The wealthy city-state of Singapore has for the first time lifted the death penalty given to a drug trafficker, commuting his sentence to life in prison and 15 strokes of the cane.
Singapore has hanged hundreds of people - including dozens of foreigners - for narcotics offences in the last two decades, Amnesty International and other groups say.
Yong Vui Kong, a Malaysian who was sentenced to hang in 2009, was spared the gallows on Thursday after a judge ruled he was satisfied that he had acted as a drug courier, rather than having a wider part in the supply or distribution of narcotics.
Singapore has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world, and its customs forms warn arriving travellers of ‘death for drug traffickers’ in no uncertain terms.
Singapore has hanged hundreds of people - including dozens of foreigners - for narcotics offences in the last two decades, Amnesty International and other groups say.
Yong Vui Kong, a Malaysian who was sentenced to hang in 2009, was spared the gallows on Thursday after a judge ruled he was satisfied that he had acted as a drug courier, rather than having a wider part in the supply or distribution of narcotics.
Singapore has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world, and its customs forms warn arriving travellers of ‘death for drug traffickers’ in no uncertain terms.