KUALA LUMPUR – Singapore has sentenced a drug suspect to death on the popular videoconferencing app Zoom because of the city-state's coronavirus lockdown, in a move slammed by a human rights group as callous and inhumane.
Defense lawyer Peter Fernando said the Supreme Court announced the penalty to his client, Punithan Genasan from Malaysia, in a virtual hearing Friday.
Genasan was in jail, while Fernando and prosecutors participated in the hearing from different locations. A Supreme Court spokesperson said courts have been conducting hearings and delivering judgments remotely to minimize the spread of the virus.