Singaporean Norasharee bin Gous, 48, and Malaysian national Kalwant Singh, 31, were sentenced to death at Changi Prison Complex on Thursday, the Singapore Prison Service told CNN in an email.
In a statement on Tuesday, Singapore authorities said Norasharee and Singh – both convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty – had exhausted their legal remedies.
According to the Central Narcotics Bureau, the two men were sentenced to death in June 2016. Singh had been convicted of possession of 60.15 grams (2.1 ounces) of heroin and trafficking 120.9 grams of drugs , while Norasharee was convicted of soliciting a man for trafficking 120.9 grams of heroin.
In Singapore, trafficking a certain amount of drugs – for example, 15 grams (0.5 ounces) of heroin – carries a mandatory death sentence under the Misuse of Drugs Act, although the law was recently amended to allow a convicted person to escape the death penalty in certain circumstances.
‘Dingy the image of Singapore’
Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking 42.7 grams (1.5 ounces) of heroin and later convicted and sentenced to death in 2010.
Singapore courts rejected several appeals to quash Dharmalingan’s execution, in which his lawyers argued that he should not have been sentenced to death because he was unable to understand his actions.
The case has brought the city-state’s zero-tolerance drug laws under scrutiny, with human rights advocates saying the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking is an inhumane punishment.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research, Emerlynne Gil, on Thursday urged Singapore to immediately impose a moratorium on executions. “Singapore has once again executed people convicted of drug-related offenses in violation of international law, in defiance of public outcry,” Gill said.
