Singapore executed yet another death row inmate convicted of trafficking drugs early this morning (5 Aug).
The execution happened just hours after the court rejected an appeal filed by the 45-year-old man and 23 other inmates. The court had earlier rejected the former’s application to stay his execution.
Source: Wikipedia
Prayers for the deceased followed sometime after before his burial at the Muslim cemetery along Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
According to activist Jolovan Wham, 45-year-old Abdul Rahim Shapiee’s execution happened at about 6am on Friday (5 Aug).
Source: Google Maps
Fellow activists Kokila Annamalai and Kirsten Han subsequently confirmed Abdul Rahim’s demise too.
According to Ms Kokila, funeral prayers commenced at 10am at Pusara Aman Mosque.
Abdul Rahim’s body was then taken to the Muslim Cemetary for burial. A Tahlil ceremony was scheduled to take place at Masjid Al-Firdaus, near Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
The 45-year-old was convicted of possessing drugs for trafficking four years ago in 2018.
A day before his execution, on Thursday (4 Aug), Abdul Rahim was in court to argue for an application to stay his execution, reports TODAY.
He reportedly argued that the lawyer who defended him during his trial had declined to call a co-accused person to the stand.
The co-accused, Nuraiin Rosman, received a life sentence for her involvement in the trafficking.
Responding to the points, Deputy Senior State Counsel Lu pointed out that the prosecution had offered Nuraiin as a defence witness during the trial. However, she was never named as someone who could help with Abdul Rahim’s defences.
Mr Lu also said that Abdul Rahim did not mention Nuraiin when appealing against his conviction and sentence.
On the same day, the courts also heard an appeal from Abdul Rahim and 23 other death row inmates who sued the Attorney-General. They apparently argued that their access to lawyers for appeal and reviews of their cases had been “obstructed”.
The High Court had earlier dismissed the case on Wednesday (3 Aug) after its first hearing. A judge described it as “plainly unsustainable and unmeritorious”.
During the appeal hearing on Friday (5 Aug), former police officer Iskandar Rahmat – on death row for a double murder – spoke for most of the time on the other inmates’ behalf, noted TODAY.
The 43-year-old said that they and their families had approached “several lawyers” to no avail as the lawyers were “afraid of adverse cost orders”, cited The Straits Times.
The former cop also argued that prison officers had “intentionally obstructed” inmates when they tried to file their appeal in late July. The Singapore Prison Service has since denied such allegations.
Explaining the court process, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon pointed out that costs are only imposed when proceedings are “frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process”.
He elaborated that while lawyers have a duty to do their best for their clients, they have to do so in accordance with the law.
In the end, the court rejected both the stay of execution application and appeal.
According to TODAY, the hearing started at 2.30pm on Thursday (4 Aug) and ended at about 5pm.
The judges then deliberated on the outcome for seven hours until just before midnight.
As Abdul Rahim’s application was dismissed, his execution was carried out just hours later at 6am on Friday (5 Aug), per the original schedule.
As heartbreaking as executions are, they exist to protect the wider public interest in the face of very detrimental crimes.
At the same time, we hope inmates, regardless of whether they’re on death row or not, will continue to have fair access to justice.
Our condolences go out to Abdul Rahim’s family.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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