Man sentenced to death on Zoom

Rights groups criticise ‘callous’ process

Singapore's Supreme Court, left, has been holding hearings remotely to prevent spreading coronavirus (Reuters)

A man has been sentenced to death in Singapore over a Zoom call in the first case of its kind.

Punithan Genasan, who is Malaysian, was sentenced on Friday while in his prison cell, and his lawyer was in a separate location.

Singapore's Supreme Court has been hearing cases and handing down judgements online in order to prevent spreading coronavirus, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson confirmed Friday's execution order was the first ever given remotely in the country.

Judges ruled that Genasan, 37, had recruited two drug couriers and directed them to transport and deliver 28.5 grams of heroin in October 2011.

"This has been the arrangement made by the court ... with essential hearings conducted via Zoom. We have no complaints," defence lawyer Peter Fernando said on Wednesday. Mr Fernando is due to meet his client this Friday to discuss an appeal.

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But rights groups criticised the manner in which sentence was passed.

"It's shocking the prosecutors and the court are so callous that they fail to see that a man facing capital punishment should have the right to be present in court to confront his accusers," said Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson.

Amnesty International's death penalty adviser, Chiara Sangiorgio, said Singapore was one of four countries that executed people for drug crimes. "At a time when the global attention is focused on saving and protecting lives in a pandemic, the pursuit of the death penalty is all the more abhorrent," she said.

Singapore applies the death penalty to crimes including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, waging war against the government and using guns. Most cases are drug-related.

The city-state imposed a partial lockdown in early April following a second wave of Covid-19 infections sparked by foreign workers living in crowded dormitories. It has reported more than 29,000 virus cases but only 22 deaths, and plans to lift restrictions gradually in June.

Additional reporting by Associated Press