The Nagaenthran case focuses on Singapore’s death penalty Death Penalty News

Singapore – Nagaenthran Dharmalingam remains confined to a Changi prison cell in Singapore, as he has been for the past 11 years, living on the death row.

This week would be his last, but on the stop of the eleventh hour execution and the discovery of a positive COVID-19 test kept him alive – for now.

His story has resonated in a small city-state in Southeast Asia, and has heightened the debate over the death penalty in a country famous for its senseless approach to crime.

In 2009, at the age of 21, Nagaenthran was caught trying to enter Singapore with less than 43 grams of diamorphine (heroin) tied to his thigh. A year later, he was sentenced to death.

Nagaenthran said he was forced to carry drugs, although he later said he acted as a mule because he needed the money.

His legal team has argued that his low IQ of 69 indicates an intellectual disability, and affects his ability to make informed decisions.

The lawsuit has caused widespread international condemnation from human rights groups including representatives of the European Union and British businessman Richard Branson.

It was also a rare intervention by the Malaysian prime minister. Ismail Sabri Yaakob wrote a letter to his fellow Singapore member Lee Hsien Loong, asking for calm, according to the Malaysian state news agency Bernama.

Nagaenthran’s situation has also generated rare criticism in the city-state itself. A Singapore-initiated petition to halt execution has received more than 80,000 signatures.

Singapore has previously seen support for the death penalty. In a survey of 2,000 people by the Institute for Policy Studies in 2019, 70 percent agreed that execution is a deterrent to serious crime rather than a life sentence.

But this case has sparked controversy over Singapore’s death penalty.

“There are some factors in Nagen’s case that attract people’s attention and spark sympathy,” said local activist Kirsten Han.

“The fact that he has an IQ of 69 and other cognitive impairments, and yet his death sentence is scheduled for his execution, is really worrying.”

‘Criminal mind’

The intricate details of Nagaenthran’s case have been shared and analyzed online. In Singapore, anger over death penalty cases is usually limited to peripheral activist groups, but this story has prevailed.

Reputable social media accounts shared photos of a letter sent by the Singapore Prison Service to Malaysia’s Nagaenthran family.

He briefly explained when his son would be executed, before providing a stream of information about the logistics they need to arrange to enter Singapore during the pandemic, including quarantine procedures.

“I have met people who have expressed their surprise at how cold the execution notice for the family has been. But that is precisely the common way to send notifications to families.

“The only difference from Nagen’s family is that the letter was longer because they had to introduce COVID regulations,” Han explained.

Singapore has a zero-tolerance attitude towards drugs, and anyone caught with more than 15 grams of diamorphine can receive the death penalty.

In 2012, however, the rules eased a bit. The Drug Abuse Act was amended to allow judges to replace the death penalty with a life sentence in specific cases.

One of these techniques would allow an offender to avoid execution if he or she has an intellectual disability. It was at this point that Nagaenthran’s appeal came in 2015 and he failed.

Nagaenthran’s family was informed of the execution plan in a letter from the Singapore Prison Service, which also specified all the COVID-19 protocols that would have to be complied with in order to see it. [Sarmila Dharmalingam via AP Photo]

Stephanie McLennan, Human Rights Watch’s General Manager of Asian Initiatives, told Al Jazeera that Nagaenthran had not received a “specific disability adjustment” in her investigation and trial, a violation of international law.

But the defense of an intellectual disability has been discussed by Singapore courts.

In a statement, the Singapore Interior Ministry (MHA) said: “It was known to be illegal to transport drugs, and it hid the drugs so that they would not be found.

“Despite knowing that his actions were illegal, he made a criminal effort to settle part of the debt. That the Court of Appeal was the operation of a criminal opinion ”.

Little impact on criminal unions

If they hang him in Nagaenthran, he will be the first person to run in Singapore since 2019.

In the last eight years, the state has killed 35 people, according to data from the Singapore government. Of these, 28 were convicted of drug offenses.

Singapore says its harsh justice system makes it one of the safest places in the world.

Authorities say drug traffickers are aware of the rules and consider the risks they face, reducing the number of illegal substances smuggled into the country.

MHA data show a 66 percent reduction in the average net weight of opium trafficked within four years of the imposition of the mandatory death penalty in 1990 for trafficking more than 1,200 grams of opium.

But the risk of death has not eliminated the illicit trafficking of drugs.

Last month, a Singapore man failed an appeal against the death penalty in 2018 after he was caught smuggling a kilo (2.2 kilos) of cannabis into his hometown. And last year, another man was sentenced to death for Zooma. Drug trafficking in 2011.

The Singapore authorities may market the final sentence as a last-ditch deterrent, but campaigners against the death penalty see things differently.

Singapore says the death penalty is a necessary and effective deterrent for drug traffickers, but critics say they only punish short-time messengers rather than the criminal leaders behind the unions, causing grief to their families. [File:  Roslan Rahman/AFP]

They say the death penalty punishes small players in a much bigger game.

“Drug trafficking is still prevalent in the region and Singapore is no different. Most of the executions seen over the years have been mostly mules or relatively small amounts of trafficking, ”Dobby Chew, executive coordinator of the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, told Al Jazeera.

“The unions behind drug trafficking are still very much present and are up and running, even though there have been several executions over the years.”

Campaigners are keen to keep Nagaenthran’s case at the top of the news agenda, perhaps acting as a catalyst for more support in repealing executions.

“They first tried to run someone with an intellectual disability. Now they give him a kind of pity and are being treated for COVID-19, ”Chew said.

“But as far as we know, when he is healed, they will continue with the execution. I think the nonsense of the turn of events would force people to rethink what they know about the death penalty. ”