A Malaysian man in Singapore accused of drug trafficking in a developing country escaped the death penalty twice.
The 32-year-old defendant, Gobi Avedian, was charged with smuggling 40.22 grams of heroin there on December 11, 2014, originally facing the death penalty. However, the High Court replaced “attempt to transport drugs” with the charge in 2017, allowing him to escape death.
However, the Court of Appeal overturned the original sentence after the prosecution appealed and convicted him based on the original charge. But the defense refused to accept the verdict and appealed to the Court of Appeal.
The Fifth Division of the Court of Appeal (October 19) ruled that the defendant’s appeal was straightforward, and the defendant was convicted of attempting to transport drugs and sentenced to 15 years in jail, plus 10 lashes. The sentence begins on the day the defendant was detained.