Richard Branson

The entrepreneur is a long campaigner against capital punishment and was invited for a debate which would also cover the nation's approach to drugs.

In a blog post about his decision to turn down the TV debate, Branson said: "I have decided to decline this invitation. History has proven him right, time and again." He said the "conversation needs local voices" and he was a "global advocate for abolition of the death penalty" and would "continue to raise the issue wherever I can, as I have for many years". Branson added that imposing the death penalty for drugs offences was a "disproportionate and ineffective response to the world's drug problems". The British entrepreneur said he has "enormous respect" for the country and it was because of this that he feels "compelled to speak out" when he sees things "go horribly wrong as Singapore's use of the death penalty". [Branson](http://news.sky.com/topic/richard-branson-7594) said the discussion "cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service" and called on [Singapore](https://news.sky.com/topic/singapore-6972) to embrace a "constructive, lasting dialogue involving multiple stakeholders".

British entrepreneur Richard Branson declined an invitation from the Singapore government to attend a debate over death penalty.

Several activists have criticised the government for taking a hard stance on the topic and said that the invitation to Branson was a “diversion tactic”. British entrepreneur Richard Branson declined an invitation from the Singapore government to attend a debate over death penalty. Branson has spoken out against the Singapore government since the hanging took place in April this year and the country’s interior ministry extended the invitation for a public debate.

Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur, has declined to participate in a live television discussion, stating that the government should instead connect ...

It is unable to handle the complexities of the death penalty. The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). It lowers complex communication to catchphrases while elevating the substantive discussion to the level of spectacle. He was a Malaysian man with a cognitive handicap. He had been on death row for over a decade, trying to sneak 42.72g of heroin into Singapore. According to a report by AFP, call it a space race for billionaires: British mogul Richard Branson one-upped rival Jeff Bezos on July 1, announcing that he too will blast beyond Earth's atmosphere -- as many as nine days ahead of the Amazon founder.

Singapore had invited Richard Branson to a live TV debate after he criticised the city state's death penalty as brutal.

“A television debate – limited in time and scope, always at risk of prioritising personalities over issues – cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service,” he said. Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-narcotics laws and insists the death penalty remains an effective deterrent against trafficking. The ministry rejected Branson’s comments, saying it did not accept that anyone in the West was “entitled to impose their values on other societies”. He added that abolition of the death penalty was not a “Western concept imposed on the rest of the world”. “It reduces nuanced discourse to soundbites, turns serious debate into spectacle. [execute a Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking](/news/2022/4/27/holdnagaenthran-hanged-at-dawn-in-singapore) in April, said on Monday that a televised live debate “cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service”.