12/06/2007 00:00:00
Singapore: Zambian woman in Singapore faces possible hanging for
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Zambian woman in Singapore faces possible hanging for marijuana trafficking.
A Zambian woman appeared in a Singapore court Tuesday, accused of
trafficking more than 14 kilograms (31 pounds) of marijuana — at least
28 times the amount that draws a mandatory death sentence by hanging.
Daka Guinea, 21, was arrested April 9 after she was allegedly caught
handing the drugs over to a Ghanaian man, Chijioke Stephen Obioha, 29,
at a budget hotel in an eastern Singapore red-light district.
Obioha also appeared in court Tuesday to face three drug charges, but
details on his case were not immediately available.
Singapore has some of the world's toughest and most thoroughly enforced
drug laws, with a mandatory death sentence for trafficking more than 15
grams (0.53 ounces) of heroin or 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of marijuana.
Guinea has been in contact with her family and Zambian consular
officials — including Keli Walubita, High Commissioner to Singapore and
former Zambian Foreign Minister — who has visited the woman in jail, her
lawyers Shashi Nathan and Anand Nalachandran said outside the courtroom.
A pretrial court session is set for June 26.
The Southeast Asian city-state executed two African men, one Nigerian
and the other stateless, on heroin trafficking charges in January
despite clemency pleas by Nigeria's president, the United Nations and
human rights groups.
Human rights group Amnesty International has said Singapore has the
world's highest per capita execution rate. Singapore leaders say the
tough system has saved the small, prosperous island nation from the drug
scourge plaguing some of its neighboring countries.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/12/asia/AS-GEN-Singapore-Zambia-Drugs.php
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12609
Author:
International Herald Tribune via UKCIA
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