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A 26-year-old Indonesian man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and nine strokes of the cane for illegally entering Singapore by swimming, local media reported.
singapore outlet channel news asia They identified the man only by his first name, Brick, and reported that he approached Singapore in June 2023 in a small boat called a sampan.
The boat departed from the Indonesian island of Batam, about 13 miles south of Singapore, and Brick then jumped into the sea and swam to shore, CNA reported, citing details given at the sentencing.
According to CNA, this is Mr Brick’s fifth illegal entry into Singapore since 2017, and his previous offenses have resulted in a total of 25 lashes and a 50-month prison sentence. Taking into account his latest sentence, the total rises to 34 canings and 68 months in prison.
According to CNA, local immigration authorities arrested Brick in March and told the court that he did not have travel documents to show that he entered the country legally. This means he has been in Singapore illegally for about nine months.
In court, Brik asked for leniency in Indonesian because she was working to support her family and her mother is currently ill, according to the newspaper.
But CNA reported that the presiding judge said Brick’s repeated violations warranted harsher punishment.
The Singapore Immigration Department, which prosecuted Brick’s case, did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment. The Indonesian embassy in Singapore did not immediately respond to a similar request.
Judicial flogging in Singapore is a form of corporal punishment inflicted on male offenders under the age of 50. The punishment, often combined with a prison sentence, is carried out by trained staff using a special four-foot wicker cane. length.
Staff are trained to spank offenders’ naked buttocks, and the caning is extremely painful and can leave scars. A criminal can receive up to 24 blows in one trial.
The controversial practice of flogging in Singapore attracted international attention in 1994. Michael Fay, a 19-year-old US citizen He was given six strokes with the cane for damaging property. Ms Fay later said local police forced her to confess that she had spray-painted the car, an allegation denied by the Singaporean government.
Defenders of caning argue that it acts not only as a deterrent but also as a means of making criminals think twice before repeating their crimes. In 2022, then Singapore President Halimah Yacob said: Caning regulations should be reviewed This is because rapists in serious cases could avoid the death penalty by being over 50 years old.
Singapore also supports the strict death penalty for those caught trafficking in controlled substances such as marijuana and methamphetamine.