Singapore hanged a 55-year-old man on Friday for drug smuggling, its drug enforcement agency said, the city-state’s third execution in a week as the United Nations called for a halt.

The United Nations and rights groups say the death penalty has no proven deterrent effect and have called for its abolition, but Singapore officials insist it has helped make the country one of Asia’s safest.

Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said the death sentence was carried out for Rosman Abdullah, convicted of smuggling 57.43 grams (2.03 ounces) of heroin.

According to the country’s tough drug laws, the death penalty begins to apply for all amounts above a 15-gram threshold.

The hanging at Changi Prison followed the execution on November 15 of two men – a 39-year-old Malaysian and a 53-year-old Singaporean – also for drug trafficking.

“Rosman was afforded full due process under the law and was represented by legal counsel throughout the process,” CNB said in a statement.

The Singaporean, who was first convicted in July 2010, had exhausted his appeals, including one for presidential clemency.

His execution was the eighth this year in the city-state, seven for drug trafficking and one for murder.

According to an AFP report, Singapore has hanged 24 people since it resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United Nations on Thursday reiterated its call for Singapore to review its position on the death penalty.

“The use of the death penalty for drug-related crimes is inconsistent with international human rights law. There is increasing evidence that the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent,” UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

However, the CNB said the death penalty was “only imposed for the most serious crimes, such as trafficking in significant quantities of drugs that cause very serious harm” to users and society at large.

AFP