SINGAPORE: Singapore executed a 39-year-old man who was convicted of trafficking heroin, the city-state’s fifth hanging this year and the third in just over a week, authorities said on Thursday.
Mohamed Shalleh Adul Latiff was sentenced to death for possessing around 55 grams of heroin “for the purpose of trafficking” in 2019.
His punishment was carried out on Thursday, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a statement.
According to court documents, Mohamed Shalleh worked as a delivery driver before his arrest in 2016. During his trial, he claimed to have believed he was delivering contraband cigarettes for a friend to whom he owed money.
He became the 16th prisoner sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The execution comes less than a week after Singapore executed the first woman in nearly 20 years for drug trafficking despite condemnation from rights groups.
Saridewi Binte Djamani, a 45-year-old Singaporean, was executed on Friday for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.
A local man, Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, 57, had been hanged two days earlier for trafficking about 50 grams of heroin.
The United Nations last week denounced the hangings and called for Singapore to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.
Despite growing international pressure on the issue, Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective deterrent against drug trafficking.
The wealthy financial center has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.
Singapore executes fifth prisoner this year for drug trafficking
https://arab.news/za7z2
Singapore executes fifth prisoner this year for drug trafficking
- Mohamed Shalleh Adul Latiff was sentenced to death for possessing around 55 grams of heroin ‘for the purpose of trafficking’ in 2019
Coast Guard rescue 52 migrants off Greece, boy missing
- They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island
- Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were searching Thursday for a missing child off the island of Farmakonisi after rescuing 52 migrants in two separate incidents in the Aegean Sea, local media reported.
They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island, but one boy was reported missing from the group, said the ANA news agency.
Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete, according to the same source. They were taken to the village of Kaloi Limenes in Crete. No details about their nationality were provided.
Two coast guard vessels and an airforce helicopter were deployed for the operation off Farmakonisi, opposite the Turkish coast.
Many migrants try to reach the Greek islands from Turkiye or Libya as a way of entering the European Union. But both crossings are perilous.
Earlier this month, 17 people were found dead in a migrant boat drifting off Crete. Another 15 people were reported missing. The vessel had set off from the Libyan port of Tobruk and most of those who died were from Sudan or Egypt.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
