Conflict of Interest in the Death Penalty Execution of Tangaraju s/o Suppiah

Last week, on 26 April 2023 (Wednesday), a 46-year-old man Tangaraju s/o Suppiah, who had been charged for involvement in drug trafficking in February 2014, was executed via the death penalty in Singapore.

On 27 April 2023 (Thursday), MalaysiaNow published an article titled: 'Lawyer shocked over conflict of interest involving Singapore judge who heard executed man's final appeal'. The MalaysiaNow article states:

"A prominent Singapore lawyer has pointed out a serious conflict of interest in the final appeal hearing of Tangaraju Suppiah, the 46-year-old who was hanged early yesterday despite international protest over the city-state's judicial system.

M Ravi expressed shock after discovering that the judge who heard Tangaraju's case in the appeals court was also the attorney-general when he was first charged with the offence of trafficking cannabis in 2014.

"The correct procedure should be for judge Steven Chong to disqualify himself from hearing the case on Tuesday. The AG should have pointed this out in the first place on Tuesday.

"Alternatively, Steven ought to have asked Tangaraju if Tangaraju had any objection to having Steven hear the case," Ravi said.

Tangaraju was not represented at the final hearing a day before his execution.

Ravi said such a conflict of interest would have been raised had Tangaraju been represented by a counsel.

"This is a travesty of justice. This is precisely the reason why a lawyer needs to be present at all stages.

"It is tragic not only that Tangaraju had no counsel but also that he did not even have a hearing where Steven dismissed the case summarily on Tuesday. We need answers," said Ravi, a strong critic of the Singapore government who has handled of scores of death row cases.

He added that even if Tangaraju had agreed to the judge presiding over his case, the judge should still disqualify himself as it was the best practice.

"Justice hurried is justice buried. Give us Tangaraju back, can you?" he added."

In the evening of 30 April 2023 (Sunday), several groups of police officers showed up at Harvey's front door. The police referred Harvey to two Instagram posts about Tangaraju s/o Suppiah's execution that she had published on 29 April 2023 and 30 April 2023 respectively:

The police told Harvey that her Instagram stories constituted a national security threat, and that they were looking to charge her under Section 121A or Section 506 of the Penal Code.

At one point, the police tried to convince Carissa and Joyce, who were with Harvey at the material time, to hand the flat keys over to the police, so that the police could let themselves in. The police also claimed that they might otherwise have to resort to a forced entry.

According to Harvey's recount of what happened, as published on Charles Yeo's Instagram page:

"Investigation Officer Mr Tan Yong Yuan of Tanglin Police Divisional Headquarters, backed by multiple plainclothes police officers from Jurong Police Division, visited my verandah, demanded first to be let inside, and were refused (with me providing my long statement at the doorstep).

The Jurong Police Division officers, led by an Investigation Officer Ms Ying, then demanded that I go back with them to the police station last night; but after 3 people (including myself) repeated to the police ~12 times that I am not able to leave the house immediately to go out, but rather require 3 days' advance notice to take a bath and otherwise prepare to travel anywhere, (and this does not magically change regardless of which authority or other asshole is demanding immediate attendance), I have been given an appointment 2 days later on Wednesday 3 May 2023 at 4:00pm at Jurong Police Divisional Headquarters for further questioning.

I am thus under investigation for the offense under Penal Code § 121A of Offenses Against The President, and might potentially be charged with the same on Wednesday, although I only stated that the President deserves to be hanged, but I had been deliberately careful not to express any intention...

The six IOs showed up and remained on my verandah, the up to 9 uniformed officers showed up on my verandah but thereafter went back to the Void Deck.

The SOCom [Special Operations Command] tactical vehicle was seen by neighbors and mentioned to me as such, but I did not directly see the SOCom vehicle as it was said to have been parked in the drive-through under my block."

Harvey posted the following Instagram story to document this incident:

Harvey, Carissa and Joyce were ultimately able to de-escalate the situation. Joyce has also since tweeted about this.

Harvey is due to go down to Jurong Police Division Headquarters tomorrow on 3 May 2023 (Wednesday) for an interview at 4pm. We note that Harvey's two Instagram stories do not actually contain or express any threat or such intent.