Singapore steps up executions and pressure on anti-death penalty groups

Singapore – Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad’s father was in a remote part of Iran when he received the news that he had long dreaded.

His son was to be hanged in Singapore’s Changi Prison.

Suffering from deteriorating health and with just a week’s notice until the execution at dawn on November 29, he was unable to take on the demanding trip to see his son in person for one last time, according to reports.

Instead, the final contact between the father and son came via a long-distance phone call.

Despite a last-ditch legal challenge, Masoud was hanged on the final Friday of November, more than 14 years after he was first arrested for drug offences.

Masoud, 35, became the ninth person to be hanged in Singapore this year.

“With four executions in November alone, the Singaporean government is relentlessly pursuing its cruel use of the death penalty,” said Bryony Lau, Deputy Director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.

Anti-death penalty campaign groups believe that about 50 inmates are currently on death row in Singapore.

Despite opposition from prominent human rights groups and United Nations experts, Singapore claims that capital punishment has been “an effective deterrent” against drug traffickers and ensures the city-state is “one of the safest places in the world”.