Malaysian man to be executed in Singapore wins last-minute reprieve
- Datchinamurthy Kataiah was scheduled to be hanged on Friday, two days after the execution of another Malaysian man sparked international outcry
- He represented himself in court because no lawyer wanted to take the case, fearing reprisals from the government
A second Malaysian man due to be hanged in Singapore this week for drug trafficking won a last-minute reprieve on Thursday from the top court.
Datchinamurthy Kataiah, 36, was scheduled to be hanged Friday, just two days after the execution of a Malaysian man that sparked an international outcry because he was believed to be mentally disabled.
Lawyer M Ravi, who earlier represented Datchinamurty, said the Court of Appeal allowed a stay of execution pending a legal challenge on May 20.
Datchchinamurthy is part of a civil case involving 13 death row prisoners who are challenging the prison department’s forwarding of copies of their prison correspondence to the attorney general’s office without their consent, anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han said.
Ravi and Han said Datchinamurthy represented himself in court Thursday because no lawyer wanted to take the case, fearing reprisals from the government. Lawyers who take on late-stage death row cases are often accused of abusing court processes if they lose and may have to pay hefty costs demanded by the attorney general’s office, they said.
Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and convicted of trafficking about 45 grams of heroin into Singapore. Fellow Malaysian Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was also on death row for over a decade before he was hanged on Wednesday. Singapore’s government says its use of the death penalty for drug crimes is made clear when people enter the country.