Human Rights Wathdog Urges Singapore To Halt Execution Of Impaired Malaysian National

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2021) A prominent human rights watchdog urged Singapore on Monday to call off the execution of Malaysian citizen Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, found to be cognitively impaired, as well as impose a moratorium on that type of punishment.

The city state's court of appeals will hold a hearing about giving Dharmalingam a stay of execution on Tuesday. The hearing was originally scheduled for November 9 but had to be postponed as Dharmalingam was tested positive for COVID-19.

"Singapore must act now to avoid a stain on its international reputation by commuting Nagaenthran's sentence, and avoiding another case like this by urgently reforming its use of the death penalty, and introducing a moratorium on executions as first steps towards full abolition of this cruel punishment," Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International's Singapore researcher, said in a statement.

Dharmalingam was sentenced to death in 2010 for smuggling a small amount of heroin, despite being assessed to have an IQ of 69, way below the baseline of 100. These gave reason to many anti-death penalty advocates to take up his cause, saying the disability diminishes his responsibility.