Hundreds of friends and family members of current and former death row inmates rallied today in a final attempt to plead for presidential clemency and halt the execution of a convicted drug trafficker.
More than 230 family members and friends of 13 people sentenced to die – or already executed – signed a letter to Singapore President Halimah Yacob today, two days ahead of the scheduled hanging of Malaysian Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, 33. The letter called on Halimah to spare his life and for Singapore to abolish the death penalty, while also highlighting the plight of many drug-trafficking offenders, who come from underprivileged backgrounds.
“Many people on death row in Singapore – like [Nagaenthran] and our loved ones – come from very challenging circumstances, and have led difficult, troubled lives which have entangled them with the drug trade,” the letter said, adding: “Their imprisonment and execution does not put a dent in a drug trade that is controlled by extremely wealthy and powerful syndicates and drug-lords who scapegoat them for profit.”
Most every state execution in Singapore is met with public pleas for clemency or pardon, but they are rarely granted. Singapore’s fourth president Wee Kim Wee granted clemency to convicted drug trafficker Sim Ah Cheoh, who was terminally ill with cancer, in 1992.
Nagaenthran is due to be hanged Wednesday after spending a decade on death row. He was convicted and sentenced in 2010 for smuggling around 40 grams of heroin from Malaysia.
The letter to Halimah was also sent to ministers and members of Parliament, according to justice reform advocacy group Transformative Justice Collective. The group said that the letter was hand-delivered to The Istana presidential palace this morning by Sharmila Rockey, whose brother Syed Suhail bin Syed Zin is also sitting on death row on a heroin-trafficking conviction.
Four of Nagaenthran’s family members have already arrived in Singapore from Malaysia but are in mandatory hotel quarantine, the group said.
Others who signed the letter include families of Malaysian drug mule Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, who has been on death row for seven years, and those of convicted murderer Jabing Kho, who was executed in 2016.
“We call for the death penalty to be abolished, and for all other prisoners on death row in Singapore to be freed from the nightmare of being a ‘dead man walking,’” the letter added. “Please spare Nagen, and spare his family the unspeakable agony of living through and with his execution. Please don’t force them to bury him.”
Other stories:
EU calls on Singapore to halt drug trafficker’s execution
20,000 plead for presidential pardon over Malaysian man on death row
