SINGAPORE: Australian MP Graham Perrett has condemned the planned execution of Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah next Wednesday (23 Apr), expressing concerns that the looming execution may violate international law standards.
In a post published on Facebook on Thursday (20 Apr), Mr Perrett noted that Mr Tangaraju never actually handled the alleged drugs and that his connection to the offence of abetting the trafficking of about 1kg of cannabis was via two mobile phone numbers, which were never recovered for analysis.
He added that Mr Tangaraju also never had a lawyer during his police interrogation, and his request for a Tamil interpreter was denied. The politician said:
“Tangaraju never had a lawyer during his police interrogation. Singapore has a strong reputation as a rule of law country so this concerning omission is not normal. Furthermore, Tangaraju’s request for a Tamil interpreter was denied. Tangaraju could not fully understand the statement when it was read to him and maintains his innocence.
“The other person in the drug importing conspiracy gave evidence that implicated Tangaraju and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of possessing less than 499.99 grams of cannabis.
“Amazingly the threshold for the mandatory death penalty for trafficking cannabis is 500g. Although the co-conspirator was actually arrested with the drugs, Tangaraju’s charge related to 1,017.9 grams of cannabis and therefore received the death penalty.
“As is the case for many people currently on death row in Singapore, Tangaraju was forced to represent himself to seek a review of the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold his conviction. Obviously he was then unsuccessful.”
As the Co-Chair of Parliamentarians Against the Death Penalty, Mr Perrett calls on people to help prevent Tangaraju’s execution by contacting the Singapore High Commission in Canberra or tweeting the Singapore Government directly. He argued:
“Article 6, paragraph 2 of the ICCPR is clear that the application of the death penalty by retentionist countries is restricted to the ‘most serious crimes’. This does not extend to drug offences, and it is particularly concerning that it is being applied for such a minor offence as an attempt to traffic cannabis.”
Mr Perrett’s concerns come amid growing international calls to abolish the death penalty for drug offences. Many human rights organizations have condemned the use of the death penalty for drug offences, arguing that it violates international human rights law and has been proven to be an ineffective deterrent to drug trafficking.
Local activists appeal to Singapore President Halimah Yacob to spare Mr Tangaraju’s life. Family and friends of Mr Tangaraju will also be holding a solidarity event today (April 23) to speak up about the alarming aspects of his case.
Those who wish to support the desperate family’s fight may join the event from 2 pm to 5 pm at 10 Penang Road, #01-02. More information on the event may be found here.