In her patterned outfit, Nazeri Lajim smiles broadly at the camera, raising her fingers to form a hippie-style “V”. Nothing suggests that he is about to take the green line towards the scaffold.
Nazira carefully keeps the file in the memory of her phone, and hers. One of the last photos of his brother, executed at 64 in Changi Prison, Singapore.
“When I see his photo, I see a healthy man, he is a really handsome man… his face is radiant,” Nazira Lajim Hertslet told AFP. “I was really upset (…) by the fact that he was carried away like that”.
In the Asian city-state, we risk the death penalty for a slew of crimes, from murder to certain cases of kidnapping, through drug trafficking. A little over half a kilo of cannabis can be enough.
After two years, the government resumed executions in the spring of 2022. Thirteen people have since been hanged.
In Singapore, it is customary to take pictures of death row inmates one last time. These disastrous “shootings”, to which the guards can bring some minor decorations, were born in the 90s. A final look at the put to death.
Most often, they are posed against a pale green floral background, which clashes with the seriousness of the moment.
The Singapore Prisons Service explains that this is a voluntary program, the objective of which is “to allow families to have recent photos of their loved one”.
The families in question are mixed.
“In fact, I think it’s quite cruel to do such a thing,” said Nazira Lajim Hertslet. “But at least we have his last photo as a souvenir.”
Nazeri was hanged last year for trafficking heroin, 33 grams.
In Nazira’s favorite photo, he is wearing a qamis, a Muslim prayer robe, his two hands crossed in front of him, staring straight at the camera.
Little information on death row inmates in Singapore is publicly available, even in official documents.
The Transformative Justice Collective estimates that there are approximately 53 inmates awaiting execution in the city-state, mostly for drug-related crimes.
Usually, authorities notify them — and their families — of the date a week in advance.
During this time, detainees can receive daily visits but only behind glass, as physical contact is prohibited, according to the CJT.
They can also call on “spiritual advisers”.
According to Kokila Annamalai, a member of the CJT, the photo shoots are an attempt to apply a “veneer of thoughtfulness” to the executions.
Convicts are entitled to all poses and can wear a garment that counts for a loved one, she explains.
“So I think the photos are kind of like love letters to them.”
Human rights groups like Amnesty International have long urged Singapore to abolish the death penalty, but the government insists it is a deterrent.
In April, Tangaraju Suppiah, a 46-year-old citizen, was hanged for attempting to trade in a kilogram of cannabis. In France, the penalty for this quantity is a maximum of three years in prison.
“Every night I cry thinking of him,” his sister Leelavathy told AFP.
Her brother had initially refused the photo shoot, but changed his mind about his family.
Leelavathy framed a snap of Tangaraju: he smiles, forming a heart with his fingers.
“I’m very happy when I see the photos. At least he’s there in the pictures,” she says.
“It’s the photo that everyone in the family likes, because he’s smiling.”
She wonders what thoughts crossed her brother’s mind as he saw his sentence approaching.
“They know they’re going to die. It’s cruel, you know?”
For his last photos, Kalwant Singh’s family had brought him a pair of white sneakers. He wore them with a t-shirt, sweatpants, and a broad smile.
Before that, he ran as much as possible with his new shoes on his feet. Thirty minutes to enjoy his last gift, inside the prison, says his sister, Sonia Tarlochan Kaur.
Kalwant Singh was executed in 2022, aged 31, for trafficking heroin.
Sonia can’t look at the final photos of him.
“They could have given me just thirty minutes so that I could squeeze him hard.”
05/07/2023 08:42:10 – Singapore (AFP) – © 2023 AFP