SINGAPORE has executed a man for conspiring to traffic cannabis despite pleas for clemency from his family, activists and the United Nations.
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was hanged at dawn on Wednesday over a plot to smuggle 1kg (35oz) of cannabis.
Activists said he had been convicted on weak evidence and received limited legal access during his prosecution.
But Singapore authorities said he had been given a fair trial and criticised those who questioned the courts.
Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws. It argues these are a necessary deterrent to drug crime which is a major issue elsewhere across South-East Asia.
On Wednesday, Tangaraju Suppiah’s family gathered at Changi Prison near the city’s airport in the east to receive his body.
“The family said they weren’t going to give up on him until right until to the end,” anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han told the BBC.
“They still have a lot of unresolved questions about his case, and the evidence against him. It has been such a harrowing experience for them.”
Last year Singapore hanged 11 people, all on drugs charges – including an intellectually impaired man convicted of trafficking three tablespoons of heroin.
The nation’s stringent drug laws and use of capital punishment put it increasingly at odds with advanced nations and others in the region, activists say.
Singapore’s neighbour Malaysia abolished mandatory death penalties earlier this month, saying it was not an effective deterrent to crime.
Meanwhile cannabis has been decriminalised in many parts of the world – including in neighbouring Thailand, where its trade is encouraged.
