A protest was held in front of the Singapore High Commission building in Kuala Lumpur this evening to show support for death row inmate Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam.
The protestors urged the republic to halt the execution of the 33-year-old mentally impaired Malaysian, who was sentenced for a drug trafficking offence in Singapore.
Organisers claimed the crowd, made up of NGO representatives, MIC party members, and members of the public, numbered between 200 to 300. Malaysiakini estimated it to be around 100.
MIC Youth deputy chief Andrew David, one of the protest organisers, said the republic should grant Nagaenthran clemency due to the fact that he is mentally challenged.
"We gathered in front of the Singapore High Commission today to protest against the death sentence against Nagaenthran, who is being punished for trafficking heroin.
"The reason why we strongly protest against the punishment and call for review of the death sentence is because Nagaenthran is a mentally impaired person.
"Thus, we find it unfair to mete out such a heavy punishment against him," Andrew told Malaysiakini when contacted after the protest.
He said the group managed to submit a memorandum to a representative of the High Commission and hoped Singapore would consider their pleas.
Also present at the protest was a group of lawyers and activists, including Nagaenthran's legal counsel N Surendran.
‘Malaysians are concerned’
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Surendran said the large crowd showed that many Malaysians sympathise with Nagaenthran's plight.
He said it was something that has never happened before, and believed many were concerned about the fact that a mentally challenged man is to be executed.
"We never seen Malaysians come out in this kind of numbers over Malaysians caught in death penalty situations overseas before.
"It is also connected to the fact that Nagaenthran is mentally impaired, and a lot of Malaysians are concerned about that," he said.
Surendran also calls for the Malaysian government to do more to help his client, suggesting that Putrajaya either take the matter to the International Court of Justice or make strong representations to the Singapore government to halt the execution.
Nagaenthran has been on death row for more than a decade for trafficking about 42.7g of heroin into Singapore, which has some of the world's toughest narcotics laws.
His lawyers say he has a mild intellectual disability due to his lower-than-average IQ of 69.
Nagaenthran was scheduled to hang on Nov 10 last year but was granted a stay of execution on Nov 8 after his Singaporean lawyer M Ravi filed an 11th-hour constitutional challenge.
Although the Singaporean High Court dismissed the challenge, it allowed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The appeal was supposed to be heard in November but was postponed to March this year when Nagaenthran tested positive for Covid-19 on Nov 9.
A Singapore court rejected the appeal against his execution on March 29.
Nagaenthran's case has garnered significant attention from international media, with particular attention on Singapore's move to execute someone with an intellectual disability. - Mkini
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