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Recent executions in Singapore condemned by international human rights organisations
The increasing number of executions in Singapore has been condemned by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI).
Jess Feyder
Ten death-row inmates have been executed since 30 March 2022, following a two-year hiatus where no executions were performed in Singapore. The recent executions come in contrast with the year 2019, when Singaporean authorities reported a two-thirds reduction in executions.
Most of the recent executions were for drug-related offences; the crimes did not meet the threshold of “the most serious crimes” for which death sentences may be imposed under Article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty.
A group of experts from the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures (UNHRSP) expressed their concern that “a disproportionate number of those being sentenced to death for drug-related offences are minority persons and tend to be from economically disadvantaged backgrounds”.
Recently, the Singaporean courts have begun to impose cost orders against lawyers for filing “frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process” late-stage applications on behalf of their death-row clients.
On 1 August, 24 death-row inmates retaliated, filing a lawsuit against Singaporean Attorney-General Lucien Wong SC, alleging that their access to lawyers was being obstructed.
They argued that they were unable to secure legal representation because the lawyers they contacted were afraid of court-imposed cost orders. The High Court dismissed the lawsuit on 3 August, which the Court of Appeal upheld on 5 August.
The IBAHRI commented on the unlawfulness of this ruling: “As per principle 16 of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (1990), governments must ensure that lawyers can perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.”
Lawyers “shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognised professional duties, standards and ethics”, they said.
“Lawyers play a vital role in upholding human rights and protecting the interests of their clients. A lack of effective legal representation in capital punishment cases can result in the difference between life and death,” noted IBAHRI co-chair Mark Stephens CBE.
“Punitive court cost orders raise concerns around access to justice and effective legal representation and the right to a fair trial.
“We call on Singapore to ensure that lawyers are able to represent their clients at all stages of criminal proceedings without fear of reprisal.”
IBAHRI co-chair, and immediate past secretary general of the Swedish Bar Association, Anne Ramberg Dr Jur hc, stated that the IBAHRI opposes the death penalty without exception.
The IBAHRI “calls on the Singaporean authorities to suspend any pending executions of individuals on death row, to commute their sentences to imprisonment that complies with international human rights, standards, and norms”, she said.
The Singaporean authorities must “immediately introduce a moratorium on executions with a view to abolition and to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Second Optional Protocol, without delay,” she said.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) stated that Singapore’s authorities must immediately halt impending executions and cease imposing punitive cost orders against lawyers representing death-row inmates.
UNHRSP experts commented further on the situation in Singapore: “We are also extremely concerned by reports about increasing pressure and acts of intimidation by the authorities against activists, journalists, legal professionals and human rights defenders who peacefully advocate against the death penalty and/or represent persons on death row, and the chilling effect such acts have on civicspace.
“The act of expressing one’s opinion and protesting against the death penalty should be tolerated in a democratic country.”
