Singapore rejects Malaysian man Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam’s ‘hopeless’ appeal against execution
- Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was detained in 2009 for trafficking heroin. His IQ of 69 has never been in dispute, but he was found not to be mentally disabled
- Campaigners fear that Singapore’s prison services may be seeking to clear a ‘backlog’ on death row as no executions have been carried out in the last two years
In a written judgment on the case involving Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, the five-judge Court of Appeal once again underscored its long-standing position that only legislative change could alter the country’s stance on retaining capital punishment.
The case has attracted global attention owing to campaigners’ assertion that Nagaenthran, 33, is going to be hanged despite the fact he has the mental age of a minor.
With the Court of Appeal’s latest ruling, there is a risk that the “execution could be scheduled very soon”, the Britain-based anti-death penalty charity Reprieve said in a statement, noting past precedent of a death-row inmate being hanged the day after an appeal was dismissed.
Nagaenthran was detained in April 2009 – when he was 21 – for carrying 42.72g of heroin into Singapore. He was convicted in 2010 and given the death penalty. An earlier judicial review involving Nagaenthran’s death sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2019.