Tamil man to be executed in Singapore over cannabis charge: Report

Singapore, April 25 (IANS) A 46 year-old Tamil man, who was convicted of abetting trafficking of more than 1 kg of cannabis to Singapore, is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, amid calls by activists to halt the capital punishment.

The Singapore Prison Service confirmed Tangaraju Suppiah's execution will be carried out on April 26 at Changi prison and informed his family members, media reports said.

Suppiah was convicted of abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic 1,017.9 g of cannabis from Malaysia to Singapore in 2013, and sentenced to death in 2018.

According to the BBC, he was not caught during the delivery, but prosecutors said he was responsible for coordinating it, and traced two phone numbers used by a deliveryman back to Suppiah.

He told the court that he was not the person communicating with others connected to the case, adding that he had lost one of the phones and denied owning the second one.

The Misuse of Drugs Act states death penalty if the amount of cannabis is more than 500 g and that the amount Suppiah was convicted for is "sufficient to feed the addiction of about 150 abusers for a week", according to Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs.

Stating that Suppiah was convicted on weak evidence, anti-death penalty activists said he was not given adequate access to an interpreter and had to argue his last appeal on his own since his family was unable to secure a lawyer, the BBC reported.

In response, Singapore authorities said he had requested for an interpreter only during the trial, and not earlier.

"I know that my brother has not done anything wrong. I urge the court to look at his case from the beginning," Suppiah's sister, Leela Suppiah, told reporters at a news conference.

Slamming the execution, British billionaire Richard Branson said that Singapore "may be about to kill an innocent man" on the back of "more than dubious circumstances".

The Ministry of Home Affairs told Branson that his comments showed "disrespect" for Singapore's judges and criminal justice system.

Suppiah's execution will be the first to be carried out by Singapore after a gap of six months. In 2022, 11 capital punishments were carried out in the country. Last year, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore's policy of having the death penalty for drug trafficking is in the interest of Singaporeans.

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