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Solomons PM attacks ‘unneighbourly’ China questions

Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister criticized foreign interference over a new police deal with China, calling it “unneighbourly,” while defending the benefits of the agreement and the financial support provided by China.

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HONIARA, SOLOMON ISLANDS — Solomon Islands’ leader Manasseh Sogavare on Monday attacked foreign questions about a new police deal with China as “unneighbourly” interference.

During a 9-15 July visit to China, the prime minister signed a raft of deals including an agreement allowing Beijing to maintain a police presence in the Pacific island country until 2025.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand have expressed unease about the policing “implementation plan”, urging Beijing to soothe concerns by releasing more details.

“Australia and the United States should not fear China’s police support to Royal Solomons Police Force,” Sogavare told reporters after his arrival back in Honiara.

“The narrow, coercive diplomatic approach of targeting China-Solomon Islands relations is — and I want to use this word — unneighbourly,” the Solomons leader said.

“This is nothing but interference by foreign states into the internal affairs of Solomon Islands,” he added.

“China has not invaded — it has not invaded or colonised any other foreign state.”

China gave a warm welcome to the visiting Solomons leader, who severed diplomatic ties with self-ruling Taiwan in 2019 in favour of official relations with Beijing.

The Solomons were rewarded with large sums of aid and investment in the country by China.

Sogavare said some foreign donor countries had delayed assistance to the Solomons, leaving it “struggling” to finance the 2023 budget.

‘Total madness’

“I am really delighted to announce that the People’s Republic of China stepped up and committed to itself to meet this shortfall by providing the budgetary support that is needed for 2023,” he said.

The Chinese budgetary support will be provided in the form of projects, he said, without giving precise financial details.

The Solomons leader has come under criticism from his country’s opposition for signing the China policing deal and for the cost of the China visit.

Opposition leader Matthew Wale said financial documents suggested that large sums of public money had been spent by the Solomons to send a 30-strong delegation to China, including some “only travelling as tourists”.

“This is total madness,” he said in a statement.

“Just last week, teachers’ pay was delayed. Our hospitals need basic drugs like panadol, our roads are at their worst state, we have frequent power cuts, water problems, and most importantly we are at a crucial time to fix the economy of this country.”

Sogavare insisted, however, that the “bulk of the cost” of the trip was being paid for by China and by business leaders who joined the delegation.

The cost of the trip was a “drop in the ocean” compared to the benefits it reaped, he said.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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