Singapore court rejects Malaysian’s appeal in high-profile execution case

mayorMarch 28, 2022

Activists demonstrate against the execution of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a Malaysian whose intellect, his defence and human rights groups have argued, was at a level recognised as a mental disability, for drug trafficking, in Kuala Lumpur

FILE PHOTO: Activists hold posters against the execution of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam as activists submit a clemency petition at the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 9, 2022. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain/File Photo

March 29, 2022

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A Singapore court rejected on Tuesday an appeal against the execution of a Malaysian convicted of drugs smuggling, dismissing an argument put forward by his legal team that he should be spared because he was mentally impaired.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam has been on death row for more than a decade for trafficking about 42.7 grammes (1.5 oz) of heroin into Singapore, which has some of the world’s toughest narcotics laws.

He had appealed on the grounds of mental disability and his lawyer in a previous hearing had asked for time to arrange an independent psychiatric evaluation.

The courts had previously said Dharmalingam knew what he was doing when he committed the crime.

His plight has attracted international attention with a group of United Nations experts and British billionaire Richard Branson joining Malaysia’s prime minister and human rights activists to urge Singapore to commute his death sentence.

(Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore; Editing by Ed Davies)