SINGAPORE’s top court is expected to hear the last-ditch appeal of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam who is facing execution today (March 1) despite concerns that he is mentally disabled.
Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into Singapore and was 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.
He lodged a final legal challenge, which was delayed after he contracted COVID-19, but it will go ahead today (March 1) at Singapore’s Court of Appeal.
“We are worried about what’s going to happen. We are stressed and frightened thinking of my brother’s current situation,” his sister Sarmila Dharmalingam told AFP from the family home in Tanjung Rambutan, Perak.
Sarmila urged the Singapore Government to “spare him from the gallows, give him a second chance”.
Nagaenthran was arrested when he was 21-years-old after a bundle of heroin weighing around 43g – which is equivalent to approximately three tablespoons – was found strapped to his thigh as he sought to enter Singapore.
Supporters argued that he has an IQ of 69 – a level recognised as a disability – and was coerced into committing the crime.
However, authorities had defended the decision to press ahead with the hanging, adding that legal ruling had found that Nagaenthran “knew what he was doing” at the time of the offence. – Mar 1, 2022
Main photo credit: The Guardian
