A LAWYERS’ group has urged Putrajaya to refer Singapore to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for failing to protect a person suffering from mental disabilities from the death sentence.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) expressed shock over the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision today dismissing mentally disabled Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam’s legal challenges against his death sentence.

They also questioned the court’s refusal to allow an independent psychiatric assessment of Nagaenthran’s current mental state or fitness to be executed.

LFL chief coordinator Zaid Malek said the decision by the Singapore court is in utter disregard of the republic’s clear obligation under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

“We urge Malaysia at this critical point, to step in and take this matter to the International Court of Justice for having blatantly violated their treaty obligation under international law.

“The Singapore government must be held responsible for wilfully ignoring its international obligations to the detriment of our own citizen,” Zaid said in a statement.

Zaid said that this is to ensure that no persons suffering from mental disabilities are sentenced to death.

“The court went so far as to brand this reasonable request as a ‘blatant and egregious abuse of the court process’”, he said in a statement.

He said the affidavit filed in support of said application has raised legitimate concerns regarding Nagaenthran’s deteriorating mental psyche, which warrants a psychiatric evaluation and cannot be construed as an abuse to the court processes.

“In fact, the application itself is crucial to ensure that Singapore comes in line with its obligation under the CRPD.”

Earlier today, Singapore’s top court dismissed Nagaenthran’s last-ditch appeal against the death sentence despite a storm of international criticism.

A challenge to previous decisions in the case of Nagaenthran and a bid to get proceedings delayed for a psychiatric assessment were both rejected, said Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at the Court of Appeal.

The attempt to get a further assessment amounted to a “blatant and egregious abuse of the court process” aimed at delaying the execution, he said.

Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, which has some of the world’s toughest drugs laws, and handed a then-mandatory death sentence the following year.

He was originally scheduled to be hanged in November but the plan sparked criticism due to claims he is intellectually disabled and he lodged the 11th-hour challenge at the Court of Appeal.

Zaid added that not only have they outrightly allowed a violation of international law, but the courts have also attacked the lawyers for bringing up Nagaenthran’s case.

“The court itself instructed Singapore’s Attorney-General Chambers to seek costs from Nagaenthran’s lawyers for filing the legal challenges.

“It is a sickening conduct that runs contrary to the rule of law of any civilised nation when lawyers are penalised for daring to raise an issue a matter of life and death.” – March 29, 2022.