Teenager to appeal for clemency on Singapore caning
Teenager to appeal for clemency on Singapore caning
SINGAPORE (Reuter): An American teenager sentenced to caning and imprisonment in Singapore for vandalism will appeal to President Ong Teng Cheong for clemency this week, his lawyer said yesterday.
Lawyer Dominic Nagulendran said Michael Peter Fay's stepfather and mother also plan to appeal to Ong for clemency, citing their son's mental health.
Caning was likely to be carried out within a few days if the president rejects the appeal, Nagulendran said.
Fay, 18, was sentenced to six strokes of the cane, four months in jail and a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,000) for spray-painting cars. U.S. President Bill Clinton has called the sentence extreme but the Singapore government says it will not intervene.
Chief Justice Yong Pung How rejected Fay's appeal against the sentence on Thursday, saying the youth had committed at least 16 acts of vandalism over 10 days.
Caning was criticized in a U.S. State Department human-rights report last year. But Singapore defends it as needed to stop the country from becoming crime-ridden like New York.
According to government figures, 12 Singaporeans and two foreigners aged 18 to 21 have been caned for vandalism since 1989. Offenders are normally permanently scarred.
Fay's father, George, told Reuters in the United States on Sunday he would seek to have the International Committee of the Red Cross attend his son's caning to document what he called "a case of torture."
A Prisons Department official said caning was carried out by a prison officer with a doctor and the prison superintendent present. He declined comment on whether the government would allow anyone else to be present.
Two charges
Fay, who has lived in Singapore with his mother and stepfather since 1992, pleaded guilty to two charges of vandalism involving spray-painting cars, two of mischief for throwing eggs at cars and one of retaining stolen property. He was among nine students arrested in September for spraying red paint on parked cars and other acts of mischief.
The juvenile court will today consider a report on a 15-year- old Malaysian to decide whether he should be put on probation. The court said last month it did not have the power to grant a prosecution request for a caning sentence because the defendant was a minor.
Shiu Chi Ho, a 16-year-old from Hong Kong, has pleaded not guilty in adult court to four vandalism charges. He could face caning if convicted.
Charges against three of the nine accused, including another American, were dropped. An Australian charged with vandalism has jumped bail and fled the country.
Vandalism charges against 16-year-old American Stephen Freehill and a Malaysian minor will come up for a hearing at the end of this month.