KUALA LUMPUR – Another Malaysian convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore is set to be executed soon.
Hamzah Ibrahim, who is in his 60s, will face the death penalty this Wednesday (February 26), according to his former lawyer, M Ravi.
A letter from the Singapore Prison Service dated February 19, said that Hamzah’s family has been granted visitation rights up until the day before the execution, local media reported.
Hamzah was sentenced to death by the Singapore High Court in 2017 for trafficking 26.29 grams of heroin.
Although he was granted a Certificate of Substantive Assistance (CSA) for aiding Singapore’s narcotics police in disrupting drug trafficking activities, the court ruled that he did not qualify for an alternative life sentence.
“He does not meet the criteria for an alternative sentence as he was not classified as a courier, which is a secondary requirement after obtaining the CSA,” Ravi explained.
“I urge both the local and international community to join our campaign to save Hamzah from being executed next Wednesday,” he said in an Instagram post.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian, P Pannir Selvam, was granted a last-minute stay of execution by the Singapore Court of Appeal last Wednesday. He was initially scheduled to be hanged the following day.
Pannir was convicted in 2017 for trafficking 51.84 grams of heroin at the Woodlands checkpoint on September 3, 2014.
The stay was granted due to an ongoing legal challenge against Section 18(2) of Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, as well as his complaint regarding the conduct of his former lawyer in Singapore, Ong Ying Ping.
Pannir, who had received a package from a fellow Malaysian to deliver upon arrival in Singapore, has consistently maintained that he was unaware it contained drugs.
He was previously granted a stay of execution in 2019. – February 22, 2025