An appeals court in the city-state of Singapore has issued an indefinite stay of execution for a Malaysian man convicted of drug smuggling after he tested positive for COVID-19.
The court was set to hear a last-ditch appeal from 33-year-old Nagaenthran Dharmalingam on his 2009 conviction for trying to smuggle about 1.5 ounces of heroin into Singapore. His lawyers say Nagaenthran is intellectually disabled and that executing him would violate Singapore’s constitution.
Singapore’s High Court rejected the appeal on Monday, but granted a stay of execution to allow the lower court to hear the appeal.
Nagaenthran is scheduled to be put to death by hanging on Wednesday, but human rights groups and activists have joined with his lawyers in calling for authorities to spare his life because he has an IQ (intellectual quotient) score of 69, a level universally recognized as an intellectual disability.
The United Nations human rights office in Geneva issued a statement Monday urging Singapore to stop Nagaenthran’s planned execution, claiming that he was not granted proper accommodations for his disability and expressing concern that “his past 11 years on death row has reportedly caused further deterioration of his mental health.”
The U.N. statement further said, “resorting to this type of punishment to prevent drug trafficking is not only illegal under international law, it is also ineffective.”
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
