EU Local Statement on Mr Prabagaran Srivijayan death penalty case in Singapore
The
European Union Delegation to Singapore issues the following statement
in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission, and the Head of Mission of
Norway:
The European Union (EU) calls on the Singapore authorities to halt the execution of Mr. Prabagaran Srivijayan, to commute his sentence to a non-capital sentence and to adopt a moratorium on all executions.
The EU holds a principled position against the death penalty and is opposed to the use of capital punishment under any circumstances.
No compelling evidence exists to
show that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to crime.
Furthermore,
any errors - inevitable in any legal system - are irreversible.
The EU
will continue in its pursuit on the abolition of the death penalty
worldwide. - Delegation of the European Union to Singapore Website
Uphold the Right to Life and Stay the Execution of Prabagaran Srivijayan
The
Malaysian Bar is extremely troubled over the reports of the imminent
execution of Prabagaran Srivijayan in Singapore. The 29-year old
Malaysian citizen was convicted of drug trafficking, and sentenced to
the mandatory death penalty on 22 July 2012. His family was recently
informed by the authorities that he is scheduled to be hanged to death
at Changi Prison Complex on 14 July 2017.
The
Malaysian Bar appeals to the Government of Singapore for clemency, to
stay the execution of Prabagaran Srivijayan and commute his death
sentence to one of life imprisonment.
The
Malaysian Bar’s position is that every individual has an inherent right
to life. The right to life is absolute, universal and inalienable, and
must be held inviolate, regardless of the crime that may have been
committed.
We recall the immortal words of the late Justice Ishmael
Mohamed, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South
Africa:
Death is different. The dignity of all of us, in a caring civilisation, must not be compromised by the act of repeating, albeit for a wholly different objective, what we find to be so repugnant in the conduct of the offender in the first place.
George Varughese
President
Malaysian Bar
12 July 2017
FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights Press release
Singapore: Halt the execution of Prabagaran Srivijayan
Paris,
12 July 2017: Singaporean authorities must halt the execution of
Prabagaran Srivijayan, FIDH said today. Prabagaran, a 29-year-old
Malaysian national, is scheduled to be executed by hanging on 14 July
2017.
“Singapore
must immediately halt the execution of Prabagaran Srivijayan and put an
end to all executions in the country. It is disturbing that Singapore
continues to impose mandatory death sentences for drug-related crimes,
which do not meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes’ under
international law,” said FIDH President Dimitris Christopoulos.
On
22 September 2014, Singapore’s High Court imposed a mandatory death
sentence on Prabagaran for possession of drugs for the purpose of
trafficking, after he was found in possession of 22.24 grams of heroin
on 12 April 2012.
On
2 October 2015, the Court of Appeal dismissed Prabagaran’s appeal
against his conviction and sentence. Singaporean authorities have never
allowed Prabagaran’s attorneys, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya, who were
hired by Prabagaran’s mother in January 2017, to visit him in Changi
Prison.
Authorities
did not provide any reason for this denial. The denial of Prabagaran to
meet with his legal representatives falls short of international fair
trial standards.
According
to General Comment No. 32 concerning Article 14(3) of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), “in cases involving
capital punishment, it is axiomatic that the accused must be effectively
assisted by a lawyer at all stages of the proceedings.”
Prabagaran has spent more than five years in prison, including almost three years awaiting execution.
International
law reserves the death penalty for the “most serious crimes,” a
threshold that international jurisprudence has repeatedly stated
drug-related offenses do not meet.
If Prabagaran is hanged, it will be the fourth documented execution in Singapore since the beginning of the year.
On 17 March 2017, Singaporean authorities executed an unknown
individual. On 21 April 2017 and 19 May 2017, Singaporean authorities
executed Jeffrey Marquez Abineno, 52, and Muhammad Ridzuan, 31,
respectively, for drug trafficking.
While
the government publishes annual statistics on the total number of
executions, it consistently fails to make public announcements
concerning upcoming hangings and does not reveal the number of prisoners
on death row.
FIDH,
a member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP),
reiterates its strong opposition to the death penalty for all crimes and
in all circumstances.
FIDH
calls on the Singaporean government to reinstate the moratorium on
executions that was lifted in July 2014, and to make progress towards
the abolition of capital punishment for all crimes.
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