Singapore’s prison hanged a Malaysian drug trafficker Wednesday, marking the second execution in two weeks and raising the number of executions in the city-state to 12 this year despite pressure to abolish the death penalty.
A Singapore anti-death penalty activist, Kirsten Han, confirmed that 38-year-old Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was executed at Changi Prison. Han, who is accompanying his family, said they have collected Pannir’s belongings from the prison.
Pannir was arrested in 2014 for having 52 grams (about 1.8 ounces) of heroin and sentenced to death in 2017. He was originally scheduled for execution in February but received a stay of execution due to pending legal matters.
Malaysian police had interviewed Pannir on Sept. 27 when lawyers said he provided information about the people who had handed him the drugs. It raised hopes his execution would be postponed again for a new investigation. But Malaysia’s home ministry said Tuesday that Pannir didn’t provide any new leads for police to conduct further probes.
His execution came after the court rejected his final appeal and he failed to secure a presidential clemency. It marked the second execution in two weeks following that of fellow Malaysian Datchinamurthy Kataiah on Sept. 25. Pannir was the fourth Malaysian and 12th person to be executed so far this year in Singapore, the majority of those for drug-related offences, activists said. This was up from nine executions for the whole of 2024.
More than 40 people remain on death row in the city-state.
“It is indefensible that Singapore continues to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty International’s death penalty advisor Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement Wednesday. “ Yet there is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.”
Singapore’s strict drug laws mandate the death penalty for anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of heroin or 500 grams of cannabis. Critics say the law only targets low-level traffickers and couriers. But Singapore’s government defends it as vital for public safety.
Pannir’s family, his lawyers and various rights groups noted the Singapore court had found he was merely a courier transporting the substance. Pannir had said he didn’t know he was carrying drugs. Still, the court had to hand down the death sentence after prosecutors refused to issue Pannir a certificate of substantive assistance vouching that he helped their investigation, which would have spared his life, they said.
Pannir, the third of six children, was the son of a church pastor who worked as a lorry driver to make ends meet, activists said. He loved music and played in a church band growing up. In prison, Pannir penned letters, songs and poems about the anguish of being on death row and hopes of a second chance.
His family has shared some of his songs, which were sung by several Malaysian singers.
