Singapore has hanged a man over a cannabis smuggling plot – despite calls from the United Nations to stop the execution.
Tangaraju Suppiah was hanged at dawn on Wednesday after being found guilty of conspiring to smuggle a kilogram of cannabis into the country from neighbouring Malaysia.
Protesters previously claimed that the 46-year-old, who denied involvement in the plot, had been convicted on weak evidence – a claim denied by authorities in Singapore.
Relatives and activists had previously sent letters to Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob to plead for leniency.
His sentence also drew the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Office, which called on the government to “urgently reconsider”, while British entrepreneur Richard Branson described the case as “shocking”.
Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a local group that had also campaigned against Tangaraju Suppiah’s death sentence, said he had been hanged in Changi prison on Wednesday.
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network condemned the execution as “reprehensible”.
“The continued use of the death penalty by the Singaporean government is an act of flagrant disregard for international human rights norms and casts aspersion on the legitimacy of Singapore’s criminal justice system,” the statement said.
Image: Members of the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) hold candles outside the Singapore Embassy in Kuala Lumpur protesting the execution. Pic: AP
Singapore’s anti-drug laws are some of the strictest in the world – with those guilty of trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis potentially facing the death penalty.
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Last year, 11 people were executed for drug offences in Singapore.
Malaysia, a neighbouring country, abolished mandatory death penalties earlier this month.
However, Singapore’s government maintains the death penalty is necessary to protect its citizens and all those executed have been accorded full due process under the law.
Authorities also say their strict laws act as a deterrent effect – and say a study shows that traffickers often carry amounts below the threshold that would bring a death penalty as a result.
Although Tangaraju Suppiah was not caught with the cannabis, prosecutors said phone numbers traced him as the person responsible for coordinating the delivery of the drugs.
He had maintained that he was not the one communicating with the others connected to the case.
An application filed on Monday for a stay of execution was dismissed without a hearing on Tuesday.
The case drew criticism from British billionaire Richard Branson – a long-time campaigner against the death penalty.
In a blog post shared prior to the execution, he wrote: “Tangaraju’s case is shocking on multiple levels.
“Singapore has a long and troubled history of executing drug offenders, following mandatory sentencing laws that proscribe the death penalty for certain threshold amounts of drugs.
“The country’s government has repeatedly claimed that its draconian laws serve as an effective deterrent of drug-related crime.
“However, Singaporean authorities have repeatedly failed to provide any tangible evidence for that assertion.”
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.