KUALA LUMPUR – Singapore authorities must halt any executions and cease imposing harsh cost orders against lawyers representing death row inmates, urged the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
The international human rights organisation, which consists of eminent jurists working to develop natural rights through law, condemned the republic for its recent execution of convicts charged with drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.
“Executions constitute a violation of the right to life and are the ultimate cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment,” ICJ said in a statement with its commissioner and former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan.
The group also pointed out that Abdul Rahim Shapiee, a death row prisoner executed just last week, had previously filed a lawsuit with 23 other death row inmates alleging obstruction in their access to lawyers.
Expressing its concern on the matter, it said it had also received reports of punitive costs orders against lawyers whose clients are facing capital punishment, claiming that the imposition of such charges has blocked prisoners’ from accessing their legal rights.
The 24 inmates involved in the lawsuit had been unable to secure legal representation despite approaching several lawyers, as the lawyers were supposedly afraid of adverse cost orders.
“This is a violation of the basic right of every person to legal representation of their choice. Every human being is entitled to be treated with dignity, more so those who are fighting for their lives,” Ambiga said.
The commission alleged that Singaporean courts have imposed such orders against the lawyers because they had filed late-stage applications to the courts on behalf of their clients, purportedly on the basis that these applications were “frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of power”.
It cited an instance in June this year when the Singaporean high court ordered two lawyers to pay the attorney-general S$20,000 (approximately RM64,644) in costs for a failed application on behalf of 17 death row inmates.
The prisoners had alleged that, as ethnic minorities, they were more likely to be investigated, prosecuted and sentenced to the death penalty for drug offences.The high court, however, held that the application lacked basis and merit.
“The imposition of punitive cost orders has obstructed death-row inmates’ access to justice and effective remedies, their right to legal counsel – with several having had to represent themselves in court – and, in turn, their right to a fair trial and, ultimately, their right to life,” the group said.
Besides calling for a halt to all future executions, the group urged the republic’s authorities to put in place safeguards to ensure that all lawyers are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of severe cost orders. – The Vibes, August 9, 2022
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