FEATURED POST

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Singapore executes 2 convicted drug traffickers

Published
Singapore's Changi Prison Complex
Singapore's Changi Prison Complex
Two Singaporeans, Tang Hai Liang, 36, and Foong Chee Peng, 48, had their death sentences carried out today, on 18 July 2014 at Changi Prison Complex.

Both Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng were convicted of trafficking in a controlled drug and sentenced to death. Tang Hai Liang was found to have trafficked 89.55g of diamorphine and Foong Chee Peng was found to have trafficked 40.23g of diamorphine. The Misuse of Drugs Act provides for the death penalty if the amount of diamorphine (or pure heroin) trafficked is 15g or more. 15g of diamorphine is equivalent to 1,250 straws[1], which is sufficient to feed the addiction of about 180 abusers for a week.

A thorough review of the mandatory death penalty in our laws was conducted from July 2011. A moratorium on executions was placed while the law was being reviewed. The changes to the mandatory death penalty regime were passed by Parliament in November 2012 after a full debate, and came into force in January 2013. All persons already sentenced to death under the Misuse of Drugs Act by the time the new legislation came into force were given the opportunity to elect to be considered for re-sentencing under the new regime.

Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng had been accorded full due process, including the opportunity to appeal to the Court of Appeal and to elect to be considered for re-sentencing under the new regime. 

Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng both appeared in person before an Assistant Registrar in the High Court to confirm that they did not wish to be part of the re-sentencing process, and that they understood the consequences of their respective decisions. 

Both of them were represented by counsel throughout the legal process, and were also given the opportunity to petition the President for Clemency. 

Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng both elected not to petition the President for Clemency. An unsigned petition for Clemency was subsequently submitted on Tang Hai Liang’s behalf. Tang Hai Liang indicated that he did not wish to appeal for Clemency and that the petition had been submitted by his family without his prior knowledge. This petition for Clemency was turned down and his family was informed of the decision.

[1] This is estimated using a typical purity level of 4%, based on drug seizures in recent years. The number of straws that are actually made may vary according to the purity level of the heroin used in the straws. 

Source: Central Narcotics Bureau, July 18, 2014
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Missouri executes Brian Dorsey

Published
Image
Brian Dorsey is a “rare case where those of us who sit in judgment of a man convicted of capital murder got it wrong,” according to a former judge who upheld his death sentence. Brian Dorsey's appointed trial lawyers were paid a flat fee of $12,000 to represent him. Against the advice of another lawyer, they advised Dorsey to plead guilty without a deal from prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table. 
Read more

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.
Read more

Why witnesses could only see part of the process when Missouri executed Brian Dorsey

Published
Image
Missouri executed four people in 2023. Amber McLaughlin, Michael Tisius, Johnny Johnson and Leonard Taylor, who maintained that he was innocent, all died by lethal injection. The state is one of five in the country that carried out executions last year. Once public spectacles, state-sponsored executions have become highly secretive affairs. Especially in Missouri. Witnesses on Tuesday night watched Brian Dorsey die from a lethal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre, about an hour south of St. Louis.
Read more

Another Young Man Executed in Iran as Death Penalty Cases Rise

Published
Image
Prison authorities of the Islamic Republic have executed another young man amid a significant rise in the use of the death penalty. The inmate convicted of murder was executed at Khorramabad Prison on April 5, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization. The inmate, identified as 30-year-old Hassan-Ali Mirzania, was reportedly found guilty four years ago of fatally shooting two brothers with a hunting rifle.
Read more

Japan | Death-row inmates' lawsuit targeting same-day notifications of executions dismissed

Published
Image
The Osaka District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by death row inmates that claimed same-day notifications of executions violate the Constitution — the first ruling of its kind. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the government in hopes of sparking a wider discussion on the rights of death row prisoners. They also sought ¥22 million in compensation and plan to appeal to a higher court.
Read more

India | Efforts on to raise money to save man facing death penalty in Saudi Arabia

Published
Image
THE HINDU BUREAU — Businessman and social activist Bobby Chemmanur, who has pledged to raise deliverance money to save Kozhikode native Abdul Rahim from death, continued his efforts on Thursday with a fund raising Yatra across Kerala. The Yatra reached Kochi on Thursday from Thiruvananthapuram, proceeded to Thrissur and will go on to other districts before April 16 to save the Kozhikode native, who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.
Read more

Missouri | Condemned inmate could face ‘surgery without anesthesia’ if good vein is elusive, lawyers say

Published
Image
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri’s execution protocol allows for “surgery without anesthesia” if the typical process of finding a suitable vein to inject the lethal drug doesn’t work, lawyers for a death row inmate say in an appeal aimed at sparing his life. Brian Dorsey, 52, is scheduled for execution Tuesday for killing his cousin and her husband at their central Missouri home in 2006. His attorneys are seeking clemency from Gov. Mike Parson and have several appeals pending.
Read more

Ending death penalty in Taiwan

Published
Image
The Constitutional Court announced that it is to hear a case on the constitutionality of the death penalty and has scheduled oral arguments on April 23, attracting widespread attention. However, instead of delving into the core debate of whether the death penalty contravenes the Constitution, legislators across party lines and the media have been preoccupied by arguing whether the grand justices should or should not make a ruling.
Read more