SINGAPORE RELENTS ON DEATH PENALTY

F.A.Z. SINGAPORE. The prospect of the death penalty was lifted from over a
young German woman's head when the drug trafficking charges against her
were reduced in pretrial court proceedings here on Thursday.

But prosecutors broadened other trafficking and possession charges so that
Julia Suzanne Bohl, 22, like three alleged local accomplices, still faces a
potential maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison.

The case again highlighted this island republic's exceptionally harsh drug
laws. The original charge against Ms. Bohl, who is accused of belonging to
a ring that supplied drugs to local bars and nightclubs, was for dealing in
687 grams (24.2 ounces) of marijuana -- an offense for which capital
punishment is compulsory in Singapore but which might result in only a fine
or probation in some Western countries.

Singapore has executed some 100 people since 1975 for drug offenses. Only
one was a westerner, a Dutchman hanged in 1994 after he was caught with 4.5
kilograms of heroin.

The court said the reduced charges against Ms. Bohl, the child of
expatriate parents who spent most of her teenage years in Singapore, and
her fellow defendants was justified by tests which showed the drugs seized
in the case were less pure than previously thought. For legal purposes the
cannabis amounted to only 287 grams -- under the 500-gram level which makes
capital punishment mandatory, the court said.

Ms. Bohl's lawyer said there were no immediate plans to meet bail of
150,000 Singapore dollars ($82,400).