‘Nagaenthran has been accorded full due process under the law’

SINGAPORE: Malaysian Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam who is on death row in Singapore has been accorded full due process under the law.

This was the reply from Singapore President Halimah Yacob to Malaysia’s Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, who had written to the president appealing for clemency for Nagaenthran.

Bernama reported that a statement issued by the republic’s Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday said this in response to media queries on the appeal letters from Malaysian leaders and the fate of the 33-year-old Malaysian awaiting execution for a drug offence in Singapore.

On Nov 12, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan sent replies to their Malaysian counterparts.

Both Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah had earlier written to their Singaporean counterparts, requesting for the discretion of the authorities in Singapore to grant Presidential Clemency to Nagaenthran.

Hailing from Perak, Nagaenthran was arrested by the Singaporean authorities on April 22, 2009 for smuggling 42.72g of diamorphine.

He was sentenced to death by the High Court of Singapore on Nov 22, 2010.

The final appeal process through the court had already been exhausted by Nagaenthran’s family lawyer.

Known as the Presidential Clemency, the appeal was rejected on June 1, 2020.

Nagaenthran, who has been on death row for 11 years, was scheduled to be hanged on Nov 10, 2021.

He, however, found temporary respite on Nov 9 after the Court of Appeal was told he had tested positive for Covid-19 when he appeared at a last-ditch attempt to overturn his sentence.

Following the dramatic turn of events, Nagaenthran was granted a further stay of execution by the Court of Appeal.

Nagaenthran’s lawyers claim that he is intellectually disabled.