A Malaysian man on Thursday became the first convicted drug trafficker to escape the gallows in Singapore following recent legal reforms in the city-state.
Yong Vui Kong, 25, was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane under Singapore's new discretionary death-penalty regime, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Chambers told AFP.Under reforms that took effect this year, Singapore judges are now allowed to spare drug traffickers from execution if they were mere couriers and provided "substantive assistance" to police in the fight against the drug trade.
Prior to the changes, judges had no choice but to impose death by hanging on drug traffickers found to be carrying illegal substances beyond specific limits.
For heroin dealers, anyone found trafficking in more than 15 grams (half an ounce) faced the mandatory death penalty. Yong was found in possession of 47 grams when he was arrested in 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment