Law Faculty website
FACULTY OF LAW BLOGS / UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
DPRU Blog submissions
Singapore to resume executions amid heightened international
scrutiny
Author(s)
Amanda Clift-Matthews
Barrister and former in-house
counsel at The Death Penalty
Project
Posted
16 February 2022
Time to read
4 Minutes
Over the past week, Singapore has signalled its clear intention to
resume executions after a hiatus of more than two years. Roslan
bin Bakar, a Singaporean national, and Pausi bin Jefridin, a
Malaysian national, were informed late last week that they are to
be hanged imminently. An urgent motion ]led yesterday for a
stay of execution has been granted by the Singapore Court of
Appeal, but on the condition that the men provide security for
the State’s costs of defending the action should it fail.
Roslan and Pausi were jointly convicted in 2010 for traf]cking a
quantity of methamphetamine within Singapore (an offence
referred to in the UK as ‘possession with intent to supply’).[1]
Although they were merely drug couriers, the prosecution did
not grant them a ‘certi]cate of substantial assistance’ that would
have enabled a judge to pass a life sentence and caning instead
of a death sentence. A certi]cate of substantial assistance is
granted only to couriers if they cooperate with investigating
authorities and that cooperation causes tangible disruption to
other drug traf]cking activities. Without this certi]cate, death
sentences are mandatory.
Photo credit: Vince WYP via Flickr. Licensed under Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Notice of Roslan’s and Pausi’s executions follows the issue of a similar warrant in November last year to Malaysian national Nagaenthran a/l K
Darmalingam. Nagaenthran’s case made headlines around the world, drawing criticism from the likes of Richard Branson and Stephen Fry,
because Nagaenthran is said to be both intellectual disabled and psychiatrically ill. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities has said that it is contrary to international law to indict the death penalty on the intellectual or psychosocial disabled. But the
Singapore courts have found that international human rights are sacri]cial to domestic law and adaptable to ‘Asian values’ which prioritise
social harmony and the good of the community as well as retribution, rather than individualistic notions of human rights.
Both Roslan and Pausi are also said to possess subnormal IQs. In their cases, the High Court ruled that their low intelligence was insuf]cient to
demonstrate the requisite ‘abnormality of mind’ that also might have enabled them to qualify for a lesser sentence than death.[2] The
scheduling of the two men’s executions has caused further international scrutiny of Singapore’s use of the death penalty.
Executions previously on hold
Executions were put on hold in Singapore in 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic and in 2021 two civil group actions by death row
prisoners delayed executions further. The ]rst case concerned the illegal funnelling of prisoners’ private and sometimes legally privileged
correspondence to public prosecutors by the Singapore Prison Service (SPS).[3] The Attorney-General did not make any public admission of
wrongdoing and vigorously challenged the action on procedural grounds. Besides impropriety, that action spoke to a deeper structural issue
within the criminal justice system in Singapore: the Attorney-General represents the government’s interests (including the SPS) and the of]ce
of the public prosecutor is a division within the Attorney-General’s Chambers. The Attorney-General, however, has consistently denied that
public prosecutions lack independence.
More controversially, the second action concerned the fact that a signi]cant majority of those sentenced to death for drug traf]cking offences
are ethnically Malay, even though Malays account for a very small fraction of Singapore’s population.[4] The Attorney-General accused the
claimants of being selective with the data but did not provide any of its own to contradict it. He denied that there is any bias or prejudice - even
inadvertently - by public prosecutors, or in the practices of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), the body dedicated to investigating drugs
offences in Singapore.
The fact that a signi]cant majority of the death row population in Singapore are ethnically Malay does not prove discrimination. However, the
optics are not good. Nor is it helped by the government’s lack of transparency. Data on the numbers of persons sentenced to death are not
released. Policies guiding charging decisions are not made public. The Attorney-General himself is said to make the ]nal decision on whether
to prosecute someone for a death eligible offence, but citizens are not told the criteria upon which those decisions are based. Moreover,
criticism of the death penalty is not well-tolerated and even dialogue on such issues is viewed as threatening to social order. Cases challenging
the government are frequently attacked as ‘an abuse of process’: in both the two civil cases referred to above, personal costs orders were
sought against the lawyer acting on behalf of the claimants in the case. None of this instils con]dence when it comes to accountability.
Additional concerns about the application of the death penalty
Concerns with Singapore’s application of the death penalty do not end there. Suspects have minimal rights following arrest. Although in law
they are entitled to legal advice, the courts have sanctioned weeks-long delays at the request of investigating authorities. Investigative
interviews do not have to be recorded verbatim, yet adverse inferences are drawn if details that are not recorded by the CNB are later relied
upon in court. Leaving notions of due process aside, the rationale is, presumably, that this approach ensures more guilty people are convicted.
But it has never been empirically tested; nor has it been investigated whether such slim protections increase in the number of innocent people
falsely convicted.
Draconian penalties are said to be justi]ed as a necessary deterrent in the government’s war on drugs, although, again, there is no empirical
evidence that the penalties have any deterrent effect. The government’s long-standing narrative is that the Singaporean way of life is under
threat. It claims its approach ensures the stability of the country and Singaporean citizens are expected to trust the integrity and competence
of their public servants. The courts’ frequent deference to parliament or members of public of]ce only reduces checks on state power.
Be that as it may, one would hope that the facts revealed by these recent controversial challenges would give any fair-minded, justice-seeking
minister pause for redection and review. Given the widespread criticism, one would also hope a responsible government would reconsider
whether putting to death intellectually disabled, low-level drug mules from marginalised communities is acceptable or, at the very least, has
any demonstrable societal bene]t.
Amanda Clift-Matthews is a barrister and former in-house counsel at The Death Penalty Project. She is currently undertaking a part-time DPhil
in the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford.
[1] Roslan bin Bakar v Public Prosecutor [2016] SGCA 29 (Court of Appeal of Singapore).
[2] Roslan bin Bakar v Public Prosecutor and another matter [2017] SGHC 291 (High Court of Singapore).
[3] Syed Suhail bin Syed Zin and others v Attorney-General [2021] SGHC 270 (High Court of Singapore).
[4] Syed Suhail bin Syed Zin and others v Attorney-General [2021] SGHC 274 (High Court of Singapore).
Share
@OxfordLawFac
On Youtube
Our blogs are written by individual contributors and so
consist of individual opinions and viewpoints which are
not necessarily the views of either the Faculty of Law or
of the University of Oxford.
Privacy Policy
Contact
Accessibility Statement
Cookie Statement
Contact us
The Faculty of Law, University of Oxford,
St Cross Building,
St Cross Road, Oxford OX1 3UL
Enquiries: See contact emails
Contact Us
Data Protection
University of Oxford
Non-Oxford login
Oxford Login