Singapore hanged a 55-year-old man on Friday for drug trafficking, its anti-narcotics agency said. It was the third execution in the city-state in a week as the United Nations called for a halt.

The U.N. and rights groups say the death penalty has no proven deterrent effect and have called for its abolition, but Singaporean officials insist it has helped make the country one of the most safe from Asia.

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

Under the country’s strict drug laws, the death penalty applies for any quantity exceeding the 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 due process in accordance with the law and was represented by legal counsel throughout the process,” CNB said in a statement.

The Singaporean, convicted for the first time in July 2010, had exhausted his appeals, including that of pardon from the president.

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

According to an AFP count, Singapore has hanged 24 people since resuming the application of the death penalty in March 2022, after two years of cessation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UN on Thursday reiterated its call for Singapore to review its position on capital punishment.

“The use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses is incompatible with international human rights law. There is growing evidence demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent,” UN human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

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

AFP