New Delhi: A 46-year Indian-origin man was hanged to death in Singapore on wednesday, despite repeated clemency plea from the family & also appeal from international organizations to reconsider the execution.
Tangaraju Suppiah was accused & later convicted of smuggling 1 kg of cannabis in Singapore. He was executed in Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex. He was reportedly given a death sentence for drug trafficking on October 9, 2018.
Tangaraju’s hanging order drew the attention of global organizations including the United Nations Human Rights Office (UNHRC), which asked the Singaporean government to review its decision but the latter went ahead, rejecting calls for clemency & ‘relatively lighter’ punishment.
UK business tycoon Richard Branson on Monday spoke against Singapore’s draconian laws & also claimed in his blog that Tangaraju was “not anywhere near” the drugs at the time of his arrest and if the country goes ahead with capital punishment, it will lead to death of an ‘innocent human’.
Singaporean authorities contested this claim and reiterated about his direct role in cannabis smuggling into the country. The Ministry said that 2 mobile phones were recovered from his custody which were used to co-ordinate the supply of narcotics.
Tangaraju asked for ‘last supper’ before hanging
Kokila Annamalai, a rights activist who represented his family in Singapore courts, shared poignant details of his last moments.
In a moving post, he informed that Tangaraju was asked by prison authorities, what he wanted to feast upon in his last meal.
The 46-year-old Indian did list out some of his favourite dishes including chicken rice, nasi biryani, ice cream soda & milo-flavoured sweets. All these items were arranged for him, however, the prison authorities failed to find milo-flavoured sweets for him.
As Annamalai informs that Singapore jails have a manual under which “death row prisoners who get an execution notice are given a small amount of money to buy a treat for the others on death row, in the week leading up to their execution.”
