Singapore judges asked to show 'mercy' in high-profile execution appeal

FILE PHOTO: Activists hold placards and a poster against the imminent execution of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, who was sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Singapore, outside the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia November 23, 2021. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A lawyer for a Malaysian man sentenced to hang for smuggling heroin into Singapore asked judges for mercy during his appeal on Tuesday, and urged more time to seek further psychiatric assessment to prove his mental impairment.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam has been on death row for more than a decade for trafficking 42 grammes (1.48 oz) of heroin into Singapore, which has some of the world's toughest narcotics laws. He has appealed on the grounds of mental disability.