Explained: Why death sentence of Indian-origin Malaysian in Singapore is garnering international attention (2024)

The government’s decision to execute him has led to an outcry by human rights organisations and civil society, who argue that there have been violations of international human rights law and standards in his case, considering he has borderline intellectual functioning and cognitive deficits. These disabilities would have made it difficult for him to assess the risk and would have made it difficult for him to accurately give an account of his circumstances.

Malaysian prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently wrote to his counterpart in Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong demanding leniency in Dharmalingam’s case.

Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, second from left, with his sister and cousins in Ipoh, Malaysia. (AP)

On November 5, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said that Dharmalingam knew what he was doing when he committed the crime.

What is the case against Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam?

On November 22, 2010, Dharmalingam was convicted and sentenced to death for trying to smuggle 42.72 grams of heroin into the country. He was arrested in April 2009 when he was caught trying to smuggle the heroin at Woodlands Checkpoint while entering Singapore from Malaysia. The heroin was strapped to his thigh at the time.

Subsequently when Dharmalingam appealed against his conviction, both his conviction and death penalty were upheld by Singapore’s court of appeal in July 2011.

In February 2015, Dharmalingam filed a resentencing application to give him a life sentence instead of death sentence. At this point, one of the issues that was considered during his re-sentencing was if the defendant’s mental responsibility for his actions were “substantially impaired” at the time that he committed the offence. The High Court held that the defendant knew what he was doing.

Members of the family of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam hold posters with photos of Nagaenthran along with messages which read ‘Save Nagaenthran’ and ‘Stop the Execution’. (AP)

A statement issued by Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs says that at the time a psychiatrist that was called on his behalf agreed that he was not intellectually disabled.

The statement notes that in 2015, the court found that the defendant ‘was able to plan and organise on simpler terms, and “was relatively adept at living independently”’ and that the court noted that his actions “revealed that he was “capable of manipulation and evasion” – for instance, when stopped at the checkpoint, he attempted to forestall a search by telling the Central Narcotics Bureau officers that he was “working in security”, thus appealing to the social perception of the trustworthiness of security officers.”

Why is there an outcry over this case now?

On October 26, the Singapore Prison Service sent a letter to Dharmalingam’s mother informing her about his execution that was initially set for November 10. This letter circulated on social media since when human rights organisations started appealing to the government to pardon him, considering his mental disabilities.

The case has led to statements condemning the government’s decision from the European Union, Amnesty International, the American Psychological Association’s Division of Social Justice, Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign and the Transformative Justice Collective among others.

“The EU Delegation and the diplomatic missions of the EU Member States and of Norway and Switzerland oppose the use of capital punishment, which can never be justified, and advocate for Singapore to adopt a moratorium on all executions as a positive first step towards its abolition,” the Delegation of the European Union said in its statement.

“The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman, and unusual punishment, a relic of the earliest days of penology, when slavery, branding, and other corporal punishments were commonplace. Like those barbaric practices, executions have no place in a civilized society,” is what the American Psychological Association’s Division of Social Justice said in its statement.

Which law governs drug related offences in Singapore?

In Singapore, the Misuse of Drugs Act is the main act for dealing with drug related offences. The death penalty may be triggered for the illegal trafficking, import or export of drugs.

Specifically, under this act, any individual who is found guilty of importing more than 15 grams of heroin into the country has to face the death penalty.

However, as per amendments made in 2014, the courts have discretion to impose a life sentence instead of a death penalty in case they find out that the person in question was a courier or was offering to transport, send or deliver a controlled drug.

Further, if it is proved that the defendant “was suffering from such abnormality of mind (whether arising from a condition of arrested or retarded development of mind or any inherent causes or induced by disease or injury) as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts and omissions”, then he may not be given the death penalty.

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