Overview
- President Tharman, on Cabinet advice, commuted Tristan Tan Yi Rui’s death sentence to life imprisonment on August 14, with the term backdated to his September 27, 2018 arrest.
- The commutation represents the first known pardon of a death-row inmate in Singapore since 1998, highlighting the rarity of executive clemency under the city-state’s strict drug laws.
- Tan was convicted in 2023 for trafficking at least 337.6 grams of methamphetamine under the statutory presumption that possession of over 25 grams constitutes trafficking, a sentence upheld by the Court of Appeal.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs said Cabinet found the original death sentence legally sound but recommended clemency to reduce sentencing disparity with another person arrested in the same Central Narcotics Bureau raid.
- Under Singapore’s Constitution, the President may commute capital sentences to imprisonment on Cabinet advice, though such powers are seldom exercised.