Public Misled into Thinking High Court Sentenced Mentally Challenged Drug Trafficker to Death
Recently, the case of Malaysian drug offender Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam’s death row came to the public spotlight once more, when anti-death activists started a petition for President Halimah Yacob to pardon Nagaenthran’s execution.
The rather misleading petition titled “Pardon the death sentence of an intellectually disabled man” has claimed, amongst other things, that the Singapore Government was trying to hang Nagaenthran, who was a intellectually disabled man with an IQ of just 69.
The petition also emphasized that it was against international human rights law, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to execute a person who is mentally ill.
However, it would seem that these activists are in need of better judgement and more common sense, before they start misleading the public to serve their own purpose of vilifying the death sentence whenever they feel like it.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Nagaenthran had been continuously altering his account of his education qualifications, and was doing so “ostensibly to reflect lower educational qualifications each time he was interviewed”.
Based on the assessment of Nagaenthran by psychiatrists, including a psychiatrist called by the defence on behalf of Nagaenthran, it was unanimously agreed that he was in fact not intellectually disabled.
The High Court held that Nagaenthran “knew what he was doing”, and that he was “capable of manipulation and evasion” with respect to the drug importation offence.
For instance, when Nagaenthran was stopped at the checkpoint, he attempted to forestall a search by telling the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers, that he was ‘working in security’, thus appealing to the social perception of the trustworthiness of security officers.
Furthermore, Nagaenthran was found to be capable of planning and organising, and was “relatively adept at living independently”, and that his actions “evidenced a deliberate, purposeful and calculated decision” that was carried out “in the hope that the endeavour would pay off, despite the obvious risks”.
The ludicrous claims by the anti-death activist warriors like Kokila Annamalai, Kirsten Han, and Jolovan Wham and many others, that the Singapore Government was trying to sentence a mentally disabled drug trafficker to death, has been exposed to be nothing more than just a concerted effort to mislead the public.
Singapore’s position and approach towards serious offences like drug trafficking, is the reason why people feel safe living in Singapore, where it is relatively free of serious crime, and without the scourge of drug related crime and homicides – unlike in other countries.
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