“PLEASE help my son, everyone. I’m sorry he has done wrong. Please help, everyone.”
These are the words of Panchalai Supermaniam, the mother of Malaysian death row inmate Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam who is scheduled to be hanged in Singapore on April 27.
The video of Panchalai’s impassioned plea to save her son was posted on Facebook by legal action non-governmental organisation (NGO) Reprieve and shared by Singapore lawyer M. Ravi on his Facebook page.
The execution of the sentence against Nagaenthran came after a Singapore court had rejected his final appeal against the death sentence imposed for drug trafficking on March 29.
Nagaenthran, who is mentally disabled, was detained in 2009 and convicted of trafficking 42.72g of heroin in 2010, a crime punishable by the mandatory death penalty in Singapore.
His appeal against conviction and sentence were dismissed in 2011.
In 2017, the High Court in Singapore ruled that the 34-year-old Malaysian did not qualify to be given life imprisonment based on evidence from four psychological and psychiatric experts.
Yesterday Ravi urged Putrajaya to bring the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop Nagaenthran’s execution.
He noted that despite Nagaenthran being declared by a Singapore government psychiatrist to be suffering from an “abnormality of mind” the authorities there were prepared to go ahead with the execution.
“The Government should apply to the ICJ to set aside the Singapore court’s decision as Malaysia has the power under international human rights law and customary law,” he told news portal Free Malaysia Today.
Ravi further said while Singapore was not obliged to follow the orders of the ICJ, there was a chance it would do so in this case.
“Executing a person with a mental disorder is prohibited under international laws. The ICJ has the power to grant a stay,” he said. – April 21, 2022
