Singapore hangs man over 1 kg of cannabis

Singapore hanged a prisoner yesterday after he was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle one kilogram of cannabis, despite rights groups decrying "many flaws" in the case.

Tangaraju Suppiah was hanged in defiance of a plea by the United Nations Human Rights Office for Singapore to "urgently reconsider" and calls by British tycoon Richard Branson to halt it.

The Asian financial hub has some of the world's toughest anti-narcotics laws and insists the death penalty remains an effective deterrent against trafficking.

"Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, had his capital sentence carried out today at Changi Prison Complex," a spokesman for the Singapore Prison Service said.