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The Star

The execution of Malaysian national K. Datchinamurthy in Singapore has been halted.
The execution was initially scheduled to take place at Changi prison on Thursday morning.
Lawyer N. Surendran, who represents the inmate’s family, told an online portal that they received a call from the prison after midnight telling them of the matter.
“We have no further information at this point. We are praying for the best outcome,” he said.
Datchinamurthy, 39, was scheduled to be executed on Thursday for smuggling around 45 grams (1.6 ounces) of heroin into Singapore.
He was arrested in 2011 and later convicted of trafficking about 45 grams of heroin into Singapore.
He was to be hanged in 2022, but won a last-minute reprieve pending a legal challenge that was dismissed by the court in August.
Singapore’s strict laws mandate the death penalty for anyone caught carrying more than 15 grams of heroin and 500 grams of cannabis.
He is one of four Malaysians on death row in Singapore whom the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia mentioned earlier this month, in urging the government to intervene in their executions.
The other three are P. Pannir Selvam, S. Saminathan and R. Lingkesvaran.
On Wednesday night, local non-governmental organisations held a candlelight vigil for Datchinamurthy outside the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
Speaking at a joint news conference via video link with Amnesty International Malaysia and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network on Monday, Kokila Annamalai of the Transformative Collective Justice read from a letter from Datchinamurthy’s sister, Rani, who has flown to Singapore to spend time with him.
Her brother is not protesting punishment, Rani said in the letter, but believes the death penalty is “too harsh and extreme for a young man’s naive action”.
This story was first published by The Star


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News

Asia

Southeast Asia

K. Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and later convicted of smuggling about 45 grams of heroin into the city state


K. Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and later convicted of smuggling about 45 grams of heroin into the city state.


Malaysia

Drugs

Crime

Singapore halts execution of Malaysian drug trafficker at last minute

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}K. Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and later convicted of smuggling about 45 grams of heroin into the city state

K. Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and later convicted of smuggling about 45 grams of heroin into the city state