The family of Abdul Kahar bin Othman have received an execution notice informing them that his hanging has been scheduled for 30 March 2022 (Wednesday).
Abdul Kahar is 68 years old and has struggled with drug addiction since he was about 16 years old. He was convicted on two counts of drug trafficking, amounting to 66.77g of diamorphine, in 2013.
There were four executions in 2019. Abdul Kahar is the eighth death row prisoner who has been issued an execution notice since then. The others are:
Pannir Selvam Pranthaman
Syed Suhail bin syed Zin
Moad Fadzir bin Mustaffa
Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam
Roslan bin Bakar
Pausi Bin Jefridin
Rosman Bin Abdullah
The executions in these other cases were postponed due to legal applications filed to the court.
However, Pannir’s final appeal was dismissed in 2021.
Pausi has about a month to file an appeal against a high court decision.
The judgement for Nagaenthran’s application will be delivered on 29 March.
Transformative Justice Collective is alarmed by the persistence of the Singapore Prison Service in scheduling so many executions in such a short period of time.
All of these men were convicted of drug offences. Some of them have struggled with substance abuse disorder, while others have been found to have psychosocial disabilities, including IQ scores far below the average.
The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment that is often carried out against people who have already suffered greatly in a world hostile to their plight.
Most of the people we put to death in Singapore are racially oppressed people with mental health issues and disabilities, who have lived in poverty without access to adequate treatment and care for addiction.
Singaporeans’ call to abolish the death penalty must get louder and more urgent, if the upcoming executions are to be stopped.
Transformative Justice Collective 