Policemen are seen at the Shangri-La Hotel during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on May 31, 2024. United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun are expected to meet in person for the first time at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, which starts in Singapore on May 31, as tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea escalate. - Photo: AFP file
SINGAPORE: Singapore on Friday (Aug 2) hanged a convicted drug trafficker, authorities said, in the city-state's second execution this year.
The 45-year-old Singaporean man was executed at Changi prison for trafficking 36.93 grams of pure heroin, more than twice the 15 grams that merits the death penalty in the strict city-state, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said.
Rights groups declined to give details about the convict's identity and his case as the family has requested privacy.
"He was accorded full due process under the law, and was represented by legal counsel throughout the process," CNB said in a statement late Friday.
The man was convicted and sentenced to death in February 2019, and his legal appeals and petition for clemency have been dismissed, CNB added.
In February, a 35-year-old Bangladeshi man, Ahmed Salim, was sent to the gallows for the murder of his former fiancée in Singapore.
Friday's execution brings the number of people hanged since Singapore resumed executions in March 2022 to 18, according to an AFP tally.
It had previously halted hangings for a two-year period during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The United Nations, rights groups and other opponents of capital punishment say it has no proven deterrent effect and have called for it to be discontinued.
Singaporean officials insist it has helped make the country one of Asia's safest. - AFP
