Singapore Executes Intellectually Impaired Man After Multiple Appeals And Tearful Family Goodbye

Singapore has executed a mentally-disabled Malaysian man for drug trafficking, despite appeals to spare his life. 

Nagenthran Dharalingam, 34, was convicted of bringing 43 grams of heroin strapped to his thigh into Singapore back in 2010.

His mother, Panchalia Supermaniam, had attempted a final legal challenge to Singapore’s Court of Appeal, citing the man’s intellectual disability and IQ of 69, however, her bid was rejected.

On Tuesday (April 26) Nagaenthran asked for permission to hold the hands of his mother and family members one last time before execution in a tearful goodbye. 

Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 when he was just 21 years of age. His case has since attracted international attention as his legal team sought to have the mandatory death sentence reduced to life in prison. 

However, the courts ruled that Nagaenthran’s ‘mental responsibility for his offence was not substantially impaired’ and he ‘clearly understood the nature of his acts’. 

Nagaenthran had maintained that he had been coerced into the crime and taken advantage of. 

The death penalty has been in constant contention in Singapore, with the government maintaining the penalty as ‘an important component of their justice system. 

On Monday (April 25), hundreds of people turned up to Hong Lim Park to protest the execution. 

Mr Ravi, a lawyer who had represented the Malaysian man, tweeted: “Om Shanti, may your soul rest in peace.”

He added: “You may break us, but not defeat us. Our fight against the death penalty continues.”

The United Nations High Commission For Human Rights wrote in a statement: “The use of the death penalty for drug-related offences is incompatible with international human rights law.

“Countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the ‘most serious crimes’, which is interpreted as crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing.”

Meanwhile, the anti-death penalty group Reprieve released a statement, saying that Nagaenthran’s ‘name will go down in history as the victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice’. 

They said in a statement: “Hanging an intellectually disabled, mentally unwell man because he was coerced into carrying less than three tablespoons of diamorphine is unjustifiable and a flagrant violation of international laws that Singapore has chosen to sign up to.

“Capital punishment in Singapore disproportionately targets drug mules rather than the drug lords that traffic or manipulate them. Most of its victims are, like Nagen, poor, vulnerable and from marginalised communities. 

“This is a broken system.”