It's time to review the death penalty in Singapore
Don't kill a man for an act he did in a moment's folly
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's president has rejected a last-ditch bid to stop the execution of a drug trafficker in a case that has generated unprecedented debate on the death penalty in Singapore.
Shanmugam Murugesu, 38, arrested at the Malaysian border with 1.03 kg (2.27 lb) of cannabis, lost an appeal against a conviction of drug trafficking and had his clemency bid rejected by Singapore's President S.R. Nathan last month.
His twin 14-year old sons, Gopalan and Krishnan Murugesu, have handed out hundreds of flyers in shopping districts to seek public support to stop Friday's execution, saying their father's death would make them orphans.
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Twins Gopalan (R) and Krishnan Murugesu (L) pray with their grandmother for their father, Shanmugam Murugesu, to be released from death row, at the entrance to Singapore's official presidential residence April 16, 2005. The two 14-year-olds have begun a rare campaign in the city state to free their jailed father from death row, where he faces execution for trafficking about 1 kg (2.2 lb) of marijuana. REUTERS/Thomas White Email Photo Print Photo
Letchumi Murugesu, the mother of death row inmate Shanmugam Murugesu reflects before a shrine to her son set up at a rare public gathering to support Murugesu's family and to speak out against the death penalty Friday May 6, 2005 in Singapore. Murugesu was convicted of smuggling cannabis and has exhausted all legal appeals. Public involvement in the death penalty issue is exceedingly rare in the tightly controlled city-state. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)