Press Release: Next-of-kin and activists challenge Singapore’s mandatory death penalty for drug offences
Transformative Justice Collective
6 November 2025
Family members of three executed death row prisoners and activists bring constitutional challenge against Singapore’s mandatory death penalty for drug offences
The applicants of this constitutional challenge - the first of its kind in 15 years - include the sisters of Syed Suhail, Nazeri bin Lajim, and Tangaraju Suppiah. Their brothers were executed between 2022 and 2025 under the mandatory death penalty for drug offences. The co-founders of the Transformative Justice Collective - Rocky Howe, Kokila Annamalai, Kirsten Han and Jolovan Wham - are also part of this application.
Seven Singaporeans have come together to file a constitutional challenge against the mandatory death penalty in drug offences in Singapore. They have filed their applications in two batches, with the first group - Leelavathy Suppiah, Rocky Howe, Kirsten Han and Kokila Annamalai - filing last Tuesday on 28 October, and the second group - Sharmila Rockey, Nazira Lajim Hertslet and Jolovan Wham - filing on Monday, 3 November.
The applicants contend that the mandatory punishment of death is in violation of the right to life contained in Article 9, the equal protection of the law contained in Article 12, and finally, infringes upon the judicial power that is vested in the judiciary by way of Article 93 of the Constitution.
The applicants bring this challenge now for two key reasons:
- Executions have been gathering pace in Singapore, with 14 executions so far in 2025. This is the highest number of executions in a year since 2004.
- A constitutional challenge regarding the mandatory death penalty for drug offences has not been raised in local courts in 15 years, in which time multiple countries like Malaysia, and Pakistan have abolished the mandatory death penalty for drug offences. In the same period, nearly 20 other countries have abolished the death penalty in part or in full.
These developments warrant a fresh look at Singapore’s mandatory death penalty regime. As one of only 8 countries in the world actively executing for drug offences, Singapore’s barbaric drug control regime is increasingly alone on the world stage.
The last time a constitutional challenge was brought in Singapore against the mandatory death penalty for drug offences was in 2010, by Yong Vui Kong, a Malaysian drug mule arrested in 2007 at the age of nineteen, and sentenced to death under Singapore’s mandatory death penalty regime, despite being a minor. Yong lost the constitutional challenge at the time, but his death sentence was commuted in 2013 after amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act allowed him to obtain a Certificate of Substantive Assistance from the Attorney-General. Prior to Yong, previous challenges took place in 2004 (Nguyen Van Tuong) and as far back in 1980 (Ong Ah Chuan). The applicants raise fresh arguments against the mandatory death penalty in the present application.
Sharmila, Nazira, Suppiah, Howe, Annamalai, Han and Wham are the first non-death row prisoners to bring a constitutional challenge against the mandatory death penalty in Singapore. To bring this challenge, the applicants rely on their standing as members of the Transformative Justice Collective, and for the family members, their standing as next-of-kin of persons executed under this regime. All the applicants have been actively involved in campaigning against the death penalty in Singapore in at least the past three to five years. They have brought petitions calling for a moratorium on executions, clemency letters, and appealed directly to the Minister of Home Affairs, K Shanmugam, but they have received no response from the government regarding their calls for an independent review of the use of the death penalty in Singapore.
Forty death row prisoners remain at risk of execution in Changi prison, after being convicted under the mandatory death penalty regime for drug offenses. Given the recent spree of executions, and the applicants’ position that the mandatory punishment of death for drug offences is in violation of the protections afforded by the Singapore Constitution, the applicants are now seeking recourse before the Courts.
Follow this space for more updates as this challenge progresses.
Or on IG: Alliance Against the Death Penalty