Singapore president pulls brakes on Pausi, Roslan’s executions

 

Singapore President Halimah Yacob has temporarily halted the execution of Malaysian death row inmate Pausi Jefridin. 

Pausi’s Singaporean lawyer M Ravi confirmed that this was done via a respite order.

“The president of Singapore has stopped the execution by way of a respite order... 

“It is a stay order until all these (court processes) are resolved,” Ravi said when contacted today.  

Section 313(h) of the Singapore Criminal Procedure Code allows the country’s president to order a respite for execution and later appoint another time or place for the execution. 

Ravi stressed that a respite order was not clemency, which is when a death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment. 

Roslan gets respite as well

Pausi, 37, was scheduled to hang yesterday (Feb 16) along with 51-year-old Singaporean Roslan Bakar over their 2010 conviction for trafficking in 96.06gm of heroin into the island state. 

Ravi shared a letter today that confirmed Halimah (above) had also halted Roslan’s execution.

No new execution date has been set for either inmate. 

Pausi and Roslan’s legal teams previously mounted a challenge at the 11th hour, which resulted in the Singapore High Court granting an interim stay of execution pending an appeal. 

The Court of Appeal heard and dismissed the appeal yesterday afternoon. 

According to legal rights NGO Lawyers for Liberty advisor N Surendran, another application has been filed and is scheduled to be heard on Feb 28. 

Their lawyers contend that Pausi has an IQ of 67 and is thus considered to be suffering from an intellectual disability while Roslan has borderline intellectual functioning. 

Previously, lawyers for another Malaysian death row inmate in Singapore - Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam - had challenged his execution citing his low IQ and mild intellectual disability. 

The case made international headlines and brought scrutiny upon the island state’s death penalty laws. 

Nagaenthran’s appeal, possibly his last, is scheduled to be heard next week.  - Mkini