FEATURE ARTICLE

Henry EzekweluWednesday, January 31, 2007
advertisement
[email protected]
UK

ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE TO YOUR FRIENDS


STATE MURDER IN SINGAPORE:
THE EXECUTION OF TOCHI (A FELLOW NIGERIAN CITIZEN)



Nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi was one of the two drug traffickers hanged in Singapore after their appeals for clemency were turned down. The football player was arrested on 27 November 2004, at Singapore's Changi Airport while attempting to smuggle 727.03 grams (more than 25 ounces) of heroin.
Photo:/AFP


or millions of Nigerians, who have not heard of the South East Asia country called Singapore, Friday 26 January 2007 must have come as a rude awakening. For it was at around 6am on this very day that a young Nigerian called Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi (of Igbo Origin) was mercilessly put to death by the Singapore state authorities. Tochi was brutally and grisly hanged, his hands tied behind his back, his feet chained and a hood placed over his head as the trapdoor open beneath his feet at Singapore Changi Prison death chamber. His crime was that of importing heroine into Singapore. A crime that in most civilised parts of the 3rd world, let alone Europe and North America carry a prison sentence.

Mercy pleas by no less a person that the Nigerian president himself and the United Nations special rappoteur on extrajudicial killings fell on deaf ears. Death by hanging, for some of us, brave enough to know is without doubt one of the most callous ways of putting a fellow human being to death. For many individuals in the process of being hanged do not die immediately. It is not a quick process. In a lot of cases, the individual about to die wriggle and writhe in unworldly agony whilst defecating or passing urine uncontrollably until death finally comes. The recent case of Saddam's half brother (if media reports are to be believed) is a case-study in time as his head was said to have being completely severed from the rest of his body during the process of hanging. The Iraq authorities have not denied this. Such is the terror than hanged people undergo that no man deserves to die in such a hideous way and no country in particular has a right to end a Nigerian's life in such a harrowing manner.

Tochi was put to death by the Singapore authorities for importing 700 grammes of heroin into the country in 2004. His trial judge (A Singaporean, no less) ruled that there was no direct evidence that Tochi knew the capsules he was carrying contained heroine. In effect, he was in all probability an unwitting drug "mule". This , however, did not stop the blood-thirsty Singaporean authorities from imposing and quickly carrying out his death sentence in the face of an international outcry. His death and the manner of trial, so disturbed many people around the world that the United Nations (An organisation not normally know for its liberal views towards Africans in distress) wheeled out its special rappouteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions to unequivocally condemn the Singapore authorities. To quote him,

"������.The standard accepted by the International community is that capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of a person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of facts".

Tochi's guilt was not based on clear and convincing evidence. He is also not the first foreigner to be executed by the blood-thirsty Singapore government. In 2005, the Singapore authorities executed a Vietnamese Australian (Nguyen Tuong Van) for transiting through Singapore carrying drugs. This individual have never been in trouble before, had no history of drug dealing or pushing (He was a first-time offender, who happened to have the terrible fate of being a foreigner passing through Singapore). In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of drugs. The country is notorious and infamous, for having the highest per Capita executions in the world including Africa.(An amazing feat). Tochi when he was caught in 2004 was carrying heroin estimated at 1.5m Singapore dollars. This amounted to 48000 doses of street heroine.

advertisement

Whilst there is no disputing the fact that Tochi was caught red-handed, the dispensation of justice by the Singapore authorities towards him was devoid of the normal safeguards, bereft of humanity, callous to the extreme and no where near internationally accepted judicial standards. To quote one local activist in Singapore, Tochi was strung-up like a chicken. The death sentence imposed on drug couriers and pushers in Singapore is well-known for being a case of "killing the chicken in order to scare the Monkeys" as the dispensation of such severe penalty is heavily discriminatory and biased against the poor, the uneducated, visitors and guest workers in Singapore. It is a case of one law for the rich and another law for the poor. Tochi was simply of the later category. He did not stand a chance. No doubt, a child from a very poor family simply eager like millions of other Africans to find some means to support his family.

Singapore (An outpost of China) is well known for its brutality towards its citizens. People are flogged and fined for simply dropping a piece of chewing gum on the street. Foreigners, particularly black Africans , are considered animals and treated with contempt, disgust and opprobrium. A recent case was well publicised of the 2 sons of prominent Singaporean judges, who were charged with cocaine possession enough to warrant the death penalty. On appeal, both cases were reduced to relatively short prison terms. Tochi did not have a rich Singaporean judge for a father. Neither was he a white kid from a rich western country. He stood no chance. His death will not attract any serious negative publicity for the country, so reckoned the Singapore authorities. This is why, the Singapore prime minister in response to mercy pleas from president Obasanjo comfortably stated "�.The government has a duty to safeguard the interest of Singaporeans and protect lives that otherwise will be ruined by drug syndicates". Any commentator on Singapore will however tell you that this statement is extremely hollow as it is widely known that the Singapore authorities play a role in drug production and distribution in Burma via their GIC investment company and in collaboration with a local drug lord knows as "Ho Hsg Han". In addition, the use of cocaine and heroin is widely prevalent amongst the elite of Singaporean society. The authorities often turn a blind eye. In callously executing, Tochi, it was a "case of killing the chicken in other to scare the Monkeys". He did not have access to a good lawyer, neither did the Singapore authorities allow him to see his family before he was hurriedly put to death.

If Tochi's life is not to be in vain, lessons must be learnt from his death. Many Nigerians needlessly die and are executed in far away foreign jails, without close and pro-active support from the Federal government. Saudi Arabia is a case-study on this issue. Whilst I warmly welcome the intervention made by the president on Tochi's family behalf, a lot more could have been done to help Tochi before and even after his death. First, the Nigerian consulate in Singapore would have ensured that he had access to be best lawyers that money can buy. As a citizen of Nigeria in trouble in far away land , we owe him that much. Second, the Nigerian government ought to have lodged a very strong protest to the Singaporean authorities by recalling its representative in Singapore and summoning the Singapore charge-de-Affairs in Nigeria to Abuja in order to lodge a strong formal complaint. This is still not too late. Third, as Nigerian foreign policy have now been repositioned with Nigeria interests in the fore-front, trade relations with Singapore should be reconsidered and downgraded in order to send a very strong message to Singapore that the lives of our citizens in their land is of the utmost priority. Such moves are the only ones that the blood-thirsty Singapore authorities will understand. To sit back and do nothing, will mean that more young and innocent Nigerians will be hanged needlessly in Singapore jails. Fourth, the federal government must ensure that Nigerians travelling to Singapore (some of whom are poorly educated) are issued with severe travel warnings and restrictions at the airport before departure similar to what the United states and the UK currently issue to its citizens travelling to oil producing states in Nigeria. Finally, for individual Nigerians (mostly from the South east) travelling to Asia for business, Singapore should be the last destination on their mind if Tochi's life will not have been in vain.