Singapore police officials [official website] on Friday announced [press release] the hanging death of Jabing Kho, hours after the High Court of Singapore [official website] denied his final appeal for clemency. Jabing was sentenced to death in 2010 for his part in the murder of a construction worker he assaulted with a piece of wood. He had exhausted multiple appeals and even temporarily had his death sentence set aside before his execution on Friday. According to the press release:

Jabing subsequently applied to the Court of Appeal to review its earlier decision. On 5 April 2016, the Court of Appeal dismissed the application. On 18 May 2016, Jabing filed a criminal motion to the Court of Appeal for a stay of execution. On 19 May 2016, the Court of the Appeal dismissed the application. On the same day, Jabing filed another legal challenge and applied for a stay of execution of the sentence so that the legal challenge could be heard. The application for a stay was heard and dismissed by the High Court on the same day. Jabing further appealed against the High Court’s dismissal of the stay application. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on 20 May 2016, commenting that the arguments in the legal challenge were unmeritorious in any event. He was represented by counsel throughout the legal process.

Singapore amended [ABC News report] its death penalty laws in 2012, making the death sentence no longer mandatory for murder or drug trafficking.

Capital punishment [JURIST op-ed] remains a controversial issue in the US and worldwide. A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday condemned [JURIST report] Iranian authorities for the sentencing of Nargis Mohammadi, an anti-death penalty activist. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Thursday welcomed [JURIST report] the measures being taken by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to prevent the use of its drugs in state-sponsored execution by lethal injection. UN human rights experts expressed [JURIST report] grave concern earlier this month over Belarus’ death penalty practices after reports surfaced that a man was executed while his case was before the UN Human Rights Committee.