Brish born Ye Ming Yuen, who was caned 24 times for drug trafficking. Today, the 31-year-old is at the centre of a diplomatic row between Britain and Singapore over the caning, condemned by human rights campaigners as ‘inhuman, degrading and indecent’.
On top of a 20-year sentence, he was given the maximum number of strokes a male inmate can receive. Yuen was ordered to strip naked, he had to listen to the screams of other prisoners knowing he would receive two or three times as many strokes.
When it was his turn, he was strapped to an A-frame trestle, with his naked buttocks exposed, as a series of experienced caners took turns to deliver the blows with a cane soaked in water to increase flexibility and strength.
His lawyer, M Ravi stated: ‘It must have been agonising but he told me he was able to withstand it by imagining they were being kinder to him than they could have been.
‘Every six strokes, they gave him a break and then a new caner takes over because they use all their strength in just those six strokes.
‘He told me, “I’m so relieved it’s over. Afterwards we were all lying down on a bench with blood oozing. They sprayed us with iodine and then a doctor came round giving us painkillers and antibiotics. Why cause all that pain and then offer painkillers?”