Hanging in Singapore is the sole method of judicial execution, used almost exclusively for drug trafficking above fixed weight thresholds and, far less often, for intentional murder and certain firearms offenses. The sentence is mandatory in most of these cases, and the executions are carried out before dawn on Fridays at Changi Prison Complex.
Offenses That Carry the Death Penalty
Drug trafficking drives nearly every execution. The Misuse of Drugs Act fixes quantity thresholds in its Second Schedule that trigger a mandatory death sentence on conviction: 15 grams of diamorphine (heroin), 30 grams of cocaine, and 500 grams of cannabis, among others.1Singapore Statutes Online. Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 Of the 25 people executed in 2023 and 2024 combined, 24 were convicted of drug offenses.2Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Singapore: Turk Alarmed by Increase in Drug-Related Executions, Calls for Moratorium
Murder with a deliberate intention to kill carries a mandatory death sentence under Section 302 of the Penal Code. Other categories of murder, where the intent falls short of a specific plan to kill, leave the court a choice between death and life imprisonment with caning.3Singapore Statutes Online. Penal Code 1871
Firearms offenses are treated with unusual severity. Under the Arms Offences Act, using or attempting to use a gun with intent to injure, endanger safety, or damage property carries mandatory death. A separate provision reaches further still: using or attempting to use a gun during any scheduled offense carries death whether or not the person meant to hurt anyone. Accomplices present at the scene who reasonably knew a gun was being carried also face death unless they prove they took all reasonable steps to prevent its use. Trafficking in firearms is punishable by death or life imprisonment with caning.4Singapore Statutes Online. Arms Offences Act 1973
Kidnapping can be capital too. Section 364 of the Penal Code makes kidnapping in order to murder punishable by death or life imprisonment, and the Kidnapping Act makes abduction for ransom punishable by death or life imprisonment with caning. In practice, hangings for kidnapping or firearms offenses are rare next to the drug cases.
The Narrow Ways Out of a Mandatory Sentence
Before 2012, if the elements of a capital offense were proved, the sentence was automatic. Reforms that year opened two narrow routes to life imprisonment instead.
For drug trafficking, a convicted person can be spared only if two conditions are both met. Their role must have been limited to that of a courier, meaning they only transported or delivered the drugs and had no part in supply or distribution. And either the Public Prosecutor must certify that the person gave substantive assistance to the Central Narcotics Bureau in disrupting trafficking, or the person must have suffered from a mental condition that substantially impaired their responsibility.1Singapore Statutes Online. Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 Whether to issue the certificate of substantive assistance is a decision for the Public Prosecutor and is largely shielded from judicial review.
For murder, the 2012 amendments split Section 302. Intentional killing still carries mandatory death. The other categories now allow the court to choose between death and life imprisonment with caning.5Ministry of Law. Ministerial Statement by the Minister for Law on the Changes to the Applications of the Mandatory Death Penalty to Homicide Offences The reforms were real but narrow, and the mandatory sentence remains the default for the most serious trafficking and the most deliberate killings.
How a Condemned Prisoner’s Legal Options Run Out
Anyone charged with a capital offense is entitled to free legal representation under the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences, with two assigned defense lawyers, one leading and one assisting, who handle trial and appeal. There is no means test and no nationality requirement.6Singapore Courts. Seek Help for a Criminal Case That matters because many of those executed are foreign nationals, often Malaysian.
Once the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal, options narrow sharply. The Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act 2022 sets a formal process for last-resort filings, but the bar is deliberately high. The prisoner must first obtain the Court of Appeal’s permission, and the court looks at whether the material could not have been presented earlier despite reasonable effort, whether there was unexplained delay, and whether the application has a reasonable chance of success.7Ministry of Law. Operationalisation of the Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act 2022 Prisoners previously found to have abused the process face an even higher barrier, cleared only by genuinely new evidence.8Singapore Statutes Online. Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act 2022
The last avenue is a clemency petition to the President under Article 22P of the Constitution. The President does not decide alone. The Constitution requires action on the advice of the Cabinet, which considers the case with input from the Attorney-General, and if the Cabinet advises against clemency, the death warrant is signed.9Singapore Statutes Online. Constitution of the Republic of Singapore The last known commutation was in 1998, when President Ong Teng Cheong granted clemency to Mathavakannan Kalimuthu. No publicly reported clemency has been granted since.
How the Hanging Is Carried Out
Singapore uses the long drop method. The rope length is calculated against the prisoner’s weight so that the drop dislocates the cervical vertebrae and damages the spinal cord, intended to break the neck and cause near-instantaneous loss of consciousness. A medical officer must be present to certify death.
Executions are held at the Changi Prison Complex, in Institution A1, where death row prisoners are housed. Hangings take place shortly before dawn on Fridays, a schedule that has held for decades. The prisoner is given at least seven days’ total notice to settle their affairs before the scheduled date.
What the Family Is Told and Given
Families receive notice on the same timeframe as the prisoner. Visitation is expanded during the final days to allow daily contact, but visits take place behind a glass partition, so physical touch is not permitted in those last meetings.
In the days before the execution, the family is asked to bring sets of civilian clothing to the prison for a final photo session, and the photographs are given to the family afterward. Once the sentence has been carried out, the family may claim the body for funeral or cremation. If no one claims the remains, the state arranges disposal.
The Pace of Executions Now
Executions have accelerated. Eleven people were hanged in 2023, nine in 2024, and 17 in 2025. In the first months of 2026 alone, eight people were executed for drug offenses, nearly all of the recent cases being drug trafficking rather than murder or firearms.2Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Singapore: Turk Alarmed by Increase in Drug-Related Executions, Calls for Moratorium
In April 2026, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called for an immediate moratorium, described the death penalty as an “inhuman practice,” and said drug offenses not involving loss of life do not meet the international legal standard of “most serious crimes” that could justify capital punishment. Singapore is one of only a handful of countries that still executes people for drug offenses where no one was killed. The government has consistently rejected the criticism, arguing that the death penalty deters trafficking through a small country that sits on major drug routes, and that the policy reflects the will of its citizens.