Counterblast: Escaping the gallows Singapore style

• Main Author: FINDLAY, Mark
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Criminal Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3016; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4974/viewcontent/Counterblast_sv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The four‐year long struggle by Yong Vui Kong to challenge his mandatory death sentence reveals how life and death decisions can turn on legal niceties. For instance, on 20 November 2009, the President of the Republic of Singapore turned down Yong's plea for clemency and this news was conveyed to the prisoner's brother by his then lawyer three days later. Along with this sad information, he was told that his brother would be hung on 4 December 2009. Yong's brother then engaged the respected human rights advocate, M. Ravi, who was granted an interview with the prisoner two days prior to the scheduled execution. Ravi, as a matter of urgency, filed a motion challenging the constitutionality of capital punishment and at the same time sought a stay of execution so that his arguments would not be, tragically, moot.