Introduction
For a long time, Singapore has justified its strict use of capital punishment to discourage drug trafficking and other significant crimes. 2024 saw the city-state execute nine individuals, with four executions in November, marking the highest number in a decade (Hancock, 2024). However, those who are punished are often not Singaporean citizens themselves. The majority of those executed have been low-level couriers from marginalised backgrounds. As Singapore’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbours move to abolish or limit capital punishment, the city-state is adopting the opposite approach. Singapore has further tightened its laws, increasing pressure on those who challenge its policies (HRW, 2024b).
Clear Death Penalty Laws
Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs ACT (MDA) guarantees the death penalty for those who are found carrying certain drugs above a fixed threshold (for example, 15 grams of heroin or 500 grams of cannabis); the precision and rigidity of the MDA’s narrow judicial discretion. Unless a defendant can prove they were a courier who substantially assisted Singaporean authorities, or has a relevant mental impairment, a death sentence is mandatory (HRW, 2024a; WCADP, 2024). While Singapore makes clear what crime it deems to be worthy of the death penalty, United Nations’ (UN) experts maintain that drug offences do not meet the “most serious crimes” threshold (WCADP, 2024).
In June 2024, the Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act (PACC) came into effect, which limits last-minute court appeals. This means that those detained only have a single post-appeal application where “new and compelling” evidence exists. HRW argues the PACC violates UN Safeguards by severely constraining avenues to seek review or clemency (HRW, 2024b). Amnesty International and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty contend that mandatory sentencing, presumptions of trafficking, and curtailed appeals breach Singapore’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Convention Against Torture, while the state maintains its justice system is fair and the death penalty necessary (HRW, 2024b; WCADP, 2024).
Executions and Impact on Marginalised Communities
After a slowdown in executions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, executions in Singapore resumed in 2022 and have continued since. One of those individuals was Mohamad Azwan bin Bohari, a Malay-Singaporean who was caught trafficking 50 grams of heroin. Azwan, despite a pending appeal to the courts and a plea from the UN human rights office, was still hanged on October 4th, 2024. His family had only four days’ notice before he was taken away from them (Amnesty International, 2024).
A different case is of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, a Malaysian convicted of transporting 51.84 grams of heroin. He was scheduled for execution in February 2025 after more than six years on death row; his final appeals were rejected in April 2025 despite continued calls from Malaysian officials and rights groups for clemency. He was executed (Amnesty International, 2025a, 2025b).
This pattern of executions of non-Singaporeans has been evident for some time. Earlier, in April 2022, Singapore executed Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, a Malaysian man with an intellectual disability, despite international condemnation, including from UN experts and the European Union, who argued that executing a person with an IQ of 69 violates international standards (Chen & Latiff, 2022; Reuters, 2022a). Similar risks persist for prisoners with cognitive impairments, given the rigidity of mandatory sentencing (WCADP, 2024).
Singapore Against Anti-Death Penalty Activism
Repression has extended beyond the gallows. In October 2024, authorities declared the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a group documenting executions and advocating abolition, a “Declared Online Location” under Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), cutting off donations and requiring warning notices; TJC temporarily suspended its online operations, forcing it to suspend operations due to legal risk (CIVICUS Monitor, 2025). The group was also compelled to publish state-drafted “corrections” about the Azwan execution (HRW, 2025a). High-profile human rights lawyer Ravi Madasamy was struck off after alleging judicial bias. In May 2025, the Home Minister publicly named and castigated anti-death penalty activists in Parliament, accusing them of misleading the public (HRW, 2025a). The cumulative effect is a climate of intimidation.
Street-level dissent is similarly policed. On February 2nd, 2024, roughly 70 people marched towards the Istana carrying umbrellas bearing watermelon visuals to express solidarity with Palestinians and highlight human rights concerns, including the death penalty; organisers were later charged under the Public Order Act (POA) for unpermitted assembly (HRW, 2024a; CIVICUS Monitor, 2024). Activists have also been questioned for vigils outside Changi Prison ahead of executions (CIVICUS Monitor, 2025). Broad public-order powers make spontaneous, peaceful protest effectively unlawful.
Conclusion
The way Singapore enforces the death penalty is strict and merciless. Sentences are automatic with a limited judicial process; even protests are discouraged. And those most likely to be sentenced, migrant workers, low-income individuals, and people with disabilities, are those least equipped to fight back.
Reform is possible. The government could suspend executions, revise the MDA to restore judicial discretion, reduce restrictions on protest and advocacy, and allow human rights defenders to work without fear. These steps would not erase past injustices, but they would bring Singapore closer to a system that values fairness as much as certainty (HRW, 2025a; WCADP, 2024). Until then, the system will remain as it is. Until such reforms occur, the system’s outcomes will continue to demonstrate its shortcomings.
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