M Ravi requests for stay order on execution of death row inmate, says latter’s testimony crucial in his own investigation

Update:

Mr Ravi said: “The Court of Appeal has dismissed my request for stay of execution based on my correspondence to the court last evening that I will need Nazeri as my witness in the police investigation on me to exonerate myself. The court stated that there won’t be prejudice to me”.

International Human Rights Lawyer M Ravi wrote to the Court of Appeal on Wednesday (Jul 20), naming death row inmate Nazeri as a witness whose testimony was crucial in the investigation against himself.

In sending an email to the Court of Appeal just two days before Nazeri Lajim’s execution scheduled for this Friday, Mr Ravi has prompted a response from the courts by 10 am on Thursday (Jul 21).

In his email, Mr Ravi named Nazeri as a witness whose testimony was crucial in the investigation against him.

“It should be noted that subject matter of my Oct 5 letter was a statement made by the Law and Home Minister K Shanmugam who is directly responsible for Changi Prison which schedules executions.

“In these circumstances, I am constrained to ask in the interests of justice that the court exercise its inherent powers to safeguard the administration of justice by ordering a stay of the scheduled execution of Nazeri Lajim pending the completion of the police investigation,” Ravi said in his email.

On Oct 5 last year, Mr Ravi represented Nazeri and 16 Malay inmates in an ethnic bias suit against the government. In their application, the inmates sought a declaration that the Attorney-General had discriminated against them as Malays in prosecuting them for the drug offences. This was followed by a notice from the police, informing him that he was being investigated for various offences.

In a judgment released on Jun 23, Justice Valerie Thean found that Mr Ravi Madasamy, better known as Mr M Ravi, and his supervising solicitor Cheng Kim Kuan were jointly liable for the costs of the civil case. The High Court judge ordered the two lawyers to pay the Attorney-General S$20,000 in costs for a failed application by 17 death row inmates who alleged ethnic bias against them.

Nazeri was sentenced to death in 2017, five years after his arrest during an anti-narcotics operation which saw him nabbed shortly after taking delivery of two bundles containing heroin. /TISG