I just received word from Rachel that the Court of Appeal has rejected Yong Vui Kong’s appeal against his death sentence. Vui Kong’s lawyer, M. Ravi, is applying for time to present a clemency petition. Furthermore, the Court of Appeal has closed off further arguments and the Mandatory Death Penalty will stay.
Executions by hanging are carried out by the State usually at 6am on Fridays. The death sentence could be carried out next Friday, 21st May.
The Court of Appeal reserved its judgement on Mar 15, 2010. It delivered its judgement today at 11am. See here for a timeline of articles/posts/videos on Vui Kong’s case. Read also these two news articles from 2005: The precision of ritual in the gallows’ shadow and Singapore accused of hypocrisy on drug stance.
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Drug trafficker loses appeal
Selina Lum, Straits Times website, 14 May 2010
SINGAPORE’S highest court on Friday dismissed the appeal of a condemned drug trafficker, saying that it was closing its doors to such challenges against the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty.
The three-judge court, comprising Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong and Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and V. K. Rajah, were handing down their decision on the case of Yong Vui Kong, a 22-year-old Malaysian sentenced to hang for trafficking heroin.
Delivering the verdict, CJ Chan observed that there have been many challenges before the courts regarding the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty on various grounds in the past, which have all failed.
In the present case, he said, all possible arguments on this issue have been raised, considered by the court, and rejected.
‘Further challenges in court on the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty have been foreclosed by our decision in this appeal,’ he said.
But Yong’s lawyer, Mr M Ravi, is not giving up. He told reporters he plans to go to court again over comments made by Law Minister K. Shanmugam to his client’s case at a dialogue session with Joo Chiat residents on Sunday.
Mr Ravi said if that fails, he will make arguments against the ‘flawed’ presidential clemency process.
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From: baldeagle :
It is a good day.
It is not about the courts...
It is about whether the law should protect
the trafficker or the law should protect our
children from being killed by drugs.
It is about whether we should kill the poisonous
snakes that come into our homes ..or let them
freely enter homes.... to kill our loved ones.
Hanging the drug traffickers is like killing the
poisonous snakes.
Only fools will give protection to drug traffickers
and not kill poisonous snakes that entered our
homes.
What a sad day. Yet again, the courts are too timid to question or ask for a review of the Constitution – it’s not about no-punishment for criminals; it’s about giving the judge a compassionate leeway to offer rehabilitation instead of automated killing for drug-related cases.
ReplyDeleteShame on the Law Minister for pre-empting and coercing (arguably)
the ‘independent’ judiciary. Above that, he had even done it with sweeping, faulty logic!
Halo Botak (Baldeagle)......but this young malaysian guy said that he carried the
ReplyDeletedrug (without his knowledge) under his boss instruction in Malaysia.
why not use him as a informnant to whack the drug lords behind all these instead? Just like "Catch me if you can".
ReplyDeleteI pray that miracle will happen this time.
Cases like this is the reason that I will no longer travel to Singapore and I boycott Singaporean goods.
ReplyDeleteI think that the death penalty for such crimes of a non violent nature are just barbaric and medieval.
Coming from UK we taught Singapore about democracy and a fair justice for all just like in UK and it is such a shame that they have not followed our example.
One tends to forget it is not the boy who was probably very naive at the time to what he was doing who is being punished. I am sure that some of you have sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
How would you feel if one of your loved ones had been caught carrying something that where unaware of the contents and faced such punishment.
Singapore needs to follow example from UK and the Netherlands where Drug addicts enter effective rehabilitation programs. As with this they are never executing the Mr Bigs in the drug world, it is always the poor and naive mules who are often coaxed or pressured into it by those higher than them up the chain.
Not to mention often under threat. All I can say is this is a state sactioned murder and I would urge the whole world to boycott Singapore and its goods and its People.
You have obviously never learned from the good that you where taught under British colonial rule.