Judge rejects Malaysian man’s appeal

SINGAPORE: A Singapore judge dismissed yesterday an appeal by a Malaysian man condemned to hang on drug trafficking charges, saying he had no jurisdiction to overturn the sentence. 

High Court Judge Woo Bih Lin upheld the death sentence handed down against Vignes Mourthi, 22, by a lower court last September. 

Mourthi was convicted of smuggling over 400gm of heroin across the Singapore-Malaysia border two years ago. 

President S.R. Nathan – who has the final authority to overturn a death sentence in Singapore – had already rejected Mourthi's appeal in May. 

Woo said he could not overturn the president's ruling. 

“There is so much injustice? The condemned prisoner did not know certain bits of evidence were to be presented at his trial,” Mourthi's lawyer, M. Ravi, said. 

Ravi said there was a possibility Mourthi could be hanged later yesterday. 

 

Hangings are usually carried out on Fridays but executions are never announced ahead of time and are rarely reported by local media. 

 

The number of people Singapore executed on drug charges last year was not available, but seven people were executed for drug offences in the last three months of the year. – AP