Singapore Refuses To Delay Hanging Maid

A Filipino maid convicted of a double murder will be executed as scheduled, Singapore said Wednesday, despite a plea from the Philippine president for a delay to examine purported new evidence.

Flor Contemplacion, 42, was sentenced to death last April and is scheduled to hang on Friday. The death penalty is mandatory for murder in Singapore.

Her case has focused new attention on Singapore’s strict legal system and revived a longstanding debate in the Philippines about alleged mistreatment of Filipinos working abroad in low-paying jobs.

A defense lawyer charges Contemplacion’s confession to the 1991 murders of another maid and a 5-year-old boy was coerced and that new evidence suggests she may have been framed.