Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can

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Commentary: Death penalty for drug

tra!icking should stay, but certain aspects of
drug law can be improved

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Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can be improved - TODAY 9/15/22, 9:25 PM

BY PRITAM SINGH

Published August 18, 2022

Updated August 25, 2022

Pexels

The author believes that while the death penalty should not be mandatory, it should remain a sentencing option
for the Courts at this point in time due to the public perception of its deterrent effect against drug trafficking
and consumption.

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Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh says that notwithstanding Singapore’s

strict laws against drugs, the number of individuals sent to the gallows for
drug trafficking is lower than commonly assumed
The Workers’ Party chief cites how the number of persons sentenced to
death has been managed in two ways, by reducing drug quantities below the
threshold amount, and issuing certificates of substantive assistance to
accused persons
Mr Singh calls for the courts to be empowered to decide whether an
offender's death sentence should be substituted with life imprisonment and
caning, if the evidence shows there has been cooperation with the
authorities as required by law
He says curbing of abuse of court processes in death penalty cases should
not be done through legislation but should continue to be handled by the
courts
And while the death penalty should not be mandatory, Mr Singh says it
should remain a sentencing option for the courts at this point in time due to
the public perception of its deterrent effect against drug trafficking and
consumption

The death penalty for drug traffickers in Singapore has once again come to the forefront of
public discourse, especially online and in the international press. ADVERTISEMENT

Locally, the range of views are not particularly varied, but arguably both narrow and binary
— Singaporeans tend to be either for or against the death penalty. POPULAR
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Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can be improved - TODAY 9/15/22, 9:25 PM

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Additional questions like the distinction between the death penalty and the mandatory
death during rope course at
death penalty or the ambit of prosecutorial discretion and separately, judicial powers, Safra Yishun

among other points, are generally absent from most discussions on the subject.
Police issue written
In this context, there is a widely-held view that a majority of the public in Singapore do not advisory to NUS grad who
held up anti-death penalty
oppose the death penalty for drug trafficking. One common reason for this is that there is sign
little to no tolerance to have drugs becoming mainstream either in our society or schools.
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MISTAKEN IMPRESSION to cut to assembly seats,
fight drug tra!icking
The spike in the number of executions in Singapore, over the last few weeks and months,
can engender the mistaken impression that the criminal justice system is single-minded in
ensuring that all drug traffickers are sentenced to death. Recommended by

The public advocacy of the Government in response to READ ALSO Syfe

The Risk Of Locking In High
the tireless and dogged efforts of death penalty MHA study finds most Fixed Deposit Rates
abolitionists both in and out of the courts can harden this people from countries
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with drug tra!icking
perception. problem believe S'pore's
death penalty to be Gen Z Speaks: I joined a
Even so, the controversy over the death penalty for drug mental health startup
effective: Shanmugam
traffickers will not go away anytime soon. It will resurface wanting to help others. I…
learnt that I had to help
each time a trafficker is due to be hanged. myself first

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This is a reality of any democratic society where citizen participation in civic affairs should Motorist.sg
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death penalty. AD

For them, emotions run highest — and understandably so — when drug traffickers are
sentenced to death.
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It is also a fact that the very real damage that traffickers inflict to perpetuate drug
consumption and the destruction that is wreaked on faceless innocent families and addicts
has a smaller public opinion footprint than the emotions that dominate the days and hours
that tick by before a trafficker with a name and a backstory, is sent to the gallows.

SUBSTANTIVE ASSISTANCE
Since 2013, however, legislative amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) allow the
Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) to issue certificates of substantive assistance to drug mules
or couriers who would otherwise face the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking.

The certificate is issued when the trafficker gives READ ALSO

information that substantially assists in disrupting drug 24 death-row inmates’
trafficking activities within and outside Singapore. lawsuit against AG: Apex
court rejects appeal and
last-ditch stay of
execution for prisoner
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Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can be improved - TODAY 9/15/22, 9:25 PM

In the event a certificate is issued, the courts can sentence the drug trafficker to life
imprisonment and caning where applicable, instead of imposing the mandatory death
penalty.

This is provided that the facts of the case also show the trafficker was a courier and
therefore only involved in the transport of drugs.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), from 2013 to early 2022, certificates of
substantive assistance were issued to 82 out of 104 drug traffickers.

This number includes both Singaporeans and foreigners who were convicted of trafficking,
importing or exporting controlled drugs, and whose convictions remained unchanged after
appeal or review.

For the remaining 22 accused persons, they were deemed to have not provided
substantive assistance to the authorities.

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Among them, 14 were sentenced to death under the READ ALSO

mandatory death penalty and eight were found to have Drug tra!icker did not
been suffering from an abnormality of the mind by the commit act under duress,
mentally ‘not
courts, and sentenced to life imprisonment. substantially’ impaired,
says MHA in response to
These numbers provide a much more nuanced picture as
petition
to the number of individuals sentenced to death by the
Singapore courts for drug trafficking.

Extrapolating from the data above, about 78 per cent of drug traffickers were not sentenced
to death even though they would have brought enough drugs into Singapore to face the
mandatory death penalty.

This figure rises to 88 per cent if one includes the eight traffickers whom the courts ruled to
have suffered from an abnormality of the mind.

SECOND CHANCE
Prior to 2013, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and in particular, the Public
Prosecutor, routinely would exercise discretion as he is empowered under the Constitution
to determine if it would be in the public interest to reduce the charge against drug traffickers
to just below the threshold that invoked the mandatory death penalty.

Then, as an example, it was not uncommon to read in the newspapers of individuals who
trafficked 14.99g of pure heroin. This was just below the 15g that invokes the mandatory
death penalty.

In such cases, the prosecution artificially reduced the READ ALSO

weight of the drugs in the charge sheet even though the
actual amount trafficked exceeded 15g.

The reasons for doing so — effectively giving a “second

chance” to drug traffickers — were shaped by the factual
BBC asked Shanmugam
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Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can be improved - TODAY 9/15/22, 9:25 PM

circumstances of each trafficking offence: The degree of BBC asked Shanmugam

about S'pore's 'social
culpability of the offender, the age and IQ of the offender, controls', 'draconian' drug
among others reasons and internal deliberations within laws and Section 377A.
the AGC the public is not privy to. Here's how he responded

Today, drug traffickers who are not issued a certificate by

the CNB, unsurprisingly question and challenge this non-
issuance through their lawyers.

In doing so, defence lawyers often contend that their clients assisted substantively, or
question the definition of “substantive” assistance.

However, how much assistance would be deemed to be substantive, and how much a mere
courier is expected to know to receive the certificate are not issues that Courts may
examine.

These matters come solely under the purview of the AGC and CNB, not judges at trial. 

In at least one recently reported case, CNB did not issue a READ ALSO
certificate of assistance prior to the trial of drug trafficker Youths' lax mindset,
Farid Batra — a decision the prosecution stood by at trial. liberal attitudes on drugs
pose stiff challenge to
But interestingly, the certificate was ultimately issued by S'pore authorities' zero
tolerance stance
CNB after the substantive judicial process had run its
course.

This was because the Court of Appeal found that on the

facts, the accused was a courier. The prosecution’s case was that he was much more than
that. 

Since Farid Batra did not originally receive a certificate of substantive assistance from CNB,
the Court of Appeal was powerless — by law — to overturn the mandatory death penalty.

A few months after the Court of Appeal released its judgement, the accused received a
certificate of substantive assistance from the CNB.

Upon filing a criminal motion to the Court of Appeal by the accused, the mandatory death
sentence was reduced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane.

This case illustrates that the CNB’s decision to withhold the issuance of a certificate of
substantive assistance prior to trial can be wrong or found to be unjustified.

It also portends greater scope for our laws to evolve towards giving the courts greater
decision-making powers in cases involving the mandatory death penalty.

Such a shift would not be dissimilar to the current role the courts play to — for example —
assess evidence and determine if a trafficker was labouring under an abnormality of the
mind when the trafficking offence was committed.

In another recent case, a drug trafficker, Abdul Rahim Shapiee, also belatedly received a
certificate of substantive assistance but the trial judge nonetheless imposed the mandatory
death penalty as the judge found his role in the crime of drug trafficking exceeded that of a
mere courier.

This was a finding the Court of Appeal saw no factual reason to overturn, and goes some
way to debunking an argument in defence of the mandatory death penalty that judges
would not impose the death penalty if they could avoid it.

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Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can be improved - TODAY 9/15/22, 9:25 PM

CURBING ABUSE
Arising from some recent high-profile capital cases here that have captured international
attention, MHA has recently announced that it is looking into possible legislative changes to
curb abuses of court processes where the lawyers of convicted traffickers make late
applications to delay or overturn mandatory death penalty sentences.

I would caution against such an approach, unless the changes sought are a request from
the courts.

It would be most appropriate to allow the courts to deal with legal applications deemed to
be an abuse of process since there are established consequences to such applications,
with cost orders a common outcome.

With considerable public support for a tough stance against drug trafficking in Singapore,
allowing the legal process to be perceived as open and running its natural course — given
that the death penalty is irreversible — would in my opinion, buttress continued public
support for a strong stance against drugs.

DETERRENT EFFECT
One subject that does not quite feature as prominently as it should in the advocacy of
abolition advocates is the unequivocally criminal nature of the drug trade, and more acutely,
the impact on all segments of society should drugs become more easily available in
Singapore.

Some abolitionists argue that the death penalty should be repealed as it does not deter
individuals from trafficking drugs into Singapore.

However, this view does not account for the deterrent effect of the death penalty without
which, one must concede and anticipate the prospect of more traffickers bringing drugs into
Singapore. This is an outcome nobody wants.

The deterrent effect of the death penalty does not promise that no one will traffic drugs into
Singapore.

But there is a dominant perception that it would make it far more difficult for drug kingpins to
hire and convince couriers and mules to bring drugs into Singapore, while making it clear
that the death penalty could await those who tempt fate.

Overall, the criminal justice system’s approach to drug traffickers represents an attempt to
find a balance between a degree of equity and discretion towards drug traffickers,
particularly couriers on the one hand, while maintaining a sufficiently strong stand against
drug trafficking and to protect Singapore society from the scourge of drug abuse on the
other.

While there remains room to improve specific aspects of the criminal justice system with
regard to our drug laws, there does not appear to be significant support among the public in
Singapore for a removal of the death penalty as a sentencing option for drug traffickers.

On the contrary, drug traffickers continue to be viewed as criminals who must face up to
harsh consequences for destroying many innocent lives and families.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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Commentary: Singapore's death penalty for drug trafficking should stay, but certain aspects of drug law can be improved - TODAY 9/15/22, 9:25 PM

Pritam Singh is Leader of the Opposition in Singapore’s Parliament and secretary-general of

the Workers’ Party.

RELATED TOPICS
DEATH PENALTY DRUGS DRUG TRAFFICKING LAW PRITAM SINGH

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