Singapore executes Malaysian on medication fees after rejecting psychological incapacity enchantment

Individuals participate in a vigil forward of the deliberate execution of Malaysian drug trafficker, Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, exterior Singapore Excessive Fee in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain

SINGAPORE, April 27 (Reuters) – Singapore executed a Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking on Wednesday regardless of appeals for clemency on the grounds that he had an mental incapacity, his household stated, in a case that has drawn worldwide consideration.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, had been on demise row for greater than a decade for trafficking 44 grams (1.5 oz) of heroin into Singapore, which has a few of the world’s hardest narcotics legal guidelines. His attorneys had filed a number of appeals towards his execution saying he was intellectually disabled.

His brother Navin Kumar, 22, stated by phone the execution had been carried out and stated the physique could be despatched again to Malaysia the place a funeral could be held within the city of Ipoh.

A Singapore court docket on Tuesday turned down a authorized problem put ahead by Nagaenthran’s mom, clearing the best way for the execution by hanging.

On the finish of Tuesday’s listening to, Dharmalingam and his household reached by way of a spot in a glass display to understand every others’ arms tightly as they wept. His cries of “ma” might be heard across the courtroom. learn extra

Singapore authorities don’t normally touch upon executions.

About 300 individuals held a candlelight vigil at a Singapore park on Monday to protest towards the deliberate hanging.

Anti-death penalty group Reprieve in a press release described the execution as a “tragic miscarriage of justice”, but in addition stated it felt it might be a “watershed second” for opposition towards the demise penalty in Singapore.

A vigil was additionally held exterior the Singapore Excessive Fee in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday night interesting for clemency, with one protester carrying a placard studying “Singapore spare Nagaenthran the noose.”

Nagaenthran’s case attracted world consideration, with a bunch of United Nations specialists and British billionaire Richard Branson becoming a member of Malaysia’s prime minister and human rights activists to induce Singapore to commute his sentence.

His attorneys and activists have stated Nagaenthran’s IQ was discovered to be 69, a stage recognised as an mental incapacity. Nevertheless, the courts decided he knew what he was doing on the time of his crime, and dominated there was no admissible proof exhibiting any decline in his psychological situation.

The Malaysian authorities stated in a press release it revered Singapore’s authorized system, however famous it had despatched one other letter this week to ask the city-state’s authorities to rethink and commute the sentence.

Whereas Malaysia has related penalties for drug trafficking, the nation has imposed a moratorium on all executions since 2018, pending efforts to reform capital punishment legal guidelines.

“The Singapore authorities should instantly cease the present wave of executions and urgently assessment laws on using the demise penalty, with a view in the direction of abolition, in gentle of this surprising case,” Amnesty Worldwide stated in a press release.

The Singapore authorities says the demise penalty is a deterrent towards drug trafficking and most of its residents assist capital punishment. learn extra

Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore and Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur, Writing by Ed Davies; Enhancing by Stephen Coates

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.