Singapore court orders temporary reprieve for mentally disabled man on death row

He unsuccessfully tried to reduce his sentence to life in prison after changes to the death penalty came into effect in 2013, and was rejected. Dharmalingam also lost an appeal against his conviction and has since been held in solitary confinement.

In a last-ditch attempt, lawyer M. Ravi, who represents more than a dozen convicts on death row, filed a petition for a stay of execution, arguing that the decision to hang Dharmalingam was unconstitutional. The High Court struck down that argument, but according to due process, Ravi can appeal that decision, and so the execution is halted until that appeal is heard.

If executed this week, he would have been the first to be hanged in the city-state since 2019 and since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. It is not yet known when the court will hear Ravi’s appeal and when or if the execution can proceed.

The plight of Dharmalingam and his family has garnered significant attention in Singapore and neighboring Malaysia as a particularly punitive case, even in a city-state known for exceptionally harsh drug laws. Dharmalingam has an IQ of 69, a level recognized as an intellectual disability. During his trial, an independent psychiatrist diagnosed him with mental and intellectual impairment.

In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said a court during his re-sentencing appeal assessed whether Dharmalingam’s mental responsibility for his actions “was substantially impaired” and held that he knew what he was doing, upholding the death sentence.

“Singapore adopts a zero-tolerance stance against illicit drugs,” the statement said. “The penalties, including the death penalty, for the illegal trafficking, importation or exportation of drugs are made clear at our borders, to warn traffickers and syndicates of the harsh penalties they potentially face.”

Exacerbating the pain for Dharmalingam’s Malaysia-based family are travel restrictions that have made it challenging and isolating for his family to see him in person and say goodbye. A crowdfunding campaign raised more than $14,000 to cover coronavirus tests, quarantine hotel fees and other costs for his underprivileged family to travel to Singapore. Dharmalingam’s mother works as a cleaner in the Malaysian city of Ipoh.

In a rare intervention, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob wrote to his Singapore counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, to ask the state to spare Dharmalingam. He wrote that the appeal could be considered “purely on humanitarian grounds.” Singapore’s president, a largely ceremonial role, has the power to grant clemency to any convict on death row.

Both Singapore and Malaysia carry the death penalty for drug trafficking, but the death penalty in Malaysia is currently under moratorium.

On Monday, more than 200 family members and friends of prisoners who have lived on death row in Singapore wrote a letter to the country’s president, Halimah Yacob, to grant clemency to Dharmalingam.

“Society looks for neat stories of who are the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys.’ Many families like ours live in the reality of grey areas,” they wrote. “With love, hope and determination in our hearts, we plead with President Halimah Yacob to stop the execution of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam.”