This is a summary of what some bloggers are saying about the execution of nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi.
“Tochi was only 19 years old, with not much education. Was it safe to assume that he was familiar with the ways of the world, including the drug trade and the risks involved? Could he be expected to know that different countries view drugs with different degrees of severity? How many Singaporeans at 19, educated or not, would be familiar with other offences around the world, e.g. petrol smuggling, the arms trade, transporting seditious literature or pornography, and the risks involved?” – Alex Au
“I find myself overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and waste. I tell myself: he’s a stranger, and people die by the second, why should you care so much? And then the answer comes to me, again and again – I care because not enough do. We care because if we don’t, who will? Is it not a highest form of tragedy to pass unmourned, to be surrounded, in the last hours, days, weeks, months, years of your existence, by no one who cares? And then to slip away at dawn, the faintest wraith, and to have the world turn tomorrow without you.” – Gayle Goh
“I’m absolutely speechless with anger at this! I can’t even see how PAP could do this to a
young man.” – Singapore Election Watch
“I have never opposed the death penalty in Singapore because I believe that it is a necessary evil at times. Unfortunately, I never imagined that it would be applied so mechanically. In fact, I think it has been so grossly abused. I have lost faith in the Singapore justice system. The taking of one’s life as punishment now appears to be nothing more than routine business.” – Aaron Ng
“I’m switching off my pc and going for a very long walk” – Pseudonymity
“When sentencing him, the Judge in charge of Tochi’s case admitted that there was not enough evidence to prove that Tochi knowingly brought the heroin into Singapore but because we have a mandatory death penalty, he had no choice but to sentence him to death. There are no words to describe how absurd and sickening such a situation is.” – For Sanity Sake
“This is such a efficient but inhumane and unforgiving way in executing the law…. Charissa is feeling very upset right now and words are unable to describe her feelings. The least we can do is to pray to God that he would rest in peace.” – Charissa
“‘Integrity’ I am going to have go and get my dictionary out and look that word up. Someone must have recently changed its meaning because I see no ‘integrity’ in hanging one man who, as the judge confirmed, had no idea what he was carrying and secretly executing another man without informing anyone.” – Singabloodypore
“Eventually the country may well pay for an attitude that is, to many of its immediate neighbours, cold and mercenary. Karmic consequences, after all, are an important facet of the Nigerian Iwuchukwu Tochi’s Igbo traditions. But if – or when – Singapore crumbles in the sunset of a hypothetical future it will likely be a death as swift and cold as Mr Tochi’s ever got.” – Two Steps From Twilight
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