Singapore executes Malaysian for drug trafficking despite appeals for clemency

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Singapore on Wednesday executed a convicted drug trafficker from Malaysia, despite appeals for clemency on the grounds that he had an intellectual disability, anti-death penalty group Reprieve confirmed.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, had been on death row since 2010 for bringing around three tablespoons, or 44 grams of heroin into Singapore, which has some of the world's toughest narcotics laws.

He was caught in 2009, and the banned substance was strapped to his left thigh.

Dharmalingam's family had sought relief multiple times, arguing he was intellectually disabled.

A Singapore court rejected the last-ditch plea filed by his mother on Tuesday, clearing the way for the execution by hanging.

"Nagaenthran Dharmalingam has been executed. His name will go down in history as the victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice," Reprieve said in a statement on Twitter. "Hanging an intellectually disabled man because he was coerced into carrying less than 3 tablespoons of diamorphine is clearly unjustifiable."

Describing it as a "watershed moment" against the death penalty in Singapore, the group argued that the execution is a "flagrant violation of international laws."

From rushed hearings to intimidation of lawyers, this case has laid bare Singaporean authorities’ hollow claims about affording due process, the statement said.

The non-profit claimed capital punishment in Singapore disproportionately targets drug mules rather than the drug lords that traffic or manipulate them.

Most of its victims are poor, vulnerable and from marginalized communities, it said, adding: "This is a broken system."

"His last days were spent, like much of the last decade in torturous isolation of solitary confinement," the statement said. He had to get the court’s permission to hold his family’s hands yesterday. Our thoughts are with his family, who never stopped fighting for him; their pain is unimaginable."