Chapter 3 - Report of the Research and Policy Development Group The final pleading competition was held on 10 December to commemorate World Human Rights Day. Twelve students from six universities were involved. The judges were Commissioner Detta Samen, Bar Council representative Ms Usha Kulasegaran and EU Delegation representative Mr Ivo Apostolov. The students were judged on their ability to reflect the relevant international human rights principles and standards in their legal and rhetoric arguments. The IIUM team won the competition. The judges for the final pleading competition – (from left) Mr Ivo Apostolov, Ms Usha Kulasegaran and Commissioner Detta Samen (c) Proposed Review of Death Penalty for Drug Offences The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, announced on 20 October that the Government is proposing to review the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking. This will allow the court the liberty and discretion to determine punishment based on the gravity of the offence in each case.13 The Commission welcomes this. It also calls upon the Government to review the relevance and effectiveness of capital punishment for other criminal offences and to join 140 UN Member-States in abolishing the death penalty. The Commission expresses its readiness to be involved in consultations on the required legislative reform. 13 On 9 July 2012, the Government of Singapore announced its proposal to make the death penalty for drug trafficking no longer mandatory but to be imposed at the discretion of the courts, if two conditions are met. First, the traffickers must have only played the role of courier and must not have been involved in any other activity related to supply or distribution of drugs. Secondly, discretion will only apply if having satisfied this first requirement, either the trafficker has cooperated with the Central Narcotics Bureau in a substantive way or he has a mental disability which substantially impairs his appreciation of the gravity of the act. See speech by Mr Teo Chee Hean, DPM and Home Affairs Minister, ‘Enhancing Our Drug Control Framework and Review of the Death Penalty’ 87