NAGAENTHRAN K Dharmalingam, the Malaysian citizen who is on death row in Singapore for a drug offence, will be executed on November 10, Lawyers for Liberty advisor N. Surendran said today.
“Nagaenthran was convicted in 2011 of illegally importing 42.72g of diamorphine, and sentenced to death under the draconian Misuse of Drugs Act.
“Nagaenthran is no ordinary death row prisoner; he suffers from mental disability, with an IQ of 69. His condition (has been) diagnosed and certified by a qualified Singapore-based psychiatrist,” Surendran said in a statement.
Nagaenthran’s mother, who is from Ipoh, received a letter on October 26 from the Singapore Prison Service informing her of her son’s imminent execution on November 10, 2021.
Surendran said despite Nagaenthran’s diagnosis, Singapore has ignored all pleas to spare him from execution.
“That Singapore is determined now to go on with this execution is shocking and sickening. No civilised nation should resort to hanging the mentally disabled.
“Singapore is consequently in flagrant breach of the prohibition under customary international law against the execution of persons with any form of mental impairment, as well as in defiance of the UN General Assembly, which called on member states to not execute ‘persons with mental or intellectual impairment’.
“It is also egregious that Singapore plans to proceed with this execution despite having signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” Surendran said.
He urged the Singapore government to halt the execution in line with international law and the law of humanity.
Surendran also called on Putrajaya to make the necessary representations to Singapore, to save Nagaenthran from the gallows.
“It is a serious transgression of international law, which even entitles Malaysia to lodge a complaint with the ICJ,” he said.
“We hope good sense will prevail, and Singapore will step back from this scheduled execution of a mentally disabled person. Going ahead with this hanging will only damage the reputation of the island state, and do nothing to stop the real kingpins of drug trafficking,” he added.
According to news reports, the Court of Appeal in Singapore dismissed Nagaenthran’s appeal against the death sentence in 2019 for importing 42.72g of heroin in 2009.
He was caught in April 2009 while entering Singapore from Malaysia via the Woodlands Checkpoint with a bundle of heroin strapped to his thigh. – October 28, 2021.
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Comments
Posted 4 years ago by John Wotherspoon · Reply
He is a mentally disabled Malaysian Man. The letter informing his family that he would be executed is really awful. Instead of writing: "Dear mother, please be informed that your son will receive proper medical treatment in a good hospital very soon", the letter states: "Dear(?!) Madam, please (?!) be informed that the death sentence passed on your son will be carried out on 10 November 2021 (Wednesday)"! Following there are other points about travel arrangements according to COVID-19 requirements for the mother and family members to go to Singapore and see him for the last time.
The letter shows a kind of clinical, administrative, inhuman, and horrifying cruelty according to a person who is in touch with his family.
In fact he has been diagnosed with a borderline intellectual disability. Committees of the General Assembly of the United Nations have long pointed out that the execution of persons with mental disorders violates international human rights standards. In any case, people with mental disorders should be spared from being sentenced to death. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has long argued that "drug related crimes' do not fall within the scope of the "most serious crimes" punishable by the death penalty.
Given the punishment itself is extremely cruel and inhumane, there is no evidence to show that the death penalty is effective in deterring crimes.
No one, including the Government and its Courts, has the right to deprive other people of their lives.
The global trend in civilization development is to stop all executions and abolish the death penalty. That's even more urgent in Singapore, which has the highest toll of executions per capita in the world!
Therefore we call on Singapore Government and Courts to:
-Stop the execution of Mr Nagaenthran A/L K Dharmalingam.
-Grant him a new trial.
-End all executions and abolish the death penalty.
Sincerely,
Hong Kong Joint Committee on the Abolition of the Death Penalty ( c/o 843, Clear Water Bay Road N.T. Hong Kong)
Fr. John Wotherspoon ([email protected])
Fr. Franco Mella
Posted 4 years ago by John Wotherspoon · Reply