A Singapore court put the execution of a Malaysian man on hold Monday pending an appeal, after criticism from rights campaigners who say he is intellectually disabled.
Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking 43 grams — around three tablespoons — of heroin into the city-state, which has some of the world’s toughest anti-drugs laws.
He was sentenced to death the following year and was due to be hanged on Wednesday after losing several appeals, despite supporters’ claims his intellectual disability means he is unable to make rational decisions. But on Monday, the Singapore High Court ordered the execution be put on hold after his lawyers launched a last-ditch legal challenge, arguing that the hanging would be unconstitutional.
The court dismissed the challenge, but agreed to delay the hanging until the Court of Appeal hears the case.
“Good news,” lawyer M. Ravi wrote on Facebook, alongside the hashtags #EndCrimeNotLife and #DivineJustice.
But later his Malaysia-based lawyer N. Surendran said the appeal court had set Tuesday to hear the case, accusing authorities of rushing it so the execution might still take place Wednesday.
“No criminal justice system in any country which upholds the rule of law, rushes through criminal appeals in this manner — and all the more so in a death penalty case,” he said in a statement.
Some habits die hard. After enjoying a game-changing role in Pakistani politics for decades on…
More than one news cycle has passed after a strange cabinet appointment notification hit the…
Has the UN succeeded in its primary objective of maintaining international peace and security in…
Pakistan has availed of 23 IMF programs since 1958, but due to internal and external…
April 23rd is a symbolic date in world literature. It is the date on which…
Leave a Comment