Singapore: Debate over drug mule Yong's death penalty

Should drug traffickers be presented the automatic punishment - which is the death penalty? That question arose during the appeal of convicted Malaysian drug mule Yong Vui Kong.

The 22-year-old was to be hanged last December for smuggling 47 grammes of heroine. But Yong's lawyer, M Ravi, successfully sought a stay of execution from the High Court.

He told the Court of Appeal that a mandatory death penalty is a violation of customary international law, calling it "cruel and inhumane".

He said the court should have the discretion to look at different circumstances concerning individual drug traffickers before deciding to mete out the death penalty.

The prosecution - led by outgoing Attorney-General Walter Woon who made a rare appearance - thought otherwise, saying the discretionary power lies with Parliament.

The court will give its decision at a later date.

Source: Channel News Asia, March 15, 2010

Heroin smuggler challenges Singapore death sentence

Lawyers for Yong Vui Kong argue country's policy of mandatory execution in drug cases is a breach of human rights.

Automatic execution for drug smugglers is inhumane and disproportionate, a court in Singapore has heard, as a 21-year-old challenged his death sentence for bringing heroin into the country.

Lawyers representing Yong Vui Kong, a 22-year old Malaysian, argued that the mandatory death sentence violates international standards and human rights laws. Singapore executes anyone found guilty of importing more than 15g of drugs. It is one of the few countries in the world to impose mandatory death sentences for drug offences.

"This is a young man, only 22, who committed a non-violent offence," said Saul Lehrfreund, co-founder of the Death Penalty Project, a London-based legal program that appeals against death sentences. "The court in Singapore has no choice by to impose death by hanging, regardless of the individual circumstances of the case. In this day and age that just seems ludicrous."

Kong, whom lawyers describe as "impoverished and vulnerable", was due to be hanged last December until lawyers obtained an emergency reprieve. He was convicted in 2008 of smuggling 47g of heroin into Singapore.

The case is regarded by experts as an important challenge to the country's death penalty and has attracted media attention across Asia, where executing people for drug offences remains controversial.

Taiwan recently absolished the mandatory death penalty. China, which continues to execute prisoners for 68 different offences including 44 non-violent crimes, allows judicial discretion in sentencing drug-related cases.

Singapore has seen a big decline in its use of the death penalty since having the highest execution rate in the world in the 1990s, but the government is resisting any change to the law. Singapore's attorney general, Walter Woon, has argued that parliament has the power to show mercy in individual cases.

Kong was refused mercy in December, and his lawyers are arguing that the courts and not the executive should have the discretionary power. "It can't be right that an administrative body not amenable to judicial review effectively becomes the sentencing body," said Lehrfreund. "There is a clear global trend away from sentencing people to death without taking their age, vulnerability and other powerful mitigating factors into account."

Source: The Guardian, March 15, 2010

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