By Christian Edwards, CNN
British businessman Richard Branson has rejected the Singapore government’s invitation to participate in a live televised debate on the death penalty.
Branson, a veteran anti-death penalty activist, had criticized Singapore in April this year for executing 33-year-old Nagaenthran Dharmalingam for drug trafficking.
In a blog post at the time, Branson said the news was “heartbreaking” and opposed Singapore’s “relentless death machine. “
Branson doubled down on another Oct. 10 article. No tangible effect on drug use, crime or public safety,” he wrote.
In response to the criticism, the Singapore government said it had invited Branson to Singapore to discuss his anti-drug technique and capital punishment with Home Secretary K. Shanmugam.
“Mr. Branson can use this platform to demonstrate to Singaporeans the error of our tactics and why Singapore deserves to remove legislation that has protected our other people from the global scourge of drug addiction,” the government said Oct. 22.
“We are not satisfied that Mr. Branson or others in the West have the right to impose their values on other societies,” he continued. “Nor do we believe that a country that fought two wars in China in the nineteenth century to force the Chinese to settle for opium imports has an ethical right to lecture Asians about drugs. “
Branson declined the invitation to debate Sunday.
In an open letter on his blog, Branson said televised debates “always threaten to prioritize personalities over issues” and “could not help the complexity of the death penalty. “
“It reduces nuanced speech to sound clips, turns a debate into a spectacle,” he added.
He also argued that “local voices” would be more valuable than his own. Local activists criticized the invitation to the televised debate more as an exposing gimmick than as a meaningful attempt to have an interaction on the issue.
“What Singapore wants is a constructive and sustained discussion involving multiple stakeholders and a genuine commitment to transparency and evidence,” Branson continued.
He rejected the claim that he is imposing Western values on Singapore and said the factor is “universal human rights. “
The United Nations has stated that the death penalty “is not compatible with the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading remedies or punishment. “
Branson is not the only user opposing Nagaenthran’s execution.
The Malaysian boy arrested in 2009 for trafficking 42 grams of heroin in Singapore. He had been on death row since 2010 and was hanged in April this year, despite foreign pleas for clemency.
Nagaenthran’s case was widely criticized because one doctor rated an IQ of 69, a point indicating an intellectual disability. But a Singapore court ruled he was not disabled and legalized his execution, sparking a wave of protests.
The government argues that “capital punishment has had a transparent deterrent effect on drug traffickers in Singapore. “
El-CNN-Wire™
CNN’s Heather Chen contributed to this report.
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