SINGAPORE
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a Malaysian with learning disabilities who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2010 and whose case attracted global attention, has been executed in Singapore’s Changi prison.
Nagaenthran, who was arrested after police found a bundle of 42.7 grammes (1.5 oz) of heroin strapped to his thigh, was hanged just before dawn on Wednesday, his family said.
Navin Kumar, Nagaenthran’s brother, told the Reuters news agency that the 33-year-old’s body would be sent back to Malaysia where a funeral would be held in the northern town of Ipoh.
The Malaysian’s execution came after the Court of Appeal dismissed an effort by Nagaenthran’s mother to halt her son’s execution. The judges said her last-minute plea was “vexatious”.
Last month, the court called legal efforts to save Naga’s life a “blatant and egregious abuse” of the legal process, and that it was “improper to engage in or encourage last ditch attempts” to delay or stop an execution.
Nagaenthran’s case has drawn global attention to Singapore’s continued use of the death penalty, particularly in drug trafficking cases, and sparked renewed debate in the city-state itself.
Nagaenthran’s family said he had an IQ of 69, but the city state’s courts found he knew what he was doing at the time of the offence and that no additional evidence had been presented to show any decline in his intellectual abilities.
