Stay of execution granted to another M'sian on Singapore's death row

PETALING JAYA: A stay of execution has been granted by the Singaporean High Court to Malaysian Datchinamurthy Kataiah, who is facing the gallows for alleged drug trafficking.

Lawyers for Liberty advisor N. Surendran said Datchinamurthy represented himself for the hearing at the Singapore High Court on Thursday (April 28) morning.

"Datchinamurthy has been granted a stay of execution by a Singapore High Court judge.

"There will be no execution tomorrow (April 29) morning. Datchinamurthy argued the case himself as no Singaporean lawyer dared to represent him for fear of reprisal from the state," Surendran claimed in a tweet Thursday afternoon.

When contacted, Surendran also confirmed that the stay of execution was granted by the Singaporean High Court.

"We will proceed with a legal battle to set aside his conviction," said Surendran in a brief text message.

It is learnt that Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers had immediately filed an appeal against Datchinamurthy's stay and this was heard by the island republic's Supreme Court at 2.30pm Thursday.

In a Facebook post, Singaporean social activist Kokila Annamalai said that the appeal had been dismissed by the court, which means that Datchinamurthy's stay of execution is still in effect.

Singaporean lawyer M. Ravi confirmed the stay of exection and said there would not be any execution on Friday.

"This underscores the importance of exhausting the legal prnocess and trying till the end and not giving up," he said in a Facebook post.

Datchinamurthy has been on death row in Singapore's Changi prison since he was convicted in 2015 by the High Court for allegedly trafficking in 44.96g of diamorphine.

His Singaporean co-accused was spared the death sentence by a special certificate from the Attorney-General of Singapore.

News of Datchinamurthy's stay of execution comes in the wake of the execution of 34-year-old Nagaenthiran Dharmalingan, who was mentally disabled, on Wednesday (April 27).

Nagaenthiran's case drew public attention in October last year after a letter from the Singapore Prison Service was sent to his mother in Ipoh.

The letter, which was posted on social media, drew calls for clemency against the death sentence both locally and from abroad.