The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) reiterated the international human rights law and standards relevant to the use of the death penalty, and the imposition of cost sanctions against death row lawyers, in an open letter published today.
Singapore’s authorities must immediately halt any impending executions, and cease using punitive cost orders against lawyers representing death-row inmates, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today.
On 5 August 2022, Singapore executed two persons, Abdul Rahim Shapiee and Ong Seow Ping, for “drug possession for the purpose of trafficking”. Their execution followed the Court of Appeal’s denial of Abdul Rahim Shapiee’s stay of execution request based on a lawsuit he and 23 other death-row inmates had filed alleging obstructions in their access to lawyers.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and 6 other human rights organizations urgently call on the Singaporean authorities to drop their criminal investigations of human rights defenders Kirsten Han and Rocky Howe and cease harassing them through legal processes for their work.
Following the recent court ruling Amnesty International, ILGA Asia, the International Commission of Jurists and Human Rights Watch call on the Singapore Parliament to repeal Section 377A and uphold the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals.
Today, ICJ and nine others organizations called on the Government of Singapore to withdraw the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill (‘FICA’). FICA’s provisions contravene international legal and human rights principles – including the rights to freedom of expression, association, participation in public affairs, and privacy – and will further curtail civic space, both online and offline.