Originally Posted by Bumpylanding
Under Singaporean law if you are caught with 15 grams or more of heroin then you get the death penalty, no ifs or buts, no application of mitigating circumstances (eg coerced drug mule or agreement to give evidence against the masterminds) or judge's discretion.
Sigh... I don't want to sound as if I am defending the death penalty (which I oppose) or Singapore laws (some of which I think are draconian). But I think the media may have given some people the wrong idea about how Singapore laws work, because this is not true.
Here's a quote from a
Singapore government rebuttal to an Amnesty International report:
The presumption clause [presuming that the person had the drug for trafficking] can be rebutted in court. The prosecution studies every case carefully. There have been cases where the accused was found to possess drugs more than the amount prescribed in the presumption clause, however the prosecution did not proceed against the accused on a capital charge of trafficking as it was not satisfied that the accused was a trafficker.During the trial, the accused person can rebut that the drugs in his possession were not meant for the purpose of trafficking.The court will hear the evidence adduced by both the prosecution and defence, and base its judgement on the evidence presented and not merely because the presumption clause was invoked. Furthermore, if the accused can prove to the court that he is a chronic abuser and would therefore need to be in possession of a greater amount of drugs for his own consumption, the trafficking charge may be reduced to one of possession of a controlled drug, which does not attract the death penalty.
In the recent case, I believe Singapore has said that possible mitigating circumstances (e.g., helping lead police to other traffickers) were considered. Obviously they decided they were not enough to change the sentence.