A 46-year-old Indian-origin Tamil drug trafficker was hanged by Singapore authorities pushing aside pleas for clemency from his family back home, human rights activists, and the UN. Incidentally, Singapore has strict laws against drug trafficking, and in some cases death penalty is mandatory.
Tangaraju Suppiah was hanged at dawn in Changi prison, exactly a day after his 11th-hour appeal was rejected by a court in Singapore. The 46-year-old was sentenced in 2018 for coordinating with two men to import 1 kg of cannabis into Singapore in 2013.
Ironically, Tangaraju never came in contact with cannabis though he was hanged for having links with two others whose phone numbers were found on his phone. Last year, Singapore executed 11 people, all for non-violent drug offenses, and Tangaraju’s was Singapore’s first execution in six months.
The other two men gave evidence against Tangaraju, though one of them pleaded guilty to trafficking 499.9 grams of the drug and was sentenced to 23 years in prison and 15 strokes of the cane. The other involved was discharged, though not meaning acquittal.
The Human Rights organizations called the hanging outrageous, and a top UN official requested the Singapore government to reconsider the hanging. His family, too, shared videos and wrote letters to Singapore’s head Halimah Yacob.
Unfortunately, Tangaraju was not allowed a Tamil interpreter, and neither was he allowed a lawyer to defend himself. Tangaraju’s was a horrific case where he lost his life as he was unable to show a legitimate basis for the court to review his case.
