Singapore ministers reply to Malaysian counterparts on drug trafficker's case

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan have replied to their Malaysian counterparts to say that convicted drug trafficker Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam has been accorded full due process under the law.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this yesterday, following reports that Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had written to PM Lee to seek leniency for Nagaenthran.

Malaysian media reported on Sunday that Datuk Seri Ismail asked the Singapore Government to look into staying Nagaenthran's execution and sought a fresh application for presidential clemency.

Nagaenthran, a Malaysian, was scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday but has been given a temporary reprieve. He tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday and the Court of Appeal has granted a stay of his execution until all proceedings are concluded.

Nagaenthran is seeking to challenge his execution. His lawyer, Mr M. Ravi, contends that his client has the mental age of a person below 18. But the Ministry of Home Affairs said the High Court had already considered the issue of whether Nagaenthran's mental responsibility for his actions was substantially impaired at the time of the offence.

The ministry noted that the High Court had assessed the evidence of four psychiatric and psychological experts that Nagaenthran is not intellectually disabled.

Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 with a bundle of drugs strapped to his thigh. He was sentenced to death by the High Court in 2010 after being convicted of trafficking 42.72g of heroin. His appeal was dismissed in 2011.