Singapore: Malaysian national facing execution after unfair trial
Lee Chez Kee (m), aged 37, Malaysian national
Lee Chez Kee, who was sentenced to death after an unfair trial, has exhausted his appeals and is in imminent danger of execution. The President still has the power to grant clemency.
Lee Chez Kee was sentenced to death for the 14 December 1993 murder of Professor Lee Kok Cheong. In Singapore a murder conviction carries a mandatory death sentence. He had escaped to Malaysia shortly after the murder, but was extradited in 2006. Amnesty International is opposed to any extradition, return or transfer of a person to where he or she faces the death penalty.
Lee's appeal was based on the fact that the court had allowed the evidence against him to include statements made by his accomplice Too Yin Sheong at his own trial. Too had given six statements, claiming that he had been merely an onlooker while Lee carried out the murder. He was sentenced to death in 1998 and executed the following year. At Lee's trial in 2006, all of Too's statements were admitted as evidence.
A panel of three Court of Appeal judges voted two to one to reject his final appeal, on 12 May 2008. The dissenting judge, Choo Han Teck, wrote that in his view, Lee Chez Kee "ought to be retried" because "the danger of findings of fact being tainted by those untested and prejudicial statements are too great to be allowed to stand [in court]."
Although he voted to dismiss the appeal, Judge V K Rajah agreed with Judge Choo Han Teck that the trial judge had wrongly admitted Too's statements. He also said that "the trial judge had failed to exercise due caution in giving weight to Too's statements and had also failed to give due consideration to the prejudicial effect they had on [Lee's] case."
The third judge, Woo Bih Li, found that Too's statements were "self-serving and not tested by cross-examination."
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The death penalty allows no escape from the risk of error, which can lead to the execution of an innocent person. The existence of mandatory sentences for certain crimes further exacerbates the inhumanity and injustice of this penalty, as it precludes judges from taking into account circumstances specific to an individual case or an individual defendant.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
- urging the President to grant clemency to Lee Chez Kee and commute his death sentence;
- expressing concern that the sentence was imposed after an unfair trial;
- urging the President to impose a moratorium on executions, with a view to complete abolition of the death penalty, in line with the November 2007 UN General Assembly resolution;
- noting that the UNCHR has urged states which still maintain the death penalty not to impose it as a mandatory sentence;
- calling on the President to make full statistics on death sentences and the background of those on death row regularly available to the public.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
There is very little public debate in Singapore about the death penalty, partly as a result of tight government controls on the press and civil society organisations. Official information about the use of the death penalty is partial and haphazard. Some, but by no means all, executions are reported in the press. The government does not normally publish statistics about death sentences or executions. Trials fall short of international human rights standards, with mandatory death sentences and presumption of guilt for capital offences. Possession of a certain amount of drugs leads to a presumption of involvement in drug trafficking, which carries a mandatory death sentence.
Singapore voted against the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, on 15 November 2007. The vote went overwhelmingly in favour of the resolution; in 2008 the representative of Singapore questioned the virtue of continuing to debate the issue.
Singapore, with a population of just over four million, is believed to have the highest
per capita execution rate in the world. The government has consistently maintained that the death penalty is not a human rights issue.
APPEALS TO:
President
His Excellency S R Nathan
Office of the President
Istana, Orchard Road
Singapore 0922
Fax: +65 6735 3135
Email: s_r_nathan@istana.gov.sg
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong
Office of the Prime Minister
Istana Annexe, Orchard Road
Singapore 0923
Fax: +65 6732 4627
Email: lee_hsien_loong@pmo.gov.sg
Minister of Law
Professor S. Jayakumar
Ministry of Law
100 High Street
The Treasury 08-02
Singapore 179434
Fax: +65 6332 8842
and to diplomatic representatives of Singapore accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 24 July 2008.
let us know if you will be taking this action by sending an email to admin-ap@amnesty.org