Singapore executed two African men for drug trafficking today despite pleas for clemency.
Nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi (21) was hanged at dawn in the city-state after being convicted of trafficking 727 grams of heroin - nearly 50 times the 15 grams that draws a mandatory death penalty in Singapore.
Okeke Nelson Malachy (35), who was convicted as the person to whom Iwuchukwu was supposed to deliver the drugs, was also executed.
About a dozen activists held an overnight vigil outside maximum-security Changi Prison, where the execution was carried out.
The execution was carried out despite appeals by Amnesty International, the United Nations and Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo, who asked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to commute the death sentence.
