SHAH ALAM - Mentally disabled Malaysian Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was hanged for drug trafficking in Singapore, this morning.
Reuters quoted his brother Navin Kumar, 22, confirming that the execution had been carried out and that the body would be sent back to Malaysia where a funeral would be held in Ipoh, Perak.
On Tuesday, the Singapore Court of Appeal dismissed a legal bid by Nagaenthran’s mother in a last-ditch attempt to set aside her son’s conviction and death sentence.
The decision sealed the fate of the 34-year-old who was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday (April 27) after the Court of Appeal upheld his death sentence, last month.
It was reported that the basis of the legal challenge was that judge Sundaresh Menon who presided over and dismissed Nagaenthran’s appeals was earlier the Attorney-General who had prosecuted Nagaenthran and secured his conviction.
After the failed bid, the court granted Nagaenthran to hold hands with his seven family members who were present in the courtroom.
In 2009, then 21-year old Nagaenthran was caught trying to smuggle heroin into Singapore from Malaysia.
it was reported that his arrest was made after the police found a bundle of 42.7 grammes of heroin strapped to his thigh.
He filed multiple appeals citing his intellectual disability but his bids were dismissed and his applications for clemency had also been denied.
His supporters claimed that he had an IQ of 69, which was considered as a disability, and that he was coerced into committing the crime.
Authorities, on the other hand, have justified his conviction, claiming that he "knew what he was doing" at the time of the crime.
There were global calls for the Singapore government to spare Nagaenthran's life.
On Monday, a virtual gathering organised by the Anti Death Penalty Asia Network (Adpan) was held and people including British business magnate Sir Richard Branson turned out to show their opposition to the death penalty and urged Singapore to halt the execution of Nagaenthran who had been on death row for more than a decade.