For our last TWIC post this year, we took out some of our case notes from court hearings we observed over the last few months that we hadn’t included in previous reports. These cases reinforce some of the patterns that have been consistent across our experiences reporting on court proceedings over the course of thisContinue reading “This Week In Court”
Author Archives: transformjusticesg
Excerpts from a letter by former Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Former Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia writes to Singapore’s newly elected President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. The letter highlights Singapore’s shocking record of executions and calls on the newly elected president to play a role in ending the death penalty.
Will Minister Shanmugam face the families most impacted by the death penalty?
On 9 October 2023, a day before World Day Against the Death Penalty, families of death row prisoners past and present (and TJC members who went with them) were denied entry by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ security post when they went to deliver a letter and a petition containing 1,721 signatures.
This Week In Court
This week in court, we saw two cases where bail was forfeited and how the Court’s decisions might have failed in properly considering the circumstances leading to bailee absconding, or the bailor’s difficulties in exercising their responsibilities at that particular point in time.
Will I Get Caned If…
Caning as a punishment in Singapore is very normalised within our society. We are exposed to it as children in school. We see adults suffer it as the State imposes it as a form of corporal punishment. We can forget how cruel and barbaric this form of punishment truly is. It is an extremely punitive form of punishment and perpetuates the idea that physical violence in our society is acceptable, as it is used against individuals who have caused other kinds of harm.
Getting Caned by the Singaporean State
Judicial caning is a form of torture, a violent action that leaves grown men unconscious at times. The punishment is doled out only to some – men between 18 and 50 – and in some cases, is a mandatory sentence. The aftermaths of caning is brutal, leaving people both physically and mentally scarred for life.
Four Death Row Prisoners now made to argue on behalf of their lawyers
On 16 October 2023, an application to allow two King’s Counsel to represent four death row prisoners pro bono — Datchinamurthy, Saminathan, Lingkesvaran, Jumaat — in their ongoing constitutional challenge was heard in Court.
This Week In Court
– Week of 7th September – This week in court, we saw that while the Public Defender’s Office was purportedly established in recent times to “enhance access to justice for vulnerable persons”, people are facing serious issues securing legal representation because of a lack of transparency and onerous bureaucratic processes. We also saw how whenContinue reading “This Week In Court”
Statement from Families of Prisoners on Death Row
“We are the family members of death row prisoners, past and present. Just a few of us are here today, but we stand here on behalf of many more families in Singapore, Malaysia and beyond, whose lives have been devastated by Singapore’s ruthless and senseless war on drugs. Some of us will live forever withContinue reading “Statement from Families of Prisoners on Death Row”
Stop The Killing: Get to Know the Campaign & a Deep Dive into the Petition
#StoptheKilling Stop the Killing is a campaign the Transformative Justice Collective started in response to the state‘s killing spree over the last two years. In June 2022, we started collecting physical signatures for a public petition that calls for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Singapore. In just 2023, at leastContinue reading “Stop The Killing: Get to Know the Campaign & a Deep Dive into the Petition”
Transformative Justice Collective 