SINGAPORE’S top court will hear the last-ditch appeal of a Malaysian man facing execution today despite concerns he is mentally disabled, a case that has triggered international outcry.

Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the republic, which has some of the toughest drugs laws in the world, and sentenced to death the following year.

After losing several appeals during more than a decade on death row, the 34-year-old was finally scheduled to be hanged several months ago.

But the plan sparked widespread criticism due to concerns he has intellectual disabilities, with the European Union, United Nations experts and British billionaire Richard Branson among those condemning it.

Nagaenthran lodged a final legal challenge, which was delayed after he contracted Covid-19, but it will go ahead at the Court of Appeal today.

Campaigners fear chances of success are slim, and he may lose and be hanged soon afterwards, in what will be the first execution in Singapore since 2019.

Concerns are also growing that his hanging will be the first in a series in the near future, as activists believe authorities are gearing up to execute three other drug traffickers.

‘Spare him’

Nagaenthran’s family are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the hearing today.

“We are worried about what is going to happen,” said his sister, Sarmila Dharmalingam, from the family home in Tanjung Rambutan, Perak.

“We are stressed and frightened thinking of my brother’s current situation”.

She urged the Singapore government to “spare him from the gallows, give him a second chance”.

Rights groups have been ratcheting up pressure on Singapore, with Amnesty International researcher Rachel Chhoa-Howard this month criticising the government for planning to resume “cruel” executions.

“It is high time for Singapore to re-establish a moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards full abolition,” she said.

Nagaenthran, then 21, was arrested after a bundle of heroin weighing 43g – equivalent to about three tablespoons – was found strapped to his thigh as he sought to enter the republic.

Supporters said he has an IQ of 69 – a level recognised as a disability – and was coerced into committing the crime.

But authorities defended the decision to press ahead with the hanging, saying that legal rulings found he “knew what he was doing” at the time of the offence.

The city-state maintains the death penalty for several offences, including drug trafficking and murder, and insists it helps keep Singapore one of the safest places in Asia. – AFP, March 1, 2022.