Darshan Singh

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Darshan Singh (born 1932) is the chief hangman of Singapore.

Darshan Singh commenced his post as the hangman for the British colonial service in 1959 upon the retirement of the previous hangman, Mr Seymour. Singh has wanted to resign, but there has been trouble finding a suitable replacement.

He has hanged more than 850 condemned prisoners throughout his career, and carries the distinction of being the only hangman to have hanged 18 people in one day (3 at a time). He receives a payment of S$400 (US$281) per execution performed. He also had the distinction of being the fastest hangman for carrying out 7 hangings within 90 minutes.

He had the job of speaking the last words to every person condemned to hang which were:

"I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you."

He is a Muslim, having converted from Sikhism when he married his Malay wife. He believes that the death penalty provides "complete rehabilitation":

"I'm changing their character to a different one because I believe in rebirth and they will be better men next time." (Note that Islam does not include a belief in rebirth.)

He refers to the Official Table of Drops as a part of his line of work.

His first marriage ended when his wife found out about his occupation. He is currently married to a second wife and has three adopted children.

[edit] Van Tuong Nguyen controversy

In November 2005 his identity was publicly revealed in an Australian newspaper, prior to the scheduled controversial execution of Vietnamese Australian Van Tuong Nguyen. This led to reports that he had been fired, which were later denied by Singapore's prison officials. He was called at 6:00 a.m. SGT on the date of Nguyen's execution and picked up the phone at his residence only to say he wasn't called upon to do the job. Some sources reported the possibility that an executioner was brought in from nearby Malaysia.

In an interview before Nguyen's hanging, Singh said:

"With me, [the prisoners] don't struggle, If [the executioner is] a raw guy, they will struggle like chickens, like fish out of the water."

In response to this, the Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that:

"I don't think the executioner is qualified to give useful advice, I think he seems to have found great appeal in making a spectacle of himself in the media. And I tell you that's completely inappropriate … [and] I don't want to hear from him again."

According to a report by The New Paper on 30 November 2005, Singh was tricked into giving the interview when two reporters claiming to be acquaintances of a close friend turned up at his Marsiling Road flat. Singh also said that his picture was taken without his knowledge and approval. [1]

[edit] References


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