AN international outcry has followed the execution of the eight convicted drug traffickers in Indonesia this week. Indonesia, Malaysia and 30 other countries and territories around the world have laws prescribing the death penalty for drug offences, a practice that is in violation of international law. In Malaysia, there are currently 902 persons on death row for drug offences.
States justify the application of capital punishment for drug offences as a means of guarding the nation from the negative effects to society of drug use. However, studies have shown that most of those sentenced are far from the major players in the illicit drug trade. They are instead people who are poor, desperate and vulnerable, and have been exploited by drug trafficking syndicates.
