Singapore has some of the strictest anti-drug regulations in the world, which it claims are vital to safeguard society.
According to Singaporean legislation, anyone found trafficking more than 500g of marijuana or 15g of heroin shall receive the death penalty.
Saridewi, who received a death sentence on July 6, 2018, according to a statement from Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), was given “full due process” as required by the law.
On October 6 of last year, the highest court in the city dismissed the appeal against her conviction. Authorities reported that a petition for a presidential pardon was likewise failed.
Aziz was hung on Wednesday after being found guilty of trafficking 50g of heroin in 2017. Two days later, she was put to death.
Tangaraju Suppiah, a second Singaporean, was hanged in April for smuggling 1 kilogram (35 oz) of cannabis that he never touched. Authorities claim he used his phone to coordinate the deal.
Sir Richard Branson, a British millionaire, criticized Singapore’s executions once more, claiming that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrence to crime.
“Small-scale drug traffickers need help, as most are bullied due to their circumstances,” Mr. Branson wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
According to the Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore-based human rights organization, Saridewi was one of two women on Singapore’s death row. According to the group, she was the first woman to be put to death by the city-state since the hairstylist Yen May Woen in 2004. Yen was also found guilty of trafficking drugs.
According to local media, Saridewi stated in court that she had been stockpiling heroin for her own use during the Islamic fasting month.
Judge See Kee Oon observed that although she did not deny selling substances including heroin and methamphetamine out of her apartment, she minimized the scope of those operations.
Authorities contend that Singapore’s severe drug laws keep the country among the safest in the world and that the public broadly supports execution penalty for drug offenses.
However, opponents of the death penalty dispute this.
“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect” or that it “has any impact on the use and availability of drugs,” said Chiara Sangiorgio of Amnesty International in a statement.
The only message conveyed by these killings, according to her, is that Singapore’s government is prepared to disregard ongoing international restrictions on the use of the capital penalty.
Amnesty International observed that Singapore is one of only four nations to have lately carried out drug-related executions, along with China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
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