DEATH FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
Dateline: Singapore

IN SINGAPORE, THE METHOD OF EXECUTION IS....

No 'dramatic escalation' in death penalty; only 10 executions so far this year

There has not been a "dramatic escalation" in the use of the death penalty in Singapore.

As of Thursday, there were just 10 people who had been executed this year, said the Press Secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, in a statement released on Thursday.

"We had pointed out earlier that the figure was 28 in 2002, 27 in 2001 and 21 in 2000. There has not been a "dramatic escalation" in the use of the death penalty in Singapore, as reported by some media organisations," the statement said.

Media interest on the issue arose after Mr Goh said in a television interview on Tuesday that up to 80 people had been executed in the first nine months of this year.

Clarifying on this remark which was made on BBC's HARDtalk programme, the Press Secretary said: "When the Prime Minister used the figure "70-80" in the BBC interview with Mr Tim Sebastian, broadcast on 23 September 2003, he had said that he did not know the precise number and that the figure needed to be checked and corrected."

Singapore carries out the death penalty by hanging.