SINGAPORE (CWBN)_ Two Singaporean women, Siti Aslinda Binte Junaidi and Mohd Yusri Bin Mohd Yussof, were found guilty of drug trafficking and were sentenced to death in July this year.
However, Yusri’s sentence was suspended for two years, which means it may be downgraded to life imprisonment. Aslinda, on the other hand, deemed to have played a more active role in the crime, and faces execution if her final appeal is not successful.
Her family back in Singapore is trying desperately for her acquittal, through diplomatic channels and the Chinese legal system. According to M. Ravi, a Singaporean lawyer who has been advising on the case, the family cannot afford to pay for a lawyer and it has been difficult to get a pro bono one in China. “I’ve been trying to liaise with some international networks I have to get a pro bono lawyer, but her case is (moving forward) and we don’t know when it might reach the next court.”
Court documents note that when the two women were stopped and searched by customs officials in Shenzhen in October 2015, stitched into the lining of 28 women’s handbags were more than 11 kilograms (24 pounds) of methamphetamine, if sold, worth more than $220,000 in the US.
However, both have denied knowledge of the drugs. Aslinda claims that while she was looking for jobs online in 2014, a man named Chibuzor Onwuka had offered her a generous commission to transport women’s lingerie, handbags and toner cartridges from China to Cambodia.
Subsequently, she introduced Yusri to Onwuka in July 2015, and they began transporting the goods together. Onwuka paid them $2,000 to $3,000 each per trip, and also covered their airfare and hotel bills, they said. While Aslinda said that she had her doubts, she told the court that she was convinced of Onwuka’s explanation that the handbags were sold to prominent Cambodians, and therefore, they were highly profitable.
However, the court determined that the two women were either aware or should have been aware of the contents, given the “unusually high remuneration” paid. The judge also pointed out that the way they were told to travel, from Guangzhou to Hong Kong via Shenzhen then Phnom Penh, should also have raised suspicion, as direct flights were available to the Cambodian capital.
While Aslinda’s daughter has been communicating with her via letters, the daughter claims that the letters appear to be monitored and sometimes they do not get through. Moreover, Aslinda has also been denied visits from consular officials for almost a year, likely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aslinda’s legal team says that her case is being appealed to the Guangdong High Court, and if the judgement is not overturned, her death penalty could be carried out within weeks.
“Drug crimes are recognized as serious crimes in the world, and its social harm is extremely serious,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday (Dec 25). “Chinese law retains the death penalty, while strictly controlling its application. Chinese law provides that all persons who commit crimes are equal in the application of the law. Chinese judicial organs deal with criminals of different nationalities in accordance with the law, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of defendants.”
According to Amnesty International and the Dui Hua Foundation, which advocates on behalf of prisoners in Beijing, China is the world’s leading executioner, with large numbers of foreigners included amongst those who are executed. However, China does not report the total number of executions or specific details of foreigners being executed each year.
Sometimes, these penalties appear to be politically motivated. For instance, Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who originally received a 15-year prison sentence for drug smuggling, was later sentenced to death last year, following the arrest of top Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Singapore itself applies the death penalty for cases of drug trafficking. In May this year, a Singaporean judge sentenced a man to death for smuggling drugs, by hanging him over Zoom, which sparked widespread outrage.
Nevertheless, China and Singapore are among a limited number of countries which execute prisoners, as it is not even an option in around 170 countries. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has also said that the death penalty “has no place in the 21st century.”
