Not to proceed with the execution of a man who has been sentenced to death for smuggling a kilogram of cannabis, a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on Singapore today.

46-year-old Thangarazu Supiah was sentenced to death in 2018 for his involvement in the smuggling of 1.01 kilograms of cannabis, twice the amount punishable by death in Singapore, one of the countries with the strictest penalties in the world. , what about drugs.

The execution by hanging is set to take place tomorrow, Wednesday, according to Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).

“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has received information about the imminent execution by hanging of Thangarazu Supiah for allegedly using his phone to coordinate the trafficking of cannabis. We are concerned about due process issues and respect for fair trial guarantees,” the spokeswoman said.

On Sunday, Tankarazu Supiah’s family also asked the authorities to show leniency, as well as a new trial.

Response of the authorities to the Branson intervention

British billionaire Richard Branson yesterday asked Singapore not to proceed with the execution, stressing that the city-state in question “may be preparing to kill an innocent”.

“Thangarazu was actually nowhere near these drugs at the time of his arrest. It’s largely a case based on assumptions,” Branson, who is a member of the Geneva-based Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP), wrote on his blog.

“Killing those at the lowest levels of the illegal drug supply chain (…) is not at all effective in stopping an international trade that represents hundreds of billions every year,” he said, adding that he hoped the authorities would re-examine the case .

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs – responding to Branson – said today that the city-state’s courts have spent more than three years looking into the case and that Branson’s claim is “manifestly untrue”.

“It is unfortunate that Mr Branson, wishing to support his position, claims to know more about the case than the Singapore courts,” the ministry noted.

In numerous countries, including neighboring Thailand, the use of cannabis is no longer a crime.

But Singapore considers the death penalty to remain an effective deterrent against smuggling. The country has not carried out an execution for six months.

Singapore resumed executions last year in March after a more than two-year hiatus. Eleven convicts were executed last year, all for drug cases.