Singapore’s Deadly Drug War
By Lianain Films
Final script
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00:03 |
Mourners at Nagaenthran’s funeral |
Upsound chanting at Nagaen’s funeral |
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00:04 |
Kokila Annamalai Activist Cover part of this with pics of Nagaen’s funeral |
SOT The state’s been on a killing spree. After a two-year hiatus, there have been at least 11 executions. All of them for drug-related offenses. |
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/01/12/singapore-execution-spree-raises-rights-concerns |
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00:15 |
Nazira and family at Nazeri’s grave Nazira Lajim Hertslet Sister of executed drug offender |
Upsound SOT He was taken away, he was hanged. That shattered me. |
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00:20 |
Activists at anti-death penalty protest in Singapore |
Upsound Our state decisively and persistently murders people… VO In Singapore, a string of executions ignites rare protests and spirited debate over the country’s zero-tolerance drug policy. |
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00:33 |
K Shanmugam Law and Home Affairs Minister Vid from YouTube |
SOT More Singaporean families and individuals will be harmed if we remove the death penalty. |
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00:42 |
Sharifah Syed Zin Sister of death row inmate |
SOT Does Singapore really want to be known as this country that get rid of people so easily? |
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00:49 |
Bruce Mathieu Recovering drug addict |
SOT You want to traffic drugs? There are rules involved. If you get caught with a set amount of drugs, you get hanged. |
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00:55 |
Anti-death penalty protest at Hong Lim Park |
Upsound No more blood on our hands! No more, no more blood, no more blood on our hands! VO Should Singapore heed calls to rethink its drug laws? 101 East investigates. |
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01:07 |
101 East ident |
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01:15 |
WS. Nazeri’s family walking through graveyard. CU, Haikal’s hand on Nazeri’s gravestone. |
VO His name was Nazeri bin Lajim. |
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01:23 |
CU, Nazeri’s son, Haikal, Nazeri’s family at his grave |
VO His son, Haikal remembers him as a loving father. SOT I just want to believe that he is still alive. I think it’s not fair for me. But I think it’s just the law. I can’t do that. Can’t change anything. |
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01:40 |
Family at Nazeri’s grave. Nazira praying, sobbing. |
VO Nazeri was hanged last year – for trafficking heroin in his home country of Singapore in 2012. He was 64 years old. His sister, Nazira, is still in mourning. |
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/22/singapore-carries-out-fifth-execution-since-march |
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01:57 |
Nazira Lajim Hertslet Sister of executed drug offender |
Upsound My brother has been taken from me very cruelly. I know now he’s gone. I miss him so much. |
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02:05 |
Nazira at home, looking at photos of Nazeri on her phone |
VO For Nazira, these pictures of her brother, taken just days before his death, are both a source of comfort and pain. |
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02:16 |
Nazira Lajim Hertslet Sister of executed drug offender |
SOT When I see his photo, I feel the pain and I felt so hurt. |
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02:22 |
Final pictures of Nazeri |
VO The photoshoot is a privilege granted only to inmates about to face the gallows. Nazeri is smiling here but Nazira says his final days were difficult ones. |
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/21/asia/singapore-executions-death-penalty-drug-trafficking-intl-hnk/index.html |
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02:36 |
Nazira in tears, looking at photos of Nazeri |
VO They were only informed about the impending execution one week in advance. A last-minute appeal failed. Judges also turned down his request for more time to say goodbye to his family. |
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/death-penalty-drug-trafficking-execution-appeal-nazeri-lajim-2826561 |
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02:52 |
Nazira Lajim Hertslet Sister of executed drug offender Cover with photo of Nazeri |
SOT There’s no sympathy at all. No mercy at all. My brother is a sick man. Addicted to drugs at the age of 14. Without that drugs, he cannot control his life. And yet he’d been hanged. And yet, he’d been hanged. |
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03:08 |
Photo of Nazeri |
VO Nazeri had been caught with more than 35 grammes of pure heroin. |
https://www.elitigation.sg/gd/s/2017_SGHC_226 |
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03:14 |
Graphic: Singapore’s Drug Laws Anyone who possesses >2g of heroin >3g of cocaine >15g of cannabis Is presumed to be trafficking |
VO Singapore’s drug laws, are among the toughest in the world. Anyone who possesses more than a certain amount of illegal drugs - such as heroin, cocaine and cannabis - is presumed to be trafficking. |
https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/MDA1973?ProvIds=P1III-. |
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03:29 |
Graphic: Singapore’s Drug Laws Anyone who traffics >15g of heroin >30g of cocaine >500g of cannabis will face the Mandatory Death Penalty *unless narrow criteria met |
VO
And if the quantity of drugs is above a prescribed
threshold, the judge has to impose the mandatory death
penalty.
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03:37 |
M Ravi Human Rights Lawyer |
SOT The burden to prove has been shifted to the accused person when he is in possession of the drugs. So therefore, it is a violation of the presumption of innocence where the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt., But the accused is now supposed to prove to the contrary. |
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03:55 |
Ravi – walking outside Supreme Court |
VO Human rights lawyer, M Ravi once represented Nazeri, as well as many of the inmates who are now on death row. |
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04:06 |
M Ravi Human rights lawyer |
SOT Most of the drug traffickers are drug mules. Just look at their profile. They are very poor. They’re stuck in structural poverty. We also have a high proportion of ethnic minorities being over-represented. |
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04:22 |
Anti-DP event |
Upsound One, two three! Abolish the death penalty! VO Singapore has a small but vocal community of anti-death penalty activists. Upsound Sharifah Most people are just scared. Even I’m scared. |
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04:35 |
Kokila at anti-death penalty event |
VO But campaigner Kokila Annamalai says more people are joining their cause. |
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04:41 |
Kokila Annamalai Activist |
SOT People have been reacting to this violent spree of executions. This is after a two-year hiatus, where we didn’t have any executions. It definitely caught a lot of attention because the first one was of Nagaen, who is an intellectually disabled man, and that struck a chord with a lot of people. |
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05:01 |
Nagaen’s photo |
VO Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was hanged in April 2022, for trafficking 42.7 grammes of pure heroin. He had an IQ of 69 – a level suggesting intellectual disability. But judges ruled that he knew what he was doing. |
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/27/holdnagaenthran-hanged-at-dawn-in-singapore |
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05:21 |
AFP archive – Anti-DP protest in Singapore |
Upsound No more, no more blood, no more blood on our hands! VO Weeks before Nagaenthran’s execution, hundreds of people gathered for a rare protest in Singapore. |
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61403692 |
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05:33 |
Branson and Fry appeal for clemency for Nagaen Footage from AFP and Branson’s tweet tinyurl.com/36mrfd34 |
Upsound We just beg her to grant him clemency. VO His case drew global attention, including that of British billionaire Richard Branson… and of actor and author, Stephen Fry, who appeared in this video: Upsound Fry Please grant Nagaenthran Darmalingam clemency. |
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05:51 |
M Ravi Human rights lawyer |
VO Lawyer M Raviremembers his first meeting with Nagaenthran.
SOT |
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06:16 |
Adrian Tan Lawyer |
SOT It’s common, whenever people are accused of crimes, to feign ignorance, to demonstrate a lower level of awareness, and maybe not be as smart as they really are. |
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06:33 |
Adrian Tan broll |
VO Adrian Tan is a senior lawyer with a large following on social media. His posts on the death penalty have generated heated debate. He’s also head of Singapore’s law society – but he is speaking to us today in his personal capacity. |
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06:51 |
Adrian Tan Lawyer |
SOT In Nagaenthran’s case, the psychologist hired by him said that he did know what he was doing. And that’s really the legal test. Because otherwise, we’ll start measuring each other’s IQs and we’ll start seeing what line we should draw. If someone is a 100, are they more culpable? What if someone’s IQ is 70? And Nagaenthran’s is 69? Where do we draw the line? |
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07:20 |
AFP archive 3287NYN |
VO On the eve of Nagaenthran’s execution his mother Panchalai Supermaniam pleaded for mercy in a last-minute appeal before the Singapore court. |
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07:34 |
M Ravi Lawyer |
VO M Ravi was on medical leave and could not represent her son. SOT And I had to tell her that you know, that I’m unwell and they’ve given me a medical certificate and they don’t want to wait. |
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07:50 |
Kokila Annamalai Cover some of this with Kokila and Nagaen’s mum outside court |
SOT Because of Nagaen’s intellectual disability, he wasn’t able to do it. So his mother filed an application on his behalf. She doesn’t speak English. She has very low education. She was extremely intimidated in court. And that was the evening before his scheduled execution. Where she had to stand up in court and fight for her son’s life. And begged the court to spare his life. |
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08:22 |
AFP archive – Nagaen’s funeral in Malaysia |
Upsound mourners VO
Nagaenthran was hanged the following morning,
At his hometown in Malaysia, hundreds of mourners gathered to say goodbye and lend support to his mother. Upsound |
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08:45 |
Graphic of AGC statement |
VO Her appeal drew a sharp response from Singapore’s Attorney General’s Chambers. In a media statement, it described the application as an “attempt to abuse the court’s processes and unjustifiably delay the carrying into effect of the lawful sentence imposed on Nagaenthran”. |
https://www.agc.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/court-of-appeal-dismisses-application-brought-by-panchalai-ap-supermaniam-in-case-of-nagaenthran.pdf |
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09:10 |
Sangkari and Angelia getting on bus |
Upsound Angelia Thank you. VO It’s Friday night in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. And sisters Sangkari and Angelia Pranthaman have a bus to catch. |
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09:22 |
Ssters settling into their seats on bus to SG |
VO It’s an overnight journey they’ve made regularly for the past eight years. |
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09:29 |
Tracking shots through bus window |
VO Six hours to neighbouring Singapore, for a one-hour visit with their brother, Pannir. |
Visits are typically on Saturday |
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09:35 |
Sangkari Pranthaman Sister of death row inmate |
SOT We are working on Fridays, so the visit is tomorrow morning 9am. So after work, it’s immediately travelling on the night. And then returning the next day, so it is tiring and exhausted. |
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09:48 |
Pannir’s photo |
VO Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was convicted in 2017 of trafficking 51.84 grammes of pure heroin into Singapore, and is now on death row. Sangkari says he’d been tricked by an acquaintance he barely knew. |
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10:09 |
Sangkari Pranthaman Sister of death row inmate |
SOT He told Pannir that the content of this parcel is illegal medicine. It’s a illegal medicine. It’s a sex medicine. So Pannir, he didn’t, he trust blindly. Blindly trusted this person and he brought the parcel inside. |
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10:26 |
Graphic - court documents |
VO But the trial judge found that Pannir’s evidence was “inconsistent” and handed him the mandatory death penalty. He’s now awaiting the outcome of his latest appeal. |
https://www.singaporelawwatch.sg /Portals/0/Docs/ Judgments/%5b2017%5d%20SGHC%20144.pdf |
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10:39 |
Sangkari Pranthaman Sister of death row inmate |
SOT
Yes, Pannir did mistake but he should get reasonable
punishment for his mistake, but not taking his life.
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10:49 |
Graphic: Misuse of Drugs Act 33B |
VO For a time, the sisters held out hope that Pannir would be re-sentenced to life imprisonment.
Convicted drug traffickers can avoid the death penalty if they show that they were only couriers… And if the public prosecutor certifies that they’ve substantively assisted authorities in disrupting drug trafficking activities. Sangkari says Pannir cooperated as best he could, but it wasn’t enough. |
S33B, Misuse of Drugs Act |
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11:20 |
Sangkari Pranthaman Sister of death row inmate |
SOT Because the recruiter will not provide correct and more information to the mules. They know for sure that these mules will be arrested later on. If you provide them with the information, definitely, to save themselves, they will pass those information to the authorities. |
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11:36 |
Sisters in Singapore |
Upsound VO Sangkari and Angelia have arrived in Singapore. They grab a quick breakfast. |
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11:46 |
Sisters on bus to Changi prison |
Upsound And then… there’s another bus to catch. They have to be at the prison before nine. |
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11:52 |
Angelia on bus, shows is things she’s brought for Pannir |
Upsound Angelia I just prepare for him to give this book. And also some letters. James Do you always bring him things? Angelia Hm?
Do you always bring something for him every week? Angelia Yeah, last week, my sister brought this very thick book. Sangkari We give him this book. James Oh, it’s a nice big book. Sangkari. Yeah. It’s thick. This much thick. This thick. Angelia I still safekeep the receipt that we bought all the books and all. So that we hope one day Pannir will come back, and see. How much we only spend on his books. |
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12:39 |
Angelia Pranthaman Death row inmate’s sister |
SOT People will laugh at us and ask us to prepare for the worst. So we are trying to be positive and to talk positively so that even… probably God have er… God will change his mind probably. And save Pannir. |
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13:06 |
GVS city shots, Singapore |
VO Singapore is one of Asia’s most livable cities. Crime rates are among the lowest in the world. But it wasn’t always like this. |
https://www.statista.com/topics/5214/crime-in-singapore/ |
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13:20 |
Adrian Tan Lawyer |
SOT In the 70s, we faced a huge drug problem. Families were being broken up because of addiction. The people took a decision – to be harsh on drugs. People who bring drugs into Singapore, we will send them a clear message. The message is not just a possible death penalty, but a mandatory death penalty. |
Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act was enacted in 1973 |
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13:46 |
Graphic Perception of Residents in Regional Cities on Singapore’s Crime Situation, Law and Safety |
VO Singapore’s government says the message has been effective. It recently released the results of a survey involving respondents from six un-named regional cities. |
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13:59 |
Graphic Perception of Residents in Regional Cities on Singapore’s Crime Situation, Law and Safety 83% believed the death penalty makes people not want to traffic substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore |
VO 83 percent believed the death penalty deterred people from trafficking substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore. |
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14:09 |
Kokila Annamalai Activist |
SOT So who are the people who are trading in amounts that are above the capital threshold? People who have less knowledge, less information and less resources. Often, they’re either drug users or they’re people who are in precarious positions for other reasons. |
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14:24 |
Bruce walking out his flat |
VO Bruce Mathieu is a Singaporean and a recovering heroin addict who has been to prison five times, but not for drug trafficking. |
https://saltandlight.sg/faith/in-and-out-of-prison-five-times-it-took-heartbreak-to-turn-him-around/ |
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14:35 |
Bruce Mathieu Recovering drug addict |
SOT So for those people who advocate that capital punishment is useless – it doesn’t deter drug trafficking, you know, guess what? It deterred me! And it deterred a lot of people that I know personally from trafficking drugs. Especially in my forties, there was one stage I was so tempted, I tell you, so tempted to traffic drugs. I was so broke. Two things held me back. One, the death penalty. The second reason, my daughter. |
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14:52 |
Photo - Bruce with daughter |
SOT The last time I was sentenced, not only was I married, I had a daughter who was back then, three years and one month old. |
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15:26 |
Photos of Bruce speaking to young people |
VO Bruce has been clean for seven years and now spends much of his time sharing an anti-drug message with young people. He’s also found new appreciation for Singapore’s tough laws. |
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15:39 |
Bruce Mathieu Recovering drug addict |
SOT My daughter can walk out in the middle of the night, cross the street to 7-11 to buy something and I won’t even bat an eyelid. Because I know she will come back safe and sound. If you want to do away with strict laws, something has got to give, you know? And I am not about to give the safety of my society just because someone don’t want to be hanged for trafficking drugs. No, no, no, no, no. This is not a good exchange. |
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16:05 |
Graphic Singapore government survey on residents’ attitudes towards the death penalty |
VO The government says the majority of Singapore residents hold similar views. |
https://www.mha.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publication-dp-survey-2021.pdf |
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16:13 |
Graphic Singapore government survey on residents’ attitudes towards the death penalty 65.6% agree or strongly agree that mandatory death penalty is appropriate punishment for trafficking significant amount of drugs Source: Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs |
VO According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs: 65.6 percent agree or strongly agree that the mandatory death penalty is an appropriate punishment for trafficking a significant amount of drugs. |
https://www.mha.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publication-dp-survey-2021.pdf |
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16:29 |
Graphic – front page of NUS survey M Ravi Human Rights Lawyer Cover with graphic of NUS survey |
VO But anti-death penalty campaigners point to a different survey on the same issue. SOT A survey done by the National University of Singapore a few years ago, in consultation with a renowned criminologist Professor Roger Hood, shows that when it comes to drug trafficking cases, when given the correct information and background circumstances in which these accused persons commit the crime, a large majority of the respondents are opposed to the death penalty. So the state doing its own surveys to justify its own argument is strange. |
https://law.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/002_2018_Chan-Wing-Cheong.pdf |
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17:03 |
TDK podcast Super: Grvty Media/The DailyKetchup |
Upsound Shanmugam Drug traffickers we see as people who are making money by destroying your lives… VO Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam has been on various platforms, explaining his government’s position. Upsound podcast host Are these deterrents effective when the individuals who, who succumb to or end up being the traffickers, more often than not, they are from the lower income groups… Upsound Shanmugam If I were to say in Singapore, if you are poor and desperate, then we won’t impose the death penalty. Anybody else, yes, death penalty. But if you are poor and desperate, no death penalty. What do you think will happen? Everyone who comes in will say he’s poor and desperate, right? |
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17:45 |
K Shanmugam Singapore Law and Home Affairs Minister Livestream footage from parliament |
Upsound We have to be tough on drugs… VO In Parliament, Shanmugam drew a distinction between drug traffickers and drug abusers. Upsound We are tough on those that we need to be tough on – that’s the drug traffickers. But for example, drug abusers, we try to not even treat them as criminals. We instead, treat their drug dependency through a variety of means. |
March 2022, Committee of Supply debate |
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18:15 |
GVS interviews with former DRC detainees |
Upsound JY Most of the people I know are still relapsing, so… VO The Singapore government and its main drug enforcement agency, the Central Narcotics Bureau, or CNB, declined our requests for interviews. So to better understand the state’s rehabilitation programme, we spoke to people who have experienced it. Those who agreed to be filmed asked that we disguise their identity. |
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18:42 |
“Dee” Former DRC detainee |
VO Dee was still a teenager when she tested positive for ecstasy following a police raid. She spent six months at the drug rehabilitation centre, or DRC. |
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18:53 |
“Dee” Former DRC detainee |
SOT I was not an addict. I was a 19-year-old girl who had some serious problems and liked to distract herself. The whole experience was really dehumanizing. We were given these numbers and never referred to by our human names. |
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19:17 |
“JY” Former DRC detainee |
SOT When I got into DRC, it’s the biggest shock of my life. The living condition, the treatment of inmates. VO JY has been to DRC multiple times. SOT This incarceration of six months, what they do is basically just to lock you up, feed you, and maybe uhh let you attend some courses. |
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19:42 |
“Simon” Former DRC detainee |
SOT VO Simon says he wasn’t an addict but might have been tempted to become one during his time in DRC. |
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19:54 |
“Simon” Former DRC detainee |
SOT Because inside there right, you are able to meet like… people with contacts. Like you have your suppliers, everything, your runners. The whole thing y-you get even more like into the whole scene. It’s very difficult to… uhh stop that kind of… cycle. You have even more contacts now. It’s more available to you, you know? |
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20:16 |
“Dee” Former DRC detainee |
SOT |
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20:34 |
“JY” Former DRC detainee |
SOT You don’t know what the officers will do to you. There’s a fear of even speaking out. But let’s say over the years, then I do see slight improvement. Like there’s more counselling programmes, there’s more activities for inmates, there’s more sort of welfare lah. Yeah. But I don’t think it’s enough. |
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20:56 |
Dr Winslow takes escalator to his office |
VO Dr Munidasa Winslow is an expert in addiction and impulse control disorders. |
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21:05 |
Dr Munidasa Winslow Addiction expert |
SOT Given principles and the desire to do the right thing by science and all that in Singapore, we should be the best at helping people in recovery, we should be the best in the world. But there are certain impediments at the moment to getting well. We’ve basically said. “Stop using, stay in prison or DRC or jail long enough, and then go out get a job and then you’ll be all well.” |
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21:31 |
Broll of Dr Winslow in his office |
VO Dr Winslow prefers a gentler approach to rehabilitation. But it’s an option that is still largely unavailable to those who cannot afford to pay. |
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21:43 |
Dr Winslow |
SOT
The people who are rich can access treatment programs
that provide a lot more care. But people who do not have
resources then are stuck. The person who is going to cane
you or going to catch you or- or put you into a
incarceration context, you are unlikely to seek help
from. You need to separate out the services.
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22:04 |
Sharifah broll |
VO Sharifah Syed Zin remembers her brother’s struggle with drug addiction. |
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22:15 |
Sharifah Syed Zin Death row inmate’s sister |
SOT Maybe had it been that when he was in DRC he was given the help that he needed to kill the habit, then maybe he wouldn’t be in this predicament right now. You know? |
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22:49 |
Photos of Syed |
VO Syed Suhail bin Syed Zin was handed the mandatory death penalty in 2015, for trafficking 38.84 grammes of pure heroin. He said the drugs were for personal consumption. But judges were not convinced. Syed was scheduled to hang in February 2020. But he has had two stays of execution because of applications made by M Ravi. |
https://www.judiciary.gov.sg/judgments/case-briefs-by-smu/syed-suhail-bin-syed-zin-v-public-prosecutor |
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23:19 |
M Ravi Human rights lawyer |
SOT Syed Suhail had this serious addiction problem. Drug addiction is an illness. That’s what the psychiatrists are saying. It’s a mental illness. A mental condition. So they have to be treated, not killed. |
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23:32 |
Sharifah standing outside her flat |
VO Sharifah is hoping for the best for her brother. She’s also started speaking up for the dozens of other drug offenders on death row with him. |
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23:44 |
Sharifah Syed Zin Death row inmate’s sister |
SOT We don’t know when we’re going to go. So the idea that the government can decide when you’re going to go is so unacceptable that they think they can play god. Yeah. |
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23:57 |
Exterior prison. Singapore streets |
VO With more executions expected soon, more Singaporeans will be confronting the issue of capital punishment and its role in their country. The conclusions they draw will be a reflection of what they value for themselves, and their society. |
There are currently some 50 people on death row in Singapore, the majority for drug-related offenses |
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24:16 |
Adrian Tan Lawyer |
SOT We have to step back from our personal views and respect the community’s views. The majority of Singaporeans feel that this is their country, it’s a safe place, if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it. |
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24:34 |
Kokila Annamalai |
SOT If we chopped off people’s hands, would less people steal? Perhaps. Shall we do it? What kind of society do we want to be? What are we willing to live with? I don’t believe that I am safe in a society that is willing to kill. That is what makes me feel unsafe. |
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