Spared the Gallows
March 28, 2002
A German student behind bars in Singapore on suspicion of drug-dealing will not face the death penalty after all, her lawyer said on Thursday.
Julia Bohl has been jailed for the past two weeks after an estimated 687 grams of cannabis, 60 pills of ecstasy and several designer drugs were found in the apartment she shared with her boyfriend. Suspected drug dealing is punishable by death in Singapore, which has among the highest execution rates in the world.
Bohl, 23, was spared the gallows after tests revealed this week that the amount of pure cannabis in the stash seized was below 500 grams. The technicality means Bohl faces a jail sentence of 5 to 20 years instead of execution.
The news was a welcome relief to Bohl’s parents, who flew in from Germany, and a host of diplomats and anti-death penalty activists, who had plead for mercy in Bohl's case with Singapore’s government.
The student at a Singapore German school still faces a 20,000 Singapore dollar (12,000 euro) fine and a 10-year prison sentence after traces of the drug Ketamin were found in her body. Bohl emerged from the court room on Tuesday in handcuffs and looking grim, according to wire reports. She will most likely stay in jail until April 11, when bail is likely to be granted.
Her parents were nevertheless thankful.
"We want to thank all the people who prayed for us and continue to pray for us," said her father Wolfgang Bohl.
The death penalty is mandatory in Singapore for murder, drug trafficking, certain firearms offenses and treason, according to Amnesty International. Of the 340 people executed in Singapore between 1991 and 2001, more than 200 of them were for drug dealing, according to reports.