Singapore carries out 12th execution of the year in drug trafficking case

# Singapore carries out 12th execution of the year in drug trafficking case

*Event date: 2025-10-08*

Singapore has executed Malaysian national Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, bringing the city-state’s total number of executions this year to 12 and renewing criticism of its death penalty regime.

The Associated Press reported that Pannir, 38, was hanged at Changi Prison after his final appeal was rejected and he failed to secure presidential clemency. AP said the execution marked the second in two weeks and the fourth of a Malaysian national in Singapore this year.

Pannir had been arrested in 2014 after being found with 52 grams of heroin and was sentenced to death in 2017. His case drew attention again in recent months after Malaysian police interviewed him on September 27, with lawyers saying he had provided information about the people who gave him the drugs. But Malaysia’s home ministry later said he had not provided new leads that would justify further investigation, according to AP.

Rights advocates have long argued that Singapore’s laws punish low-level couriers too harshly. The AP report said Pannir’s family, his lawyers and several rights groups believed the court had found he was a courier, not a major trafficker. The government, however, continues to defend the death penalty as necessary for public safety and deterrence.

The case is also notable because of the volume of executions in Singapore this year. AP said this was the 12th execution of 2025, up from nine in all of 2024, and that more than 40 people remain on death row. That pace has intensified international scrutiny of the country’s approach to drug control.

Pannir’s story also gave the case a human dimension. AP said he was the third of six children, the son of a church pastor and a lorry driver, and that he loved music and played in a church band while growing up. In prison, he wrote letters, songs and poems about life on death row and the hope of a second chance.

For Singapore, the execution reflects a policy that remains deeply entrenched despite pressure from activists and international groups. For critics, it is another example of a system that they say imposes irreversible punishment on people lower down the drug chain. For supporters, it is an enforcement choice they say protects the public.

Either way, the execution signals that the government has shown no sign of slowing its use of capital punishment in drug cases. The debate over whether that strategy deters trafficking is unlikely to end soon, but the sentence has now been carried out.