Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jan 2004
Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
Copyright: 2004 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.fyiwinnipeg.com/winsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/503

SINGAPORE EXECUTES MOST

SINGAPORE -- Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world
relative to its population, outstripping China, Saudi Arabia and
Sierra Leone, Amnesty International said in a report released today.

More than 400 prisoners have been hanged since 1991 in the Southeast
Asian city-state of four million people, the London-based rights
organization said in a report.

The government says it needs the death penalty to deter drug addiction
and violent crime.

Singapore drug laws are among the world's toughest. Anyone caught with
more than 14 grams of heroin or more than 482 grams of marijuana is
presumed to be trafficking and faces a mandatory death sentence.

Singapore had the highest per capita execution rate between 1994 and
1999, with about 13.6 executions for every million people, according
to the latest UN report on capital punishment.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake