Capital punishment in Singapore: who is the woman being hanged? What has she done?
- Everything you need to know about the woman who will be hanged in Singapore
A 45-year-old female convict will be hanged in Singapore on Friday, July 28. This is the first time in nearly 20 years that a woman in the country has been sent to the gallows.
The woman, who has been identified by the local rights organization Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), was sentenced to death in 2018.
But who is the woman who is being hanged? What crime did she commit that earned her the death penalty?
Read on below for everything you need to know about the first woman to be hanged in Singapore in nearly two decades.
A 45-year-old female convict will be hanged in Singapore on Friday, July 28, as she becomes the first woman to be sent to the gallows in the country in nearly 20 years (file image of an activist protesting an execution in Singapore in 2021)
Who is the woman who will be hanged in Singapore?
Saridewi Djamani, 45, will be sent to the gallows to become the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, TJC activist Kokila Annamalai said.
“Once she exhausted her appeals, it was only a matter of time before she got a warrant for her execution,” said Kirsten Han, a journalist and activist who has campaigned against the death penalty for a decade.
“The authorities are not moved by the fact that most people on death row are from marginalized and vulnerable groups. The people on death row are the ones deemed redundant by both the drug lords and the state of Singapore. This is not something Singaporeans should be proud of,” she said The protector.
Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping, with the country adamant that it serves as an effective crime-fighting measure.
At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the Singapore government resumed executions after a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Why was the woman in Singapore given the death penalty?
Ms Djamani was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking about 30 grams of heroin.
Tragically, she is not the only person facing the death penalty for a crime related to drug trafficking.
Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, 56, was convicted of trafficking 50 grams of heroin and will be hanged in the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison on Wednesday.
At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions after a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them is Nazeri Lajim, who was executed on July 22, 2022 for drug trafficking (photo: his sister lays flowers on his grave in a cemetery in Singapore)
Rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged Singapore to halt the forthcoming executions.
“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on drug use and availability,” said Chiara Sangiorgio, death penalty expert at Amnesty.
“While countries around the world are abolishing the death penalty and embracing drug policy reform, Singaporean authorities are doing neither,” Ms Sangiorgio added.
Prison officials have yet to confirm TJC’s claim about the two impending executions, which are just days away.