THE city-state hanged a 35-year-old Singaporean-Iranian man for drug trafficking, its fourth in less than a month, despite appeals from Teheran to “reconsider” his execution.
The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect and have called for it to be abolished, but Singaporean officials insist it has helped make the country one of Asia’s safest.
Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was previously convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking.
Appeals against his conviction and sentence, as well as petitions for clemency from the president, had been dismissed. After he was informed of his impending hanging, Masoud filed an 11th-hour appeal to stay his execution, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.
Calling him “an Iranian citizen”, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also appealed to his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday to halt the execution.
“Abbas expressed Iran’s respect for Singapore’s legal framework but appealed to Singaporean authorities to reconsider the execution of Masoud Rahimi, emphasising humanitarian considerations,” Iran’s foreign ministry said on X.
However, Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) announced “the capital sentence of death imposed on Masoud Rahimi bin Mehrzad... was carried out on Nov 29 2024”.
“Masoud... was convicted of having in his possession for the purpose of trafficking, not less than 31.14g of diamorphine, or pure heroin,” CNB said.
Under the country’s tough drug laws, the death penalty applies for any amount above a 15g threshold for heroin.
His execution was the fourth in three weeks in Singapore.
Rosman Abdullah, 55, was hanged on Nov 22 and two men – a 39-year-old Malaysian and a 53-year-old Singaporean – were hanged on Nov 15, all for drug offences.
So far this year, there have been nine executions by the Singaporean government – eight for drug trafficking and one for murder.
Singapore has hanged 25 people since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in March 2022 after a two-year halt during the Covid-19 pandemic. — AFP
