A Malaysian drug smuggler has been executed in Singapore, despite pleas for clemency because he was intellectually impaired.
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was caught with about three tablespoons of heroin and had been on death row since 2010.
His case was highly controversial as he was assessed by a medical expert to have an IQ of 69 – a level that indicates an intellectual disability.
But the government said he “clearly understood the nature of his acts”.
In an earlier statement, the government said they found he “did not lose his sense of judgment of the rightness or wrongness of what he was doing”.
The execution came after a last-ditch appeal by his mother was dismissed on Tuesday. The court said Nagaenthran had been given “due process in accordance with the law”, and had “exhausted his rights of appeal and almost every other recourse under the law over some 11 years”.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Nagaenthran and his family reached through a gap in a glass screen to grasp each other’s hands tightly as they wept, according to a Reuters report. His cries of “ma” could be heard in the courtroom.
Singapore’s government reacted angrily to his mother’s appeal.
A statement from the attorney general’s office said it was an unjustifiable attempt to delay the execution. Officials said they might even take action against those involved in preparing the application.
Source: BBC
