Anthony Albanese will meet with Singapore’s prime minster Lawrence Wong today, as part of the latter’s three day tour of Australia and the annual Australia-Singapore leaders’ meeting.

Human Rights Watch say its the perfect opportunity for Albanese to raise Singapore’s capital punishment regime, given Australia adopted a strategy for the abolition of the death penalty in 2018 and pledged to advance the cause, globally.

HRW says “Singapore’s harsh capital punishment laws also “quiet diplomacy is unlikely to stop Singapore from sending more people to the gallows”.

Singaporean authorities are planning to execute a 38-year-old Malaysian national, Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, who was convicted in 2017 of trafficking drugs into Singapore. Pannir Selvam’s family was informed on October 3 that his clemency plea had been rejected and that his execution would take place just five days later.

Singapore has already executed 11 people in 2025, 9 of them for drug-related offenses. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty.

In addition, Singaporean authorities routinely target anti-death penalty activists using media censorship and anti-protest laws to stifle dissent.

Singapore’s suppression of critical voices underscores the importance of governments like Australia speaking out on the death penalty and other human rights issues in their public engagements with the city-state.