Singapore — Mr Umej Bhatia, the ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, responded to an appeal from special UN rapporteurs who asked for a stay of execution of convicted Malaysian drug trafficker Nagaenthran Dharmalingam.
He had been scheduled to hang on Wednesday (Nov 10) but the Court of Appeal granted a stay of the judicial execution after he had tested positive for Covid.
His case has received much attention both locally and internationally, with appeals to pardon him on the grounds of his mental disabilities.
On Nov 8, human rights experts from the UN released a statement expressing concerns that Nagaenthran “did not have access to procedural accommodations for his disability during his interrogation. We further highlight that death sentences must not be carried out on persons with serious psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.”
They added the additional concern that the past 11 years on death row “reportedly caused further deterioration of his mental health.”
They urged Singapore to ensure that Nagaenthran would not be executed and that his death sentence would be commuted in accordance with international human rights law.
In response, Mr Bhatia cited findings from the High Court and Court of Appeal which showed that Nagaenthran “clearly understood the nature of his acts and did not lose his sense of judgment of the rightness or wrongness of what he was doing.”
“Despite knowing the unlawfulness of his acts, he undertook the criminal endeavour so that he could pay off some part of a monetary debt.
The Court of Appeal found that this was the working of a criminal mind… a deliberate, purposeful, and calculated decision on Nagaenthran’s part to take the chance,” the Ambassador added.
He also said that it is within a country’s sovereign right to decide the use of capital punishment for itself.
Appeals for a stay of execution for Nagaenthran have come from many quarters, with one coming from no less than the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Malaysia’s state news agency Bernama reported on Nov 7 that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob wrote a letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong requesting clemency for Nagaenthran.
Activists on both sides of the Causeway have pleaded for a stay of his execution based on extraordinary circumstances, and a petition on the change.org platform appealing for him to be spared has drawn more than 83,000 signatories.
Even British business magnate and investor Richard Branson has appealed for clemency for Nagaenthran, as have various human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN).
According to Emina Ćerimović, senior disability rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, “Executing a man with a disability, who was convicted after an investigation and trial that provided no disability-specific accommodations, violates international law and won’t deter crime.
Singapore should commute Nagaenthran Dharmalingam’s sentence and amend its laws to ensure that no one is subjected to the death penalty, certainly not people with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities.” /TISG
Read also: Netizens weigh in on the death penalty for Nagaenthran Dharmalingam
https://theindependent.sg/netizens-weigh-in-on-the-death-penalty-for-nagaenthran-dharmalingam/