PETALING JAYA: A Singapore court has fixed January 24 to hear Nagaenthran Dharmalingam’s appeal to overturn his death sentence for drug trafficking, The Malaysian Insight reports.
Nagaenthran, who is Malaysian, was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to death in 2011 under the Misuse of Drugs Act for illegally importing 42.7g of diamorphine.
He was caught with a bundle of heroin strapped to his thigh when entering the city-state from Malaysia via the Woodlands checkpoint in April 2009.
Nagaenthran has an IQ of 69, a lower than average score that qualifies for intellectual disability.
Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) adviser N Surendran has urged the Singaporean government to immediately stop alleged intimidation, harassment and undue pressure against Nagaenthran’s lawyer, M. Ravi.
Surendran claimed Ravi had been subjected to “concerted intimidation, oppression and undue pressure” by the Singapore authorities.
“We further urge the judiciary to retract unfair court directions issued to Ravi and ensure a free and fair hearing of the pending applications and appeals,“ he said in a statement today.
Last month Singapore President Halimah Yacob said Nagaenthran had been accorded due process under the law.
It was a reply to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, who had written to the president to appeal for clemency for Nagaenthran.