The Death
Penalty For
Drug Offences:
Foreign
Nationals
Briefing Paper | March 2019
Authors:
Carolyn Hoyle (Professor of Criminology, University of Oxford),
Giada Girelli (Human Rights Analyst, Human Reduction International)
Harm Reduction International’s report The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2018 suggests that foreign nationals are
particularly disadvantaged, and sometimes discriminated against, in the criminal justice systems of those countries around the world that
retain the death penalty. As a result, they are over-represented on death rows, especially in Asia and the Middle East.
Excluding China, for which no reliable data is available, in 2018, more than 93 people were executed,i and 149 people sentenced to death
for drug offences, not considered in customary international law to be the ‘most serious crimes’. A significant proportion of these were
foreign nationals, as key findings from the 2018 Global Overview show:
At least 29 of the 59 people executed for drug crimes in Saudi Arabia were foreign nationals, most from Pakistan and Nigeria.
Fifteen of the 16 people sentenced to death in Singapore in 2018 were convicted of drug trafficking, about a third of them
foreign nationals.
In Indonesia, 34 people were sentenced to death for drug offences in 2018, resulting in 130 convicted drug offenders of the 236
death row prisoners, including about 60 foreign nationals.ii
Death is the mandatory punishment for certain drug offences in Malaysia. The vast majority (932) of the 1,279 people awaiting
execution were convicted for drug offences, more than half of whom are foreign nationals. While a quarter of those sentenced to
death will have their sentences overturned at appeal, foreign nationals are half as likely to be successful at appeal.
The findings from the 2018 Global Overview echo prior studies by Harm Reduction International and other NGOs monitoring death
sentences and executions around the world.
High levels of production and trafficking of drugs within the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have contributed to
punitive drug policies that have resulted in a high proportion of foreigners on death row for drug offences in Thailand, Vietnam and
Indonesia.
Though research is challenging in jurisdictions with poor human rights records, data suggest that over the past decade many Afghan
citizens have been sentenced to death and executed in Iran for drug offences. For example, in 2010, about 3000 Afghans were on death
row in Iran, most on drug-smuggling charges.iii And over the past 13 years, over 500 foreigners, many convicted for drug offences, have
been executed in Saudi Arabia, most following trials that violated international law and unfair pre-trial procedures involving torture.iv
DISADVANTAGE IN THE CRIMINAL PROCESS
Foreign nationals, especially from Asia and Africa, are disproportionately affected by the death penalty.v They might be migrant workers,
people who are trafficked, asylum seekers, those who commit crimes while traveling abroad and those who cross borders to commit
crimes. Foreign nationals are made more vulnerable by precarious socio-economic status, lack of fluency in the language of the host
country, and lack of understanding of the laws or criminal process. They often have no power, resources, nor access to support networks,
and are subject to suspicion, over-policing, criminalisation and discrimination in the criminal process. Unfair pre-trial processes mean
that many will not be assisted by an interpreter or a lawyer in the police station when making a statement. Where foreign nationals are
unable to afford to appoint their own private lawyer, are without family and friends nearby, and/or have little or no assistance navigating
a foreign justice system or clemency applications, they are exceptionally vulnerable and may spend years on death row.