Singapore hanged a 35-year-old Singaporean-Iranian man for drug trafficking on Friday, its fourth in lower than a month, regardless of appeals from Tehran to “rethink” his execution.
The United Nations and rights teams say capital punishment has no confirmed deterrent impact and have known as for it to be abolished, however Singaporean officers insist it has helped make the nation considered one of Asia’s most secure.
Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born within the city-state to a Singaporean mom and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking.
Appeals in opposition to his conviction and sentence, in addition to petitions for clemency from the president, had been dismissed. After he was knowledgeable of his impending hanging, Masoud filed an Eleventh-hour enchantment to remain his execution, which was dismissed by the Courtroom of Attraction on Thursday.
Calling him “an Iranian citizen”, Iran’s international minister Abbas Araghchi additionally appealed to his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday to halt the execution.
“Araghchi expressed Iran’s respect for Singapore’s authorized framework however appealed to Singaporean authorities to rethink the execution of Masoud Rahimi, emphasizing humanitarian concerns,” Iran’s international ministry mentioned on X.
Nonetheless, Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) introduced “the capital sentence of dying imposed on Masoud Rahimi bin Mehrzad… was carried out on 29 November 2024”.
“Masoud… was convicted of getting in his possession for the aim of trafficking, not lower than 31.14 grams (1.1 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin,” CNB mentioned.
Beneath the nation’s robust drug legal guidelines, the dying penalty applies for any quantity above a 15-gram threshold for heroin.
It added that “capital punishment is imposed just for essentially the most critical crimes, such because the trafficking of serious portions of medicine which trigger very critical hurt”.
His execution was the fourth in three weeks in Singapore.
Rosman Abdullah, 55, was hanged on November 22 and two males — a 39-year-old Malaysian and a 53-year-old Singaporean — have been hanged on November 15 all for drug offences.
Thus far this yr, there have been 9 executions by the Singaporean authorities — eight for drug trafficking and one for homicide.
Based on an AFP tally, Singapore has hanged 25 folks because it resumed finishing up the dying penalty in March 2022 after a two-year halt through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN this month reiterated its name on Singapore to evaluation its place on capital punishment.
