Singapore, which imposes the death penalty for serious crimes including murder and drug trafficking, said it plans to exempt more cases from the mandatory sentence.
While the nation will uphold the death penalty for those who manufacture and traffic drugs, the punishment will no longer be mandatory for all those caught carrying drugs exceeding certain amounts, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said in parliament today. Courts will have the discretion to either sentence the offender to death or life imprisonment with caning if the accused is only a courier and has cooperated with authorities or has a mental disability, he said. Full story
