Separation from one’s own family can be painful, so we can only imagine the kind of feelings death row inmates and their families harbour as they face the reality of being separated forever.
Such is the case for a 9-year-old girl who has been waiting for about seven to eight years—and still is—in hopes to reunite with her father who is on death row on drug offences.
Daughter of Death Row Inmate Says She Misses Her Father
According to the Transformative Justice Collective page, which seeks reform on the death penalty in Singapore, the girl had written a letter to President Halimah Yacob to ask her to grant her father clemency.
Image source: Facebook
Missing her father dearly, the 9-year-old wrote in her letter that her yearly birthday wish is for her father to be released from prison and return home on her next birthday.
Her wish has yet to materialise, however, despite waiting for seven to eight years now.
The 9-year-old wrote that she made the same wish while celebrating the Mid-autumn festival last month on 1 October. Accompanied by two friends, the trio went for a walk around Petir Park in Bukit Panjang while holding on to their lanterns.
They later made a stop near a bush to make a wish and left their lanterns behind.
When the girl returned the next day to check on her lantern, she realised that it was no longer there. Her friends’ lanterns, however, remained. With that, she wondered if “Allah heard [her]?”
A heartfelt plea from daughter of death row inmate to President Halimah Yacob. | Image source: Facebook/Transformative Justice Collective
In the rest of the 9-year-old’s letter, she details the interactions with her father when she visits him in prison.
“What [sports] and music did you choose,” her father would ask. When he asked if she prayed, she responded saying that she prayed for him.
The girl mentions that she has always been interested in the stories her father shares, and would sometimes cry after visiting him in prison.
She would also beg for her father’s release from prison while lying on her bed, crying.
“[Please] let my father out [as] I miss him too much,” she wrote in her plea to President Halimah. “I need him.”
Image source: Facebook/Transformative Justice Collective
According to the post, the girl’s father clemency petition to President Halimah Yacob has been filed.
While not many have been successfully granted an appeal, those who manage to do so can get their death sentence reduced to life imprisonment.
And at least if that happens, this young child will still be able to meet with her father rather than being separated for life.
Lead image source: Facebook/Halimah Yacob, Facebook/TJCSingapore
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