Group condemns Singapore’s plan to execute another mentally disabled Malaysian

Rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today hit out at news that Singapore would be executing another mentally disabled Malaysian, noting that the legal challenge of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam is still pending in court.

It said Sabahan Pausi Jefridin must not be executed while Nagaenthran’s appeal has yet to be decided as the appeal raises important questions on the legality of executing a mentally disabled person with an IQ of below 70.

“It is totally unacceptable to carry out this execution while the courts have yet to decide on the critical legal and constitutional issues surrounding the execution of mentally disabled persons,” LFL said in a statement issued by lawyers Zaid Malek and Mahajoth Singh.

Pausi was charged with trafficking drugs into the city-state along with Singaporean Roslan Bakar in 2008.

They failed in an appeal in 2017 to commute their death sentence to life imprisonment, despite lawyers citing medical reports on their intellectual capabilities which would render their execution illegal under Singapore laws as well as international treaties.

Leading Singapore clinical psychologist Dr Danny Ng who assessed Pausi said he had an IQ level of 67, which is below the threshold of 70 for declaring a person as intellectually disabled.

Roslan’s lawyer meanwhile said his client was found by experts to have “limited capacity for judgment and decision-making due to underlying cognitive defects”, according to the 2017 judgment sighted by MalaysiaNow.

But the judge, despite admitting that both men had low scores, maintained their death sentence.

They are due to be hanged on Feb 16, a date given to their families on Feb 9.

LFL said the short notice period had caused Pausi’s family great difficulty in travelling to the city-state due to the stringent restrictions imposed over the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This rush to execute an intellectually disabled person is unfathomable,” it added.

“Despite the international backlash that the Singaporean government received in November 2021 when they wanted to execute Nagaenthran, they remain indifferent to civilised world opinion by once again planning to hang another mentally disabled person.”

Accusing Singapore of “time and time again wilfully ignoring its international obligations”, it said it was inhumane to impose the death penalty on mentally disabled persons.

“Both international law and the Singapore constitution prohibits the execution of anyone who suffers from a mental disorder,” it said.