Singapore,
world execution capital
The
Economist April 3-9, 1999
ON MARCH 19th, Singapore hanged three men, two Malaysians
and a Singaporean, for possession of a small amount of the drug diamorphine
and a few pounds of cannabis. The executions took Singapore's total so
far this year to 11, putting its hangmen on track for one of their busiest
years.
Already, on a proportionate basis, Singapore leads the world in executions, hanging an average of one person every nine days, or 40 a year since 1994, according to figures compiled by Amnesty International.
In 1994, Singapore beat even the United States in absolute numbers, 76 to 31, though its population of little over 3m compares with 265m for the United States. As many of Singapore's executions are not publicised, Amnesty reckons its figures could be an undercount.
Most of those executed are not Singaporeans. They are often Thais and Malaysians convicted of smuggling drugs (just half a kilo of cannabis counts as trafficking and carries a mandatory death sentence). Murder and treason are capital offences, too.
Asia accounts for nearly 80 percent of the world's executions. The leader is China, which executes about 2000 people a year. Vietnam also keeps its firing squads busy.
All members of the Association of South East Asian Nations retain the death penalty; Malaysia is stricter than all but Singapore in applying it to drug offenders.
The Philippines ended its de facto ban on capital punishment, in place since 1976, earlier this year when it executed a rapist. South Korea, Taiwan and Japan carry out the death penalty occasionally.