Singapore
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 4
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 7
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Capital crimes are: murder, treason, offenses against...
- News items in the archive
- 350
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Singapore is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 4 executions in the country, against 7 the year before. The archive holds 350 news items on Singapore, from 1999 to today.
In Singapore the death penalty concerns above all drug trafficking, with quantity thresholds that trigger the sentence, and the method is hanging. A reform reduced the cases in which the penalty is mandatory, leaving judges a margin in defined circumstances.
Executions are announced a few days in advance and are accompanied by international appeals. The archive gathers cases, appeals and campaigns.
Latest news
SEPTEMBER 28, 2026SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSingapore: actors Lim Kay Siu and Neo Swee Lin among 6 charged for public assembly without permit
APRIL 20, 2026SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: MAN EXECUTED FOR IMPORTING OVER 1KG OF CANNABIS
Convicted drug importer Omar Yacob Bamadhaj was hanged on April 16, 2026 for bringing 1,009.1g of cannabis into Singapore in July 2018.
MARCH 12, 2026SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPOREANS’ SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY IN DRUG TRAFFICKING CASES RISES TO 77PC, SAYS MINISTER
Public support in Singapore for the mandatory death penalty for serious drug trafficking offences has risen, the country’s Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam reportedly said on March 12, 2026.
- FEBRUARY 14, 2026SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: MALAYSIAN MAN EXECUTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A Malaysian man convicted of trafficking a significant quantity of heroin was executed in Singapore on Feb. 11, 2026, according to an official statement issued by the Singapore authorities.
JANUARY 12, 2026SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: TWO CONVICTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS EXECUTED
A 62-year-old and a 54-year-old, both Singaporeans, who were convicted of having in their possession controlled drugs for the purpose of trafficking, had their capital sentences carried out on 9 January 2026.
DECEMBER 1, 2025SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE EXECUTES THREE MEN FOR DRUG OFFENCES OVER TWO DAYS
Singapore hanged three people for drug offences on 26 and 27 November 2025, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003.
OCTOBER 8, 2025SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: MALAYSIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER HANGED IN 12TH EXECUTION THIS YEAR
Singapore’s prison hanged a Malaysian drug trafficker on October 8, 2025, marking the second execution in two weeks and raising the number of executions in the city-state to 12 this year despite pressure to abolish the death penalty.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2025SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE EXECUTES MALAYSIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER IN THE CITY-STATE’S 11TH EXECUTION OF THE YEAR
A Malaysian man was hanged in Singapore on September 25, 2025 for drug trafficking, raising the number of executions in the city-state to 11 this year despite renewed calls to abolish the death penalty.
- JUNE 17, 2025SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: DRUG TRAFFICKER, 58, AVOIDS DEATH PENALTY BY 0.01G, SENTENCED TO 31 YEARS’ JAIL
A 58-year-old man has been sentenced to 31 years’ jail in Singapore over drug trafficking offences that saw him avoid the death penalty by 0.01g, The Straits Times reported on June 12, 2025.
FEBRUARY 5, 2025SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: EX-POLICE OFFICER HANGED FOR DOUBLE MURDER
A former policeman who was convicted over the murder of two people in 2013 was executed in Singapore on February 5, 2025.
- JANUARY 25, 2025SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: MAN EXECUTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Singapore carried out on January 23, 2025 the hanging of a convicted drug trafficker.
NOVEMBER 29, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE - Iranian-Singaporean Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad executed on November 29
Arrested at 20 for 31 grams of diamorphine
NOVEMBER 24, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE HANGS DRUG TRAFFICKER, THIRD SUCH EXECUTION IN A WEEK
Singapore has carried out its third hanging of a convicted drug trafficker in a week despite appeals for clemency from the United Nations.
NOVEMBER 7, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: HOME MINISTRY ORDERS META TO ALERT USERS TO FALSE STATEMENTS ON DEATH PENALTY
Singapore’s Home Ministry (MHA) on November 5, 2024 instructed Meta Platforms Inc be issued Targeted Correction Directions (TCDs) following the reposting of “false statements” on its platforms regarding the scheduling of executions and the prosecution of
- AUGUST 11, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE HANGS PRISONER IN SECOND EXECUTION IN DAYS
Singapore hanged a 59-year-old man on August 7, 2024 for drug trafficking, authorities said, the second execution in the city-state in less than a week.
- AUGUST 5, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: MAN HANGED FOR TRAFFICKING 36G OF HEROIN
Singapore on August 2, 2024 hanged a convicted drug trafficker, authorities said, in the city-state's second execution this year.
MAY 13, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: SHANMUGAM SAYS STRONG SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY REFLECTED IN SURVEYS
Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on May 8, 2024 cited local and regional surveys as proof of strong and growing support for using the death penalty on drug traffickers.
- APRIL 4, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: EX-PROPERTY AGENT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CANNABIS TRAFFICKING
A former property agent was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for trafficking cannabis in Singapore, with the judge rejecting his claim that the drugs were for research and development.
- MARCH 11, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: MAN LOSES APPEAL AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE FOR TRAFFICKING HEROIN
A Singaporean man sentenced to death for trafficking 34.9g of diamorphine or heroin has lost his appeals against his conviction and sentence.
- FEBRUARY 29, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: BANGLADESHI MAN HANGED FOR MURDER
Singapore on February 28, 2024 hanged a Bangladeshi man for murder, police said, in the first execution this year in the city-state.
JANUARY 17, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: DECADE-HIGH SURGE IN EXECUTIONS
Singapore’s government carried out its highest number of executions in more than a decade and sought to intimidate anti-death penalty activists, Human Rights Watch said on January 11, 2024 in its World Report 2024.
AUGUST 3, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: MAN EXECUTED OVER DRUGS IN THIRD HANGING IN WEEK
Singapore executed a 39-year-old man who was convicted of trafficking heroin, the city state’s fifth hanging this year and the third in just over a week, authorities said on August 3, 2023.
- JULY 28, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE EXECUTES A WOMAN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 19 YEARS
Singapore conducted its first execution of a woman in 19 years on July 28, 2023 and its second hanging this week for drug trafficking despite calls for the city-state to cease capital punishment for drug-related crimes.
- JULY 26, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: MAN HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING, A WOMAN SET TO BE EXECUTED THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, a 56-years-old Singaporean Malay man, was hanged on July 26, 2023 at dawn at Changi Prison in Singapore.
MAY 17, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE EXECUTES SECOND PRISONER IN 3 WEEKS FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Singapore on May 17, 2023 hanged a man for trafficking drugs, authorities said, in the city state’s second execution in three weeks.
APRIL 30, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED OR HEROIN DEALER
The Singapore Court of Appeal changed the death sentence of a heroin dealer to 10 years in prison on April 26, 2023, the same day that Singaporean Indian man Tangaraju Suppiah was executed for allegedly abetting in the trafficking of 1kg of marijuana (can
- APRIL 26, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: MAN HANGED FOR TRAFFICKING 1KG OF CANNABIS
Singapore on April 26, 2023 hanged 46-year-old Indian-origin Tangaraju Suppiah who was found guilty in 2018 of trafficking more than 1kg (2.2 pounds) of cannabis, despite last-minute appeals for clemency from his family and activists.
NOVEMBER 7, 2022SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: INDIAN-ORIGIN MAN ACQUITTED AFTER GETTING DEATH PENALTY VIA ZOOM
A 39-year-old Indian-origin Malaysian who was sentenced to death via Zoom for drug trafficking in May 2020 was on 31 October 2022 acquitted by Singapore's Court of Appeal, saying the prosecution did not prove its case.
OCTOBER 27, 2022SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HEROIN TRAFFICKING
A 31-year-old man who was found with 25 packets of heroin in his bedroom in November 2018 was given the mandatory death penalty on 27 October 2022 for drug trafficking.
- OCTOBER 9, 2022SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE HANGS 11TH PRISONER OF YEAR: NGO
Singapore hanged a prisoner on 7 October 2022, according to anti-death penalty activists, making it the 11th of this year amid the highest rate of executions in the Southeast Asian city-state since 2010.