This year, 17 people have been executed in Singapore for drug-related and murder offenses, the highest number since 2003, amid renewed debate over the city-state's use of the death penalty, UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg.
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Three convicted drug traffickers were executed in two days last week: 44-year-old Singaporean Mohammed Rizwan bin Akbar Hussain; another Singaporean whose name was not disclosed; and 42-year-old Malaysian Saminathan Selvaraju. The hangings took place ahead of a December 3 hearing where activists will attempt to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty.
"A prisoner awaiting capital punishment will be scheduled for execution once he has exhausted all legal avenues regarding his conviction and sentence, including the appeal and clemency process," the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a written response to questions sent by Bloomberg News.
Those executed last week "were afforded full due process under the law," and their sentences were carried out in accordance with Singapore's legal system, the ministry added.
Transformative Justice, the organization that filed the constitutional challenge, said that if the court rules in their favor, it would mean that "these three men and all others executed before them for drug-related offenses were unlawfully executed," according to Kirsten Han, one of the group's members. She, along with three other activists and three sisters of Singaporeans who have already been executed, filed the lawsuit.
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Singapore has long defended the death penalty for drug offenses, arguing that these laws serve as a deterrent and help make the country one of the safest places in the world. In 2024, the city-state carried out nine judicial executions, eight of which were for drug-related offenses. That same year, the Central Narcotics Bureau said it arrested more than 3,100 drug abusers, approximately one-third of whom were new offenders.
In 2021, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong defended the introduction of the death penalty in 1975, saying that "drug traffickers have become much less willing to bring drugs into Singapore."
"Today, Singapore is relatively drug-free. Our situation is better controlled than in most other countries," Lee said.
International pressure on Singapore to review the death penalty for drug-related offenses has grown in recent years, particularly from human rights organizations.
Calls intensified in 2022 when the government resumed executions for drug-related offenses after a temporary halt during the Covid-19 pandemic. British billionaire Richard Branson criticized Singapore that year, calling it "on the wrong side of history."
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Last week, a European Union delegation issued a joint statement expressing regret over the 2025 executions, stating that "the imposition of the death penalty for drug-related offenses is incompatible with international law, as these offenses do not meet the threshold of 'most serious crimes'."
In the last 15 years, countries such as Malaysia and Pakistan have abolished the mandatory death penalty for drug-related offenses, while nearly 20 other countries have partially or completely abandoned it or reduced its application.
The Transformative Justice Collective is a Singapore-based civil group campaigning against the death penalty. Last year, it was penalized under the so-called fake news law for a series of "false facts" on the topic and was subjected to a two-year restriction on receiving financial benefits from operating a website and social media pages.
Han said that given this year has seen the most executions since 2003, when 19 people were sentenced to death, "the government will have to answer for itself why it is so eager and determined to kill."
"All of this is done in the name of all Singaporeans, so it is so important for all of us as citizens to reflect on what this says about our society, our country, and us as a people," she said.