The family of Tangaraju Suppiah, a Singaporean man sentenced to death for conspiring to smuggle over a kilogram of cannabis, has appealed for clemency and a retrial from the authorities. The Court of Appeal has upheld his sentence, and he is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday.
“We don’t think my brother’s had a fair trial… I have faith the president will read all our petitions,” said his sister, Leelavathy Suppiah, in a news conference held in Tamil.
She also tearfully stated that Tangaraju has always been kind and well-liked and has never done anything harmful to anyone. She added that he had sacrificed everything to support his family.
Tangaraju was convicted in 2017 of abetting the conspiracy to traffic 1,017.9 grams of cannabis, which is twice the minimum amount that carries the death penalty in Singapore.
This execution will be the first in Singapore in six months. While cannabis has been decriminalized in several parts of the world, including neighboring Thailand, Singapore has retained tough drug laws that impose capital punishment.
Human rights groups have been urging Singapore to abolish capital punishment, given the possibility of miscarriages of justice in the application of the death penalty.
The family of Tangaraju Suppiah’s is pleading for clemency and a retrial in the case of his death sentence for conspiring to smuggle cannabis. Singapore retains tough drug laws, but human rights groups have been calling for capital punishment to be abolished to avoid any potential miscarriage of justice.
Learn about Examining the Controversial Use of the Death Penalty in Singapore.
