Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a 30-year-old Malaysian who has been on death row in Singapore for nine years for trafficking drugs, saw his two appeals dismissed by the republic’s Court of Appeal in May.
Nagaenthran has an IQ level of 69 and suffers from ADHD.
He was sentenced to death in Nov 2010 for trafficking 42.72g of diamorphine, or heroin, into Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint on April 2009.
The Lawyers For Liberty advisor N Surendran and Nagaenthran's family counsel M Ravi held a press conference this morning urging for the Malaysian government to send a representation to Singapore to stop his execution.
“Our government should make an urgent representation to Singapore that a Malaysian citizen can’t be executed when suffering from a mental disability. This is a breach of all known international legal norms.
“If Singapore continues to carry out the execution, they will be descending into barbarism,” said Surendran at the LFL office in Petaling Jaya.
Ravi, who is also a member of Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Committee, said he had submitted a memorandum to the de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong on 16 July.
“I urge the Malaysian government to file a complaint to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if direct diplomatic exchange with Singapore fails,” said Ravi.
Nagaenthran had told the court that the bundle was strapped onto him by a man named King who he approached for a loan of RM500 to help finance his father’s heart surgery.
King initially gave him a packet of food and asked him to deliver it to his “brother” in Singapore, claiming that he would grant him the loan thereafter.
Nagaenthran agreed to the request but King changed his mind and asked Nagaenthran into his car and forced him to remove his pants before strapping the bundle onto his thigh.
Insufficient qualification to escape the death penalty
According to Singapore law, the Section 33B(3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) states that when a person convicted of a drug offence punishable with the death penalty suffers from abnormality of mind and substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts and omissions, and is also merely a courier, the sentencing judge is obliged to impose life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty .
Ravi (photo, third from left) stated that during the trial, both the psychiatrists from the prosecution and defence agreed that his IQ level is only 69.
Nagaenthran's psychiatrist Dr Ken Ung also stated that the former has suffered from ADHD, which causes his intellectual disability.
“Originally, Naga had one psychiatrist, who is Dr Ken Ung, while the state had two from the Singapore Institute of Mental Health.
“After Ken gave his medical report at the trial, the state commissions a third psychiatrist to “poke holes” in his report,” said Ravi.
Both the Singapore High Court and Court of Appeal opined that “borderline intellectual function” was insufficient to qualify Nagaenthran as suffering from an “abnormality of the mind”.
Added Ravi: “The third psychiatrist didn’t examine Naga. He just looked at Ken’s report and made observations.
“This is an unacceptable practice and is against International Human Rights Law. It breaches basic safeguarding in criminal trials.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an IQ range of 50 to 69 indicates the mental age of between nine to 12 years old.
Ravi also raised another issue that the judgement is a breach of judicial power.
He revealed that in Singapore law, judges have their discretion in certain murder or homicide cases, but when it comes to drug trafficking, the discretion is left to the public prosecutors.
“If the state (public prosecutor) doesn't provide the certificate of substantive assistance, the court doesn‘t have the power to exercise discretion.”
“To me, this is a breach of judicial power. The public prosecutor is a non-judicial officer, how can he decide on who lives and who dies?”
A certificate of substantive assistance can be given when a convicted person has assisted the authorities. The certificate is crucial for the court to sentence a person to life imprisonment instead of the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking.
Unlikely to receive clemency
Currently, since all the domestic legal remedies have been exhausted, Naga’s clemency petition will be submitted to the Singapore President.
Ravi confirmed that no clemency pardon has been granted in the country since 1998, and the execution will be carried out soon after the clemency is denied.
“The likelihood of Naga being saved through this process is slim.”
Today’s press conference was also attended by LFL executive director Melissa Sasidaran, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall civil rights committee member Ngeow Chow Ying, and Naga’s family members. - mkini
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