Singapore hangs drug trafficker
Singapore hanged a drug trafficker on Friday, the fifth execution in the city-state since March, after a court rejected a last-ditch appeal and despite pleas for clemency. On Friday, Singaporean man Nazeri Lajim was executed in prison, the prisons service said in a statement to AFP. The 64-year-old was convicted in 2017 of possessing over 33 grams of heroin "for the purpose of trafficking", Singapore's drug enforcement agency said. This was enough "to feed the addiction of about 400 abusers for a week", it added. An appeals court on Thursday rejected a last-gasp plea, in which Nazeri appeared via video link, to stay the execution. Prominent local rights campaigner Kirsten Han told AFP that Nazeri had spent most of his life struggling with drug dependency, starting from the age of 14. (AFP)