Photo: SARMILA DHARMALINGAM / copyright
The pleas for mercy came from all over the world, but they were not heard.
A man with a disability mental was executed this Wednesday in Singapore, after being convicted of drug trafficking more than a decade ago.
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam has been on death row since 2009 for trying to introduce around three tablespoons of heroin into the country.
His sister confirmed to the BBC that he had been executed.
His case was very controversial as a medical expert assessed that he had an IQ of 69, a level that indicates an intellectual disability.
But the government considered that the man “clearly understood the nature of his actions”.
A court had dismissed the Tuesday a last minute appeal from the mother and alleged that Nagaenthran had been given “due process in accordance with the law”.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Nagaenthran and her family used a gap in a glass screen to hold hands tightly as they wept, according to a report by Reuters.
Her cries of “ma” could be heard in the courtroom.
The arguments
In a statement above, the Singapore government maintained that Nagaenthran “did not lose his sense of judgment about the right or wrong of what he was doing.”
In 2009, the man was caught crossing into Singapore from Malaysia with 43 g of heroin tied to the left thigh.
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According to laws of Singapore, persons caught carrying more than 15 Grams of heroin are subject to the death penalty.
During his trial, the man of 34 years said initially that they forced him to transport the drugs, but later he pointed out that he had committed the crime because he needed money.
The court considered that his initial defense was “manufactured”. He was finally sentenced to death by hanging.
In 2022, appealed to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds that he suffered from an intellectual disability.
In the end, the court determined that she did not have an intellectual disability. Last year an attempt at presidential clemency was also rejected.
“The Court of Appeal determined that this was the work of a criminal mind, weighing the risks and compensatory benefits associated with the criminal conduct in question,” the Singapore Home Office said in a previous statement.
The move to stopping his death sentence gained traction on social media, where even celebrities such as British billionaire Richard Branson and actor Stephen Fry had called on Singapore to pardon Nagaenthran.
The execution of a mentally ill person is prohibited by law international.
The rights group Reprieve condemned the Singapore court’s decision and considered the man a “victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice”.
“The last Nagen’s days passed them, as g They were part of the last decade, in the tortuous isolation of solitary confinement,” said Reprieve director Maya Foa.
Singapore has one of the strictest drug laws in the world.
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