Thursday, July 27, 2006

The man I want to execute me, if it comes to that

Darshan Singh is the chief hangman of Singapore.

Darshan Singh commenced his post as the hangman for the British colonial service in 1959 upon the retirement of the previous hangman, Mr Seymour. Singh has wanted to resign, but there has been trouble finding a suitable replacement.

He has hanged more than 850 condemned prisoners throughout his career, and carries the distinction of being the only hangman to have hanged 18 people in one day (3 at a time). He receives a payment of S$400 (US$312) per execution performed. He also had the distinction of being the fastest hangman for carrying out 7 hangings within 90 minutes.

He has the job of speaking the last words to every person condemned to hang which are:

"I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you."

He is a Muslim, having converted from Sikhism when he married his Malay wife. He believes that the death penalty provides "complete rehabilitation":

"I'm changing their character to a different one because I believe in rebirth and they will be better men next time."

He refers to the Official Table of Drops as a part of his line of work.

His first marriage ended when his wife found out about his occupation. He is currently married to a second wife and has three adopted children.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darshan_Singh

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