Malaysian on death row granted respite by S'pore president

SINGAPORE: Malaysian Pausi Jefridin, who was scheduled to be hanged in Singapore on Wednesday (Feb 16) for a drug offence, has been granted respite by the republic’s president, Halimah Yacob.

Pausi's counsel Charles Yeo confirmed this to Bernama.

Earlier, Singapore lawyer M Ravi said, in a post on his Facebook page, that the president had granted the respite order for the execution to Pausi.

In a separate post, Ravi also shared a copy of a respite order issued for Singaporean Roslan Bakar, who is also on death row.

When asked how long the respite period would be, Yeo said: "Minimally, until 28 Feb. It is an indefinite respite.”

The Singapore Court of Appeal had, on Wednesday (Feb 16), dismissed two separate eleventh-hour attempts by Pausi and Roslan to escape their executions. Both were sentenced to death in 2010.

It was reported that on Feb 14, Yeo filed a criminal motion, asking the Court of Appeal to review its 2018 decision on the death sentences but it was heard and dismissed by a three-judge panel the next day.

The report said the counsel then filed an application to the High Court seeking to start judicial review proceedings to declare that the death sentences were unconstitutional.

This was heard and dismissed by the High Court on Wednesday morning but a temporary stay of execution was granted pending appeal.

The appeal was then heard by a three-judge panel on Wednesday afternoon and dismissed.

In both bids, Yeo contended that Roslan and Pausi were intellectually disabled - an issue previously raised by the pair but rejected by the High Court in 2017 and by the Court of Appeal in 2018, said the report.

The pair were charged with trafficking in not less than 96.07g of heroin on June 14, 2008. - Bernama