Singapore to hang mentally disabled Malaysian man next week according to family
- Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam lost his final appeal last month over a 2009 arrest for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city state
- Decision to hang the Malaysian man sparked widespread criticism due to concerns over his intellect. His IQ level of 69 is recognised as a disability
A mentally disabled Malaysian man will be hanged in Singapore next week after losing a last-ditch appeal, his sister said Wednesday, despite an international outcry about his case.
Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city state, which has some of the world’s toughest drugs laws, and handed a death sentence the following year.
But the plan to hang him sparked widespread criticism due to concerns about his intellectual disabilities, with the European Union and British billionaire Richard Branson among those condemning it.
After a years-long legal battle, the 34-year-old lost his final appeal last month, when judges rejected arguments that executing a man with mental disabilities contravenes international law.
His family has now been informed he will be executed on Wednesday next week, his sister Sarmila Dharmalingam told Agence France-Presse.
Family members, including his mother and three siblings, will travel to the city state to see him beforehand, she said.
M. Ravi, a Singapore-based human rights lawyer assisting in the case, said the news of Nagaenthran’s looming execution was “heartbreaking”.