Singapore awards death sentence via Zoom video call
A man in Singapore was awarded death sentence via a Zoom video-call for the crime involving a drug deal, the city-state’s first case where capital punishment has been delivered remotely.The convict, Punithan Genasan, a 37-year-old Malaysian, got the death penalty for his role in a 2011 heroin transaction on Friday, court documents showed, with the country under lockdown to try and curb one of the highest coronavirus rates in Asia.“For the safety of all involved in the proceedings, the hearing for Public Prosecutor v Punithan A/L Genasan was conducted by video-conferencing,” a spokesperson for Singapore’s Supreme Court said in response to Reuters’ questions, citing restrictions imposed to minimize virus spread.It was the first criminal case where a death sentence was pronounced by remote h