PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 36/002/2008

26 February 2008

UA 48/08 Death Penalty/Imminent Execution

SINGAPORE Hamir Hasim (m) aged 23, Malaysian national

Kamal Kupli (m) aged 24, Malaysian national

Abdul Malik Usman (m) aged 28, Malaysian national

Hamir Hasim, Kamal Kupli and Abdul Malik, all Malaysian nationals are at risk of imminent execution in Singapore. On 18 February their final appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals. Amnesty International is calling for their death sentence to be commuted by the President.

On 1 March, 2007 all 3 men had been convicted of murder, which carries a mandatory death sentence in Singapore. Hamir Hasim, a gardener, and Kamal Kupli and Abdul Malik Usman, both cleaners, were found guilty of attacking and killing a man they robbed in December 2005.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Singapore has one of the highest execution rates per capita in the world. There has been very little public debate about the death penalty in Singapore, partly as a result of tight government controls on the media. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions noted in a 2005 report that legal safeguards in Singapore do not meetinternational human rights standards. Echoing the concerns of many lawyers and activists, he argued that the mandatory penalty denies the judiciary the necessary discretion to sentence people fairly and appropriately.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, and supports the global trend away from the use of the death penalty, powerfully expressed in the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executionson 18 December 2007.

Amnesty International recognizes the need of governments to address serious crime, including murder, but notes that there is no clear evidence that the death penalty deters crime any more effectively than other forms of punishment. Today 135 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

- urging the President to commute the death sentences of Hamir Hasim, Kamal Kupli and Abdul Malik Usman immediately;

- expressing concern that the death penalty is mandatory for murder in Singapore, and calling on the authorities to take steps to adopt a moratorium on executions, with a view to restricting the scope of the death penalty and ultimately abolishing the death penalty, as called for in the resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2007.

APPEALS TO:

President Sellapan Rama Nathan

Office of the President of the Republic of Singapore

Orchard Road

Singapore 238823

Fax: +65 6735 3135

Email: s_r_nathan@istana.gov.sg

Salutation: Dear President Nathan

COPIES TO:

Prime Minister

Lee Hsien Loong

Office of the Prime Minister

Istana Annexe, Orchard Road

Singapore 0923

Fax: + 65 6835 6621

Email: lee_hsien_loong@pmo.gov.sg

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

Minister of Law

Professor S. Jayakumar

Ministry of Law

100 High Street

The Treasury 08-02

Singapore 179434

Fax: +65 6332 8842

Salutation: Dear Minister

and to diplomatic representatives of Singapore accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 5 April 2008.