(Bloomberg) --Singapore said it executed a man convicted of smuggling one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis into the country, despite renewed criticism of its death penalty for drug traffickers.
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, had his capital sentence carried out today at Changi Prison Complex, according to a Singapore Prison Service spokesperson.
The decision to proceed with the execution had been criticized by human rights groups like Amnesty International, and British billionaire Richard Branson, a longtime critic of the financial hub's use of capital punishment.
Read More: Branson Slams Singapore's Plan to Execute Cannabis Smuggler
The city-state has long defended its uncompromising stance on drugs, arguing that it is not unique among nations in adopting capital punishment, and that its unflinching approach has helped curb drug usage.
Still, the nation's tough policy is increasingly making it an outlier among its neighbors. Thailand decriminalized cannabis last year, while lawmakers in Malaysia voted earlier this month in favor of abolishing the mandatory death penalty and lifelong imprisonment.
While the city-state has moved away from imposing capital punishment for some crimes, it retains them for most trafficking offenses. Tangaraju, a Singaporean, was sentenced to death in 2018 after being found guilty of smuggling more than 500 grams of cannabis, the threshold for imposing the penalty. The country executed 11 inmates last year, all for drug-related offenses, compared to zero in 2020 and 2021 during a pandemic-induced pause.
--With assistance from Nurin Sofia.
(C)2023 Bloomberg L.P.
