SINGAPORE JUSTIFIES MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS

Singapore's law minister K Shanmugam justified imposing the mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers, arguing it would be wrong if they got off cheaply because of mitigating factors like youth. Shanmugam was referring to the pending case of Malaysian Yong Vui Kong, 22, sentenced to death for smuggling 47 grams of heroin in 2007, but who challenged the constitutionality of the ruling. Although Yong was young, it would send a wrong signal to let him go, Shanmugam said, the Straits Times newspaper reported.
"We are sending a signal to all the drug barons out there: Just make sure you choose a victim who is young, or a mother of a young child, and use them as the people to carry the drugs into Singapore," the minister said.
Singapore's Court of Appeal still has to decide on Yong's fate.