Supreme Court handed 37-year-old Malaysian national Punithan Genasan a death sentence for his conviction of drugs trafficking Singapore continues to defy international law and standards by imposing the death penalty for drug trafficking ‘At a time when attention is focused on saving and protecting lives in a pandemic, the pursuit of the death penalty is all the more abhorrent’ - Chiara Sangiorgio Responding to news that a court in Singapore has sentenced a man to death via Zoom video call, Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty International’s death penalty advisor, said: “Whether via Zoom or in person, a

Thousands crammed into two dormitories designated ‘isolation areas’ ‘Migrant workers living in crowded quarters … are at particular risk of exposure to the virus’ - Rachel Chhoa-Howard Responding to reports that more than 20,000 migrant workers in Singapore have been put under quarantine in two dormitories that have been designated “isolation areas”, Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Singapore Researcher, said: “The rapid spread of COVID-19 among migrant workers in Singapore was already alarming. The fact that thousands are now under quarantine in extremely close proximity could be

The Singaporean authorities must drop plans to enact a ‘fake news’ law that would dramatically curtail freedom of expression in the country and beyond, Amnesty International said today. With Singapore’s parliament beginning a new session on Monday (May 6), parliamentarians are currently debating the Protection of Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill and it may be passed imminently. The government introduced the text last month to “protect society from damage by online falsehoods created by ‘malicious actors’.” Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and

A news editor facing a criminal investigation over an article that criticised the Singapore government is the latest victim of an escalating crackdown on freedom of expression in the country, Amnesty International said today. The Singapore police yesterday raided the home of Terry Xu, editor-in-chief of news site The Online Citizen (TOC), and seized all his electronic equipment. Police informed him he was being investigated for criminal defamation over an article published on his website on 4 September. Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s South East Asia Regional Director, said: “The