Singapore executes mentally challenged Indian-origin Malaysian drug trafficker
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a mentally disabled Indian-origin Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking, was executed in Singapore on Wednesday, according to his family, after a court dismissed his mother's last-ditch legal challenge in a high-profile case that drew global attention and prompted calls for clemency.
Dharmalingam, 34, was arrested in 2009 for trafficking 42.72 grammes of heroin into Singapore, a country with some of the toughest drug laws in the world, and was sentenced to death the following year.
He was caught with the bundle of drugs strapped to his thigh at Woodlands Checkpoint (a causeway link with Peninsular Malaysia) while entering Singapore. The execution was carried out on Wednesday morning and the funeral would be held in the town of Ipoh in Malaysia, informed his brother Navin Kumar.
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was on death row for over a decade and exhausted all legal recourse. He was first scheduled to be hanged on November 10 last year, however, a last-minute challenge was filed.
He spent over ten years mounting legal challenges but they were dismissed by Singapore's courts. A request for presidential clemency was also rejected last year.
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"The Court of Appeal found that this was the working of a criminal mind, weighing the risks and countervailing benefits associated with the criminal conduct in question," Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs stated in an earlier statement.
Dharmalingam's mother, who came to the Singapore court from northern Malaysia, failed in her last-minute appeal to save her son on Tuesday.
His mother's last-ditch appeal was dismissed by the court, which stated that Dharmalingam had been given "due process in accordance with the law," leading his family to break down in tears in court.
He "clearly understood the nature of his acts," according to the government.
Dharmalingam's case was controversial since a medical expert found that he had an IQ of 69, which implies an intellectual disability.
Due to concerns about his intellectual disability, the intention to execute him drew widespread condemnation, with the UN, the European Union, and British billionaire Richard Branson among those who spoke out against it.
Those found with more than 15 grammes of heroin face the death penalty under Singaporean law.
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-PTC News
