ON the eve of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam’s execution, a candlelight vigil held outside the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to intercede, in a bid to halt the hanging of the intellectually disabled man.

The vigil was organised by the Malaysian Bar along with two other civil society groups that saw some 60 people in attendance.

Sebaran Kasih vice-president Prince Jon urged Ismail to step in to save Nagaenthran’s life in the spirit of Keluarga Malaysia.

“We hope and we urge the Singapore government to stop the execution and for Ismail Sabri to intervene. Nagaenthran is also part of Keluarga Malaysia,” he said.

“We want to appeal to the president of Singapore, Halimah Yacob, to give him another chance. A life should not be taken. To take a person’s life is in God’s hand.

PKR vice-chief Thiban Subramaniam called on the Singapore government to reconsider the execution on humanitarian grounds.

“Taking into account his mental state, they should give him another chance and on a humanitarian basis they should take all the steps (to stop the execution).”

Singapore, as a developed country, should also work towards abolishing the death penalty, he added.

“We are living in a modern era and Singapore is a developed country, that it is still practising the death sentence shows there is room to develop their law. 

“We know that a lot of developed countries have abolished the death penalty, we urge Singapore look into his mental history and take the first step to abolish the death penalty.”

Meanwhile, Lawyers for Liberty adviser N. Surendran told The Malaysian Insight that Nagaenthran’s family was allowed to meet with him after his final appeal this afternoon.

“There is nothing more we can do. He will be executed between 5.45am and 6am tomorrow.”

Nagaenthran’s final appeal at a Singapore court was dismissed today while his mother’s plea to be allowed to appoint a lawyer for her son was ignored by the court.

Nagaenthran, 34, has an IQ of 69, a lower-than-average score that qualifies for intellectual disability.

He was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to death in 2011 under the Misuse of Drugs Act for illegally importing 42.7g of diamorphine.

Nagaenthran was caught with a bundle of heroin strapped to his thigh when entering the city-state from Malaysia via the Woodlands checkpoint in April 2009.

He was originally scheduled to be hanged in November last year but the decision sparked criticism due to his IQ level and his lawyer mounted an 11th-hour challenge at the Court of Appeal. – April 26, 2022.