This is a list of people who died as a result of hanging , including suicides and judicial, extrajudicial, or summary executions. These deaths are notable due to history or due to media exposure.
Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term of imprisonment for certain crimes, commonly serious or violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are instituted to expedite the sentencing process and limit the possibility of irregularity of outcomes due to judicial discretion. Mandatory sentences are typically given to people who are convicted of certain serious and/or violent crimes, and require a prison sentence. Mandatory sentencing laws vary across nations; they are more prevalent in common law jurisdictions because civil law jurisdictions usually prescribe minimum and maximum sentences for every type of crime in explicit laws.
Capital punishment in Singapore is a legal penalty. Executions in Singapore are carried out by long drop hanging, and usually take place at dawn. Thirty-three offences—including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, use of firearms and kidnapping—warrant the death penalty under Singapore law.
Woo Bih Li is a Singaporean lawyer who has been serving as a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore since 2003.
Lai Kew Chai was a Singaporean judge and the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court Bench, having served for almost 25 years as a Judge.
Capital punishment in Malaysia is used as a penalty within its legal system for various crimes. There are currently 27 capital crimes in Malaysia, including murder, drug trafficking, treason, acts of terrorism, waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and, since 2007, rape resulting in death. Executions are carried out by hanging. Capital punishment was mandatory for 11 crimes for many years. In October 2018, the government imposed a moratorium on all executions with a view to repeal the death penalty altogether, before it changed its stance and agreed to keep the death penalty but would make it discretionary.
Ang Soon Tong is a secret society based in Singapore and Malaysia. According to a former police officer, the society was active as early as the 1950s, mainly in the Sembawang area. In 1998, a 19-year-old youth was arrested for setting up a website dedicated to the society.
Choo Han Teck is a Singaporean judge of the Supreme Court. He was formerly a lawyer before his appointment to the court as a judge. It was revealed in 2021 that Choo was one of the defence lawyers representing Adrian Lim, the infamous Toa Payoh child killer who was executed in 1988 for charges of murdering a girl and boy as ritual sacrifices. In 1994, Choo also defended Phua Soy Boon, a jobless Singaporean who was hanged in 1995 for killing a moneylender.
See Kee Oon is a Singaporean judge who is currently a Judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
Chan Seng Onn is a Singaporean judge who presently serves as a Senior Judge of the High Court of Singapore. Formerly a prosecutor, Chan had previously served as a High Court judge from 2007 to 2022.
Sim Ah Cheoh was a Singaporean drug trafficker of Chinese descent. She was originally sentenced to death in 1988 for the crime, for which she was arrested in 1985, and Sim's two accomplices Lim Joo Yin and Ronald Tan Chong Ngee were also arrested and received the same sentence, and like Sim, both also lost their appeals against their sentence. Subsequently, while Lim and Tan were executed on 3 April 1992, Sim was granted clemency and her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, making her the fourth person since 1959, as well as the second female and second drug convict on death row to be pardoned from execution by the President of Singapore.
Datchinamurthy a/l Kataiah is a Malaysian man who was sentenced to death in Singapore for drug trafficking. Datchinamurthy was convicted of trafficking nearly 45g of heroin across the Woodlands Checkpoint from Malaysia to Singapore in January 2011. Having been convicted of the crime and also not certified as a courier, Datchinamurthy was sentenced to death in 2015. He had a co-accused, Christeen d/o Jayamany, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the same offence.
Norasharee bin Gous was a Singaporean who was found guilty of soliciting a man named Mohamad Yazid Md Yusof to traffic 120.90g of diamorphine (heroin). Upon the courier's arrest on 23 October 2013, Norasharee was not arrested until July 2015, and he was charged with abetting and instigating Yazid to commit drug trafficking. A third co-accused, Kalwant Singh Jogindar Singh, was also arrested on the same date and venue as Yazid and charged in court for drug trafficking.
Kalwant Singh a/l Jogindar Singh was a Malaysian drug trafficker who was found guilty of having 60.15g of diamorphine (heroin) in his possession and trafficking 120.90g of the same substance. Kalwant along with another man named Mohamad Yazid Md Yusof were arrested on 23 October 2013, and the alleged mastermind Norasharee Gous was captured two years later in July 2015, and all three of them were charged with drug trafficking. It was alleged that Norasharee had told Yazid to help import the diamorphine after meeting up with Kalwant, who was to carry the drugs in Singapore to pass on to Yazid for the purpose of trafficking. Kalwant, however, denied that he had knowledge of the drugs and alleged that he was given death threats that forced him to help do the job without knowing it was drugs.
Nazeri bin Lajim, full name Nazeri bin Lajim Hertslet, was a Singaporean drug trafficker. Prior to his arrest in April 2012, Nazeri went to prison several times for drug consumption and several other drug offences, and was said to be addicted to drugs at age 14. Nazeri and his Malaysian accomplice were both brought to trial and found guilty five years later on 8 August 2017.
Life imprisonment is a legal penalty in Singapore. This sentence is applicable for more than forty offences under Singapore law, such as culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempted murder, kidnapping by ransom, criminal breach of trust by a public servant, voluntarily causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons, and trafficking of firearms, in addition to caning or a fine for certain offences that warrant life imprisonment.
Saridewi binte Djamani was a Singaporean who was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking 1 kg of drug containing 30.72g of heroin. Saridewi, who committed the offence on 17 June 2016, was arrested on the same day together with the drug courier at her HDB block in Anchorvale Road, Sengkang. Saridewi, who had a long history of drug abuse, did not deny that she sold the drugs but she stated that a majority of the heroin was meant for her own consumption while less than half of the heroin was for sale, and she only stocked up the drug supply for the fasting month Ramadan.
Yen May Woen was a Singaporean hairdresser and drug trafficker. Yen was charged with drug trafficking in May 2002 after she was caught earlier that month for carrying 120 sachets, each containing 30.16g of heroin. Yen claimed that she did not know about the drugs, which were found in a bag she claimed she got from a friend. She was found guilty in March 2003 and sentenced to death upon conviction. Yen appealed to overturn her conviction and death sentence, but it was dismissed, and she was eventually hanged on 19 March 2004. For the next 19 years, Yen remained the last woman to be executed in Singapore before Saridewi Djamani was hanged on 28 July 2023 for drug trafficking.