Singapore increases pressure on executions and anti-death penalty groups | Death penalty news

Singapore – Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad’s father was in a remote part of Iran when he received the news he had feared for a long time.

His son was to be hanged in Singapore’s Changi Prison.

Suffering from failing health and with just a week’s notice before his execution at dawn on November 29, he was unable to make the arduous journey to see his son one last time in person.

Instead, the last contact between father and son was by long-distance phone call.

Despite one last legal challenge, Massoud was hanged on the last Friday of November, 14 years after he was first arrested for drug offences.

Masood, 35, was the ninth person hanged in Singapore this year.

“With four executions in November alone, the Singaporean government continues its brutal use of the death penalty,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Anti-death penalty campaign groups estimate that around 50 prisoners are currently on death row in Singapore.

Despite protests from prominent human rights groups and United Nations experts, Singapore claims the death penalty is an “effective deterrent” to drug traffickers and ensures the city-state is “one of the safest places in the world”.

A group of UN experts said in a joint statement last month that Singapore should “move away from reliance on criminal law and adopt a human rights-based approach to drug addiction and drug abuse”.

Stories about the plight of death row inmates usually come from activists who tirelessly fight for the rights of those facing their final sentence.

The latest wave of executions has now shaken them.

“It’s a nightmare,” says Kokila Annamalai, a prominent anti-death penalty activist at the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

His work has brought him into close contact with many inmates on death row.

“They are more than the people we promote. They are also our friends, they feel like our brothers and sisters. It was very difficult for us personally,” Annamalai told Al Jazeera.

‘She lost another son, she couldn’t take it’

Like almost all Singapore inmates, Masood was convicted of drug offences.

Born in Singapore to an Iranian father and a Singaporean mother, he spent his childhood between Iran and Dubai.

At the age of 17, he returned to Singapore to complete his mandatory national service and was arrested on drug charges during this period of his life.

In May 2010, aged 20, he drove to meet a Malaysian man at a petrol station in central Singapore. Massoud took a package from the man before driving away. Soon he was stopped by the police. They inspected the parcel and several other bags they found in the car.

In total, police officers found more than 31 grams of diamorphine, also known as heroin, and 77 grams of methamphetamine.

Massoud was arrested for possession of drugs for the purpose of smuggling.

Under Singapore’s strict laws, anyone found in possession of more than 15 grams of heroin can face the death penalty.

Massoud told police he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. He also blamed an illegal money-lending syndicate for planting drugs.

His defense did not stand up in court and he was sentenced to death in 2015.

Masud’s sister Mahnaz released an open letter shortly before her brother was hanged last month. He described the pain the death sentence caused his father.

“My father’s heart was completely broken and never recovered. “One of my brothers died of appendicitis when he was 7 years old… he lost a son, he couldn’t accept it.”

Massoud fought tirelessly to challenge his conviction, but his numerous legal challenges, including his appeal to Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam for clemency, failed.

Before his execution, Massoud’s sister spoke about how her brother devoted his time on death row to helping other inmates in their legal battles.

“He invested a lot in helping them find peace,” Mahnaz said.

“Like everyone else, he considers it his responsibility to fight for his life, and he wishes that everyone on death row feels the same motivation and stands by each other,” he said.

‘People are becoming deeply interested’

In October, Masood was one of 13 death row inmates who won a lawsuit against the Singapore Prison Service and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, alleging that they had committed illegal acts by disclosing and requesting inmates’ private letters.

The court also found that the prisoners’ right to privacy was violated.

Massoud was also supposed to represent a group of 31 inmates in a constitutional challenge against a new law on the post-appeal process in death-sentence cases. A hearing on this legal challenge is still scheduled for late January 2025, which is now too late for Massoud.

Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau said Masood’s execution ahead of an upcoming high court hearing was “not related to his conviction or sentence”.

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, executions in the Southeast Asian financial hub have increased in recent years.

Singapore has reportedly executed 25 inmates since 2022, with authorities showing no prospect of softening their approach to capital punishment for drug traffickers.

In the city-state, anti-death penalty campaigners continue to use social media to voice their anger at government moves to amplify the personal stories of death row inmates.

However, they have begun receiving “correction orders” from government authorities under Singapore’s controversial fake news law.

Annamalai’s TJC group has been targeted by the law – the Prevention of Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) – for several posts on death penalty cases.

The campaign group has been instructed to add a “correction notice” along with its original posts for further clarification and also share an online link to the government’s website.

“This is the story of a prisoner who always faces imminent execution and gets POFMA’d,” Annamalai said.

Describing these stories from individual prisoners as “the most powerful”, Annamalai says the group was specifically targeted because “people are deeply interested in them and want to take action when they read them”.

“They are trying to silence us”

Human rights activists protested the authorities’ recent targeting of activist groups.

“We strongly condemn the ongoing climate of intimidation and fear created by the authorities around anti-death penalty activism in Singapore and demand an immediate end to the crackdown on activists,” the seven anti-death penalty groups said in a joint statement. in October.

Elizabeth Wood, CEO of the Death Penalty Justice Project based in Melbourne, Australia and one of seven countries to sign the letter, said those fighting to end executions were being painted as “glorifying” drug traffickers.

“They announced that they will create a memorial day for drug victims. It’s another way to accuse activists of glorifying and trying to humanize drug dealers,” Wood said.

“The Singaporean government should not use its repressive and overbroad laws to silence anti-death penalty activists,” said Lau of Human Rights Watch.

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs declined Al Jazeera’s request for an interview.

In a recent statement, the Home Office said they “do not target, silence or persecute organizations or individuals simply for speaking out against the death penalty.”

TJC’s Annamalai said she will continue her activism despite facing a rectification order from POFMA for a post on her personal Facebook page.

Even though he faces the risk of fines or even jail time, Annamalai said he will not make amends.

“They are aggressively and desperately trying to silence us, but they are not going to succeed,” he said.