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THE Singapore Court of Appeal on Friday rejected a final request from Malaysian national Pannir Selvam Pranthaman to delay his execution, ruling that his application for a stay lacked legal merit.
Pannir, who is on death row for trafficking over 51 grams of diamorphine into Singapore, had sought to postpone his execution pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings he initiated against his former lawyer with the Law Society of Singapore.
The court, led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and comprising a panel of five judges, ruled that the request hinged on the claim that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) must apply its policy on the scheduling of executions consistently and equitably to all inmates.
In its written judgment, the court stated, “It remains the applicant’s burden to establish that the change in MHA policy is unlawful. In our view, he has not succeeded in doing so.”
The court concluded that MHA, as the relevant authority, retains the right to amend its policies, so long as such changes are not shown to be unlawful based on specific legal grounds.
“Even if the MHA’s policy on the scheduling of executions has changed, the applicant has failed to identify any proper basis on which to challenge the lawfulness of that change,” the judgment noted.
The court also dismissed Pannir’s contention that the policy resulted in unequal treatment of prisoners on death row—specifically, a distinction based on whether their cooperation was required in proceedings initiated by the State versus those initiated by non-State actors.
“We stress, first and foremost, that those on death row are individuals who have been lawfully convicted and sentenced, with their convictions and sentences upheld by this court on appeal or review,” the judges wrote.
The court found no basis to conclude that MHA’s differing treatment between State and non-State initiated proceedings violated Article 12(1) of the Constitution or constituted irrational or unreasonable policymaking.
Additionally, the court noted that the second prong of Pannir’s post-appeal application—linked to legal proceedings brought by four other inmates—was no longer relevant, as those cases had since been dismissed.
Pannir was convicted by the High Court on 2 May 2017 and handed a mandatory death sentence for trafficking. His appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 9 February 2018, and his clemency petition to the President of Singapore was also rejected.
He had previously been granted two stays of execution—once in May 2019 to challenge the rejection of his clemency plea and the Attorney-General’s decision not to issue a certificate of substantive assistance, and again in February 2025 while awaiting the outcome of the current legal challenge. - Sept 6, 2025