On Friday morning, Azwan bin Bohari was marched to the gallows. The 47-year-old Singaporean, himself an addict, was convicted of trafficking 26.5 grams of heroin in 2019. Despite pleas for the Singaporean authorities to halt it, and the fact Azwan was waiting on the outcome of a legal appeal, the execution controversially went ahead. Azwan’s appeal that half of what he was caught with was for his own personal consumption – which would have placed him below the threshold for execution – was dismissed by the court.
Singapore prides itself on being clean, safe and orderly, telling the world this is because when they say ‘zero tolerance’, they mean it. Capital punishment is popular in the Southeast Asian city-state, with various polls suggesting around 80 per cent of citizens support the death penalty as a deterrent against drug offences. Crime rates are indeed low, but is it really as simple as that?
There’s very little correlation between capital punishment and crime rates
‘I went to Azwan’s funeral and burial,’ said abolitionist campaigner Kirsten Han.
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