Singapore execution: Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, hanged over plot to smuggle kilogram of cannabis
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.
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.
Last year, 11 people were executed for drug offences in Singapore.
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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.”
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
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Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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