Thursday that Singapore would be violating international legal standards on the use of the death penalty if it went ahead with the hanging.

The death sentence is mandatory for anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of heroin in Singapore, which enforces one of the harshest anti-drug laws in the world. - Reuters

***

No review of death sentence for Nigerian convicted of drug trafficking
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 January 2007 2356 hrs

SINGAPORE : Singapore will not review the death sentence for Nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi who was caught for importing over 700 grammes of diamorphine into Singapore in 2004.

In a letter, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong assured Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo, that all factors relevant to the case had been considered.

These include the petition for clemency made to President SR Nathan by Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner Dr Ozichi Joel Alimole, and a recent letter from the Nigerian President requesting Singapore to review the sentence.

Mr Lee said the amount of illegal drugs brought in by Mr Tochi amounts to more than 48,000 doses of heroin on the streets - enough to destroy many lives and families.

He said he also realises that Mr Tochi’s family will find Singapore’s position difficult to accept.

But the government has a duty to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans, and protect lives that would otherwise be ruined by drug syndicates. - CNA/ms

***

Nigerian drug smuggler set to hang in Singapore

By Koh Gui Qing

SINGAPORE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A 21-year-old Nigerian is set to be hanged for drug smuggling in Singapore on Friday morning, despite international protests and a last-minute hunger strike by Singaporean civil rights activists.

Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi will be hanged at dawn on Friday, according to an official at the Nigerian embassy in Singapore, after he was arrested at Singapore’s Changi Airport in November 2004 for carrying about 727 grams (25.6 ounces) of heroin.

Tochi’s family has not travelled to Singapore to see him because they cannot afford the plane tickets, the embassy official said, adding that “he was well”.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asked the Singapore government on Tuesday to grant a reprieve to Tochi, who was a champion football player in Nigeria according to human rights group, Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs declined to comment on Obasanjo’s appeal.

Amnesty International, which also appealed to Singapore last week to spare Tochi’s life, said the judge who convicted Tochi of drug smuggling “appears to have accepted that he might not have realised the substance he was carrying was heroin”.

In Geneva, the United Nations’ special investigator for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said Singapore would be violating international legal standards on the use of the death penalty if it went ahead with the hanging.

Philip Alston, an Australian lawyer who reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, said capital punishment could only be imposed if the evidence “left no room for an alternative interpretation of the facts”.

“In the case of Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, the government of Singapore has failed to ensure respect for the relevant legal safeguards. Under the circumstances, the execution should not proceed,” he said in a statement.

“Judicial Murder”

The death sentence is mandatory for anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of heroin in Singapore.

Two leading Singapore civil rights activist started a 24-hour hunger strike in protest at the planned execution.

“The state does not have the right to take a life. It’s judicial murder,” said M. Ravi, a human rights lawyer, as he sat on a straw mat laid out in Singapore’s Speakers’ Corner, the only place in Singapore where citizens can make public speeches.

The hanging of Tochi comes more than a year after Singapore hanged an Australian man, Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, in December 2005 amid much public outcry, and despite repeated pleas for clemency, including from the Australian parliament.

On Thursday, a Singapore court charged another Australian for drug trafficking, but he narrowly escaped the death sentence, which is mandatory for anyone caught with more than 500 grams of cannabis.

Michael Karras, 38, was arrested on Jan. 9 after he was found with about 495 grams of cannabis in a rented flat. Karras, who is pleading not guilty according to his lawyer S.S. Dhillon, faces a maximum of 40 years in jail and 30 strokes of the cane.

Singapore has the highest per capita execution rate in the world, and has hanged more than 420 people since 1991, according to Amnesty International.

The death penalties in Singapore’s anti-drug laws have been criticised by human rights groups as inhumane. But the Singapore government say they are necessary because of the city-state’s close location to drug-producing countries.

***

following this for some time now. i've learnt that i cannot just read news from CNA.com. this case really makes me sad.

now that the execution has taken place, i stop to wonder if he had the intent to bring in the drugs. i wonder if singapore has made the right move. because our gahmen speaks on behalf of us. i wonder what harm would it have brought to singapore and singaporeans if his life was spared and given a life sentence instead.

but then, i wonder if a life sentence would be something he wanted instead of the death penalty. being in a cell, ALL your life. is that something that would be preferred over death?

2 sides to a story. sam, i'll remember that.

anyway the point here is reasonable doubt. and i stand for that. reasonable doubt in a courtroom should be valid and it should be "innocent till proven guilty". but here, it's "guilty till proven innocent". as i pray for that man who died and who may have been innocent, i wonder why our gahmen is so unforgiving and dare i say, unreasonable.

more here: http://pseudonymity.wordpress.com/

Labels: singapore news

This girl posted at 3:51 PM