A MALAYSIAN human rights and law reform non-governmental organisation has hit out at the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision on Tuesday (March 29) to dismiss the legal challenge by Malaysian drug trafficker Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam against his death sentence.
Lawyers for Liberty chief coordinator Zaid Malek expressed his shock over the court’s refusal to allow an independent psychiatric assessment of Nagaenthran’s current mental state or fitness to be executed
“The court went as far as branding this reasonable request as a ‘blatant and egregious abuse of the court process’,” Zaid said in a statement.
Zaid also said that the decision by the Singapore Courts is in utter disregard of Singapore’s clear obligation under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to ensure that no persons suffering from mental disabilities are sentenced to death.
“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 of the court processes,” he pointed out.
“In fact, the application itself is crucial to ensure that Singapore comes in line with its obligation under the CRPD,” said Zaid.
He further alleged that not only have the court outrightly allowed a violation of international law but has also attacked the lawyers for bringing up Nagaenthran’s case.
“The court itself instructed the Singapore Attorney-General Chambers to seek cost from Nagaenthran’s lawyers for filing the legal challenges,” he remarked.
“It is 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.”
In urging Malaysia to step in and take this matter to the International Court of Justice, Zaid said that the Singapore Government “must be held responsible for wilfully ignoring its international obligation” to the detriment of Nagaenthran.
The 33-year-old Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 at the age of 21 for trafficking about 42.7 grammes of heroin into Singapore and was given the mandatory death penalty.
Nagaenthran’s case came under the spotlight in October 2021 following a letter sent by the Singapore Prison Service to his mother in Ipoh, informing her that the death sentence would be carried out on Nov 10, was circulated on social media.
In an eleventh-hour bid to halt the execution, his former lawyer Ravi contended that, based on his opinion, Nagaenthran had the “mental age” of a person below 18 years old.
However, the courts had previously said Nagaenthran knew what he was doing when he committed the crime.
The bid for permission to start judicial review proceedings to challenge his death sentence was dismissed by the High Court. He then appealed to the Court of Appeal. – March 29, 2022
