The Defence

Speaking in an interview, founder of The Online Citizen, Andrew Loh, who has written about the case extensively and is working closely with Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC) said the punishment was not constitutional.

“It is not in accordance to the Singaporean constitution,” he said citing one of his articles published on March 28 on the news blog:

Lawyer Madasamy Ravi, who is acting for Yong Vui Kong, the Malaysian who was sentenced to death for drug trafficking, made an impassioned plea in the hearing of 15 March 2010 at the Court of Appeal.

Ravi’s case centered on the argument that the sentence of mandatory death under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) is unconstitutional and runs against international customary laws.

In his submissions, Ravi argued that the mandatory death penalty for trafficking in 15g or more of diamorphine is inconsistent with Article 9(1) of the Singapore Constitution which states that: “No person shall be deprived of his life… save in accordance with the law.”

Ravi argued that the provisions in the MDA failed “to afford fundamental rights of due process in the imposition of the death sentence”, that it results in “grossly disproportionate penalties”, and that the MDA, which allowed for “punishment that is cruel, inhuman and/or degrading”, is prohibited by international customary law and is inconsistent with Article 9(1) of the Constitution.

Ravi speaks on the case

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/12/m-ravi-speaks-on-death-penalty/

Full story
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/03/yong-vui-kong-the-defences-argument/