- Title: SINGAPORE: 5 CONVICTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS ARE HANGED AT CHANGI PRISON.
- Date: 21st April 1995
- Summary: SINGAPORE (APRIL 21, 1995) == NO ACCESS HONG KONG == 1. SLV CARS ENTER CHANGI PRISON 0.04 2. CU PRISON SIGN 0.08 3. SV SECURITY OFFICERS GUARD GATES 0.12 4. SV PANS FROM SIGN TO EXTERIOR OF CHANGI PRISON (2 SHOTS) 0.21 5. SV AMBULANCE ENTERS PRISON 0.33 6. SV TWO VANS FROM SINGAPORE CASKET COMPANY ENTER PRISON TO COLLECT BODIES 0.42 7. SLV/SV EMPLOYEES PREPARE FUNERAL CASKETS (3 SHOTS) 0.55 8. SV VANS RETURN FROM PRISON WITH THE BODIES OF THE THREE HONG KONG PEOPLE 1.06 9. SV EMPLOYEES UNLOAD BODIES AND TAKE INTO LIFT (3 SHOTS) 1.34 10. CU/SV'DEEPEST SYMPATHY' MESSAGE ON DISCARDED FLOWERS OUTSIDE SINGAPORE CASKETS (2 SHOTS) 1.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 6th May 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SINGAPORE
- City:
- Country: Singapore
- Reuters ID: LVABSCR805902WC8Y972TK75K1KJ
- Story Text: Singapore hanged five convicted drug traffickers early on Friday (April 21) at Changi Prison, a Prisons Department spokeswoman said.
The five included three persons from Hong Kong who had been the subject of last-minute appeals.
They were two women -- Tong Ching-man, 24, and Poon Yuen-chung, 22, and a man, Lam Cheuk-wang, 25.
Also executed were a Nigerian and a Singaporean, both males, whom the spokeswoman did not identify.
Since the laws were passed in 1975, Singapore has hanged 111 people for drug offences.
All three Hong Kong residents had been caught trying to smuggle drugs through Changi Airport, just a stone's throw away from the prison.
Tong was arrested in December 1988 while she was in transit from Hong Kong to Brussels. She was discovered wearing a specially-made vest with pockets containing 1.47 kilograms (3.24 lb) of heroin.
Lam was arrested alongside Tong wearing a vest loaded with 1.67 kg (3.68 lb) of the same drug.
Poon was caught with 3 kg (6.6 lb) of heroin in 1991.
Under Singapore's drug laws, the death sentence is mandatory for anyone over 18 years of age found guilty of trafficking in more than 15 grams (half an ounce) of heroin, 30 gm (one ounce) of morphine or 500 gm (18 oz) of cannabis.
Human-rights group Amnesty International had appealed to the Singapore government on Thursday (April 20) to spare the Hong Kong trio.
There had also been various appeals from the governments of Britain and Hong Kong, and at least one last-ditch plea from the lawyer for one of the accused.
Singapore has rarely granted clemency. To critics who accuse it of draconian laws, the government's response is that tough rules and punishments help keep the crime rate low and it will not change or bend them.
In March, Singapore hanged Filipina Flor Contemplacion for double murder despite an appeal from Philippines President Fidel Ramos, setting off a bitter row that is threatening to derail relations between the two countries.
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