Singapore executes Saridewi Djamani, first woman in 19 years over importation of diamorphine

Singapore has conducted its first execution of a woman in 19 years and its second hanging this week for drug trafficking despite calls for the city-state to cease capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

Activists said another execution is set next week.

Saridewi Djamani, 45, had been sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking nearly 31 grams of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the Central Narcotics Bureau said.

Its statement said the amount was “sufficient to feed the addiction of about 370 abusers for a week”.

Singapore’s laws mandate the death penalty for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 500g of cannabis and 15g of heroin.

Djamani’s execution on Friday came two days after that of a Singaporean man, Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, for trafficking around 50g of heroin.

The narcotics bureau said both prisoners were accorded due process, including appeals of their conviction and sentence and petition for presidential clemency.

Human rights groups, international activists and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug offences and say there is increasing evidence it is ineffective as a deterrent. Singapore authorities insist capital punishment is important to halting drug demand and supply.

Human rights groups say it has executed 15 people for drug offences since it resumed hangings in March 2022, an average of one a month.

Anti-death penalty activists said the last woman known to have been hanged in Singapore was 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen, also for drug trafficking, in 2004.