Branson goes to bat for death-row inmate

British tycoon Richard Branson yesterday urged Singapore to halt the imminent execution of a man sentenced to death over one kilogram of cannabis, saying it "may be about to kill an innocent man."

Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, is scheduled to be hanged tomorrow.

"Tangaraju was actually not anywhere near these drugs at the time of his arrest," Branson, a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said.

"Killing those at the lowest rungs of the illicit drug supply chain is hardly effective in curbing an international trade worth hundreds of billions every year."

"Singapore is an otherwise wonderful country, so it's very sad to see some of its policies harking back to colonialism, and even reminiscent of medieval times."

In many parts of the world - including Thailand - cannabis has been decriminalized so rights groups have been putting pressure on Singapore to abolish capital punishment.

Tangaraju was convicted in 2017 of "abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic" 1,017.9 grams of cannabis, twice the minimum amount that merits the death sentence.