Malaysian drug mule sentenced to hang in Singapore

SINGAPORE–A Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking has been sentenced to hang in Singapore, according to court documents obtained by AFP Friday.
Dinesh Pillai Raja Retnam was handed the death penalty Thursday in the High Court, one week after his compatriot Yong Vui Kong exhausted all judicial avenues to escape the gallows for committing the same offence.

High Court Judge Chan Seng Onn said in his judgement that Dinesh was guilty of trafficking 19.35 grams (0.68 ounces) of heroin into Singapore.
Under Singapore’s tough anti-narcotics laws, anyone found guilty of trafficking at least 15 grams of heroin will be sentenced to death which is carried out by hanging.

“The accused is accordingly found guilty as charged. I convict him and sentence him to death,” Chan wrote in the judgement.
Dinesh was caught by Singapore narcotics officers in 2009 with a “food” package containing the heroin which he was promised $67 to deliver to a unidentified contact in the city-state.

Last week, Singapore’s highest court rejected Yong’s final judicial appeal against his death sentence for carrying 47 grams (1.65 ounces) of heroin into the city-state in 2007.

Yong’s case had riled human rights activists in Singapore, who organized public vigils as well as online appeals and petitions to attempt to free the Malaysian youth, who was 19 when he committed the crime.

Malaysian foreign minister Anifah Aman had also weighed in with a letter to the Singapore government in July last year to plead for clemency.
Amnesty International, which has been critical of the wealthy city-state’s use of the death penalty, said in its latest report that Singapore handed down “at least eight death sentences” last year.