Singapore Supreme Court has sentenced a convicted drug trafficker to death via a video chat app Zoom because of the city-state’s coronavirus lockdown.
Defense lawyer Peter Fernando said the Supreme Court announced the penalty to his client, Mr Punithan Genasan, in a virtual hearing on Friday.
Mr Genasan was in jail, while Fernando and prosecutors participated in the hearing from different locations.
Human Rights Watch condemned the use of the app to enforce the death penalty, maintaining it aggravate a punishment it already considers cruel and inhumane.
“It’s shocking the prosecutors and the court are so callous that they fail to see that a man facing capital punishment should have the right to be present in court to confront his accusers,” Human Rights official Phil Robertson stated.
It is believed to be the first time the death sentence was delivered remotely in Singapore, which has imposed social-distancing measures it calls a circuit breaker.
“This has been the arrangement made by the court under Singapore’s circuit breaker measures, with essential hearings conducted via Zoom. We have no complaints,” Mr Fernando said yesterday.
Mr Fernando said he will meet Mr Genasan tomorrow to discuss an appeal.