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Two men are scheduled to be hanged in Singapore on Jul. 7, 2022 for drug trafficking offences.

Appeal granted, matter before court

They are Singaporean Norasharee Bin Gous, 48, and Malaysian Kalwant Singh a/l Jogindar Singh, 31, said Singaporean activists Kirsten Han and Kokila Annamalai on Jun. 30.

This was confirmed by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), who put out a statement on Jul. 5 announcing that the execution of the two men has been scheduled for Jul. 7.

CNB wrote that Kalwant has filed a further application since he has been notified of the scheduled execution, and the matter is currently before the court.

Annamalai said on Jul. 6 that Kalwant has filed an application for a stay of execution, asked to reopen his criminal appeal, and intends to argue his case himself.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Andrew Phang Boon Leong and Justice Tay Yong Kwang will be hearing the case at 3pm on Jul. 6 at the Supreme Court.

Two days before his scheduled execution, just like Datch did, Kalwant Singh has filed an application for a stay of execution. He has asked to reopen his criminal appeal, and intends to argue his case himself! ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/Kr50JBYVLu

— Kokila Annamalai (@Kokilaparvathi) July 5, 2022

A Singaporean and Malaysian

Both men were on trial with 45-year-old Mohamad Yazid bin Md Yusof, who was also a co-accused.

Yazid testified against the pair.

His statements formed a large part of the prosecution’s case against Norasharee and Kalwant, court documents noted.

All were convicted in the High Court after a joint trial involving various charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Background

Norasharee instructed Yazid

Yazid claimed in his testimony that he had acted under the instructions of one “Boy Ayie”, who was later identified to be Norasharee.

Norasharee would instruct Yazid to receive the drugs from the sender from Malaysia and to hold them until he was told who the specific recipients were.

Yazid would deliver the drugs to specific recipients and be paid by Norasharee for his services.

The pair met in the vicinity of VivoCity shopping centre on Oct. 23, 2013, the day before Yazid's and Kalwant's arrest.

Yazid said Norasharee told him there would be a delivery of drugs from Malaysia the next day on Oct. 24, 2013 and instructed him to collect some bundles from a Malaysian courier, who was Kalwant.

Transaction on Oct. 24, 2013

Yazid met Kalwant at a multi-storey car park in Woodlands on the morning of Oct. 24, 2013.

This was where and when they were ambushed and arrested by Central Narcotics Bureau officers, who recovered nine bundles wrapped with black tape.

Each of these bundles contained two packets of brown substance.

Three of the nine bundles, which contained not less than 60.15g of diamorphine in total, were found in the haversack Kalwant was carrying.

He was also found to have placed the remaining six bundles, which contained not less than 120.90g of diamorphine in total, in the container box of Yazid’s motorcycle.

Norasharee was arrested in his home on Jul. 1, 2015, some 20 months after the 2013 transaction.

Charges

According to court documents, Yazid was convicted of possessing not less than 120.90g of diamorphine, which is also known as heroin, for the purpose of trafficking.

Norasharee's charges

Norasharee was convicted of abetting Yazid to traffic in not less than 120.90g of heroin by instigation.

Kalwant's charges

Kalwant was convicted of possessing not less than 60.15g of heroin for the purpose of trafficking.

He was also found guilty for trafficking in not less than 120.90g of heroin.

Both Norasharee and Kalwant were sentenced to death in October 2016, while Yazid was subsequently awarded a certificate of substantive assistance and sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane instead.

Calls for Kalwant's execution to be halted

Singapore Prison Services reached out to Kalwant's sister on Jun. 30 and informed her that her brother was scheduled to hang on Jul. 7, according to Han and Kokila, who later, on Jul. 1, confirmed Norasharee's scheduled hanging on Twitter.

Kalwant and his family are from Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

His sister, Sonia, and niece, Kellvina, whom he helped raised, travelled to Singapore to visit him at Changi Prison on Jun. 9, 2022.

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (Adpan) and Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) have called on the Singaporean government to halt Kalwant's execution, reported Malaysiakini.

The Star quoted LFL director Zaid Malek, who said: "We strongly urge the government of Singapore to comply with international law and halt the hanging of Kalwant Singh as well as to review its imposition of the death penalty for drug crimes."

"We also urge the Malaysian government to make urgent representations to Singapore to save our citizen from the gallows," Zaid added.

Kalwant's and Norasharee's cases come slightly over two months after Nagaenthran Dharmalingam's execution on Apr. 27, 2022.

Nagaenthran, a 34-year-old Malaysian, was convicted and sentenced to death in November 2010 for importing 42.72g of heroin in 2009.

The 68-year-old Singaporean Abdul Kahar bin Othman was executed on Mar. 30, 2022 for two charges of trafficking a total of 66.77 grams of heroin in Singapore.

Shanmugam recently defended S’pore’s death penalty on drug trafficking

Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam said the death penalty imposed on drug traffickers protects Singaporeans and has saved lives in Singapore in a recent BBC podcast interview on June 28.

Speaking to journalist Stephen Sackur on Hardtalk, a current affairs interview programme, Shanmugam said capital punishment is "one aspect of a whole series of measures" that the government employs to deal with the drug abuse problem.

And the reason it's imposed is because "there's clear evidence that it is a serious deterrent for would-be drug traffickers", he said, adding that traffickers want to "make money", and in the process of doing so, is "damaging the lives of drug users, their families", even "seriously destroyed".

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Top image of Kalwant from @wakeupsingapore/Instagram