M Ravi, the man who defied Singapore regime's harassment, dies

M Ravi, one of Singapore's best-known personalities who was at the forefront of legal cases challenging the PAP regime over human rights violations, has died. He was 56.

The news has come as a shock to friends and activists. Singapore's The Straits Times reported that police were investigating the "unnatural death".

Ravi made a name for himself representing prisoners on death row amid the Singapore government's insistence on maintaining the death penalty, despite a series of controversial convictions over the years that saw drug mules from Malaysia executed, many of whom he represented pro bono.

Ravi had a difficult childhood growing up in a poor family and witnessing his mother's struggles, a story he told in Kampong Boy, an autobiography he published in 2013.

In his social media posts, he often paid tribute to his late mother, who worked hard to ensure he received an education.

Ravi graduated in political science from the National University of Singapore before later taking a loan to study law at the University of Cardiff. Back in Singapore, he worked for a while as a Tamil-language newscaster and was called to the Bar in 1997.

A turning point in his advocacy against the death penalty came when he took the case of Vignes Mourti, a young Malaysian Indian facing the death penalty after being charged with trafficking heroin into Singapore.

It was not an easy case, as his client was only two weeks away from execution.

Vignes was eventually executed.

"I felt it was terrible, like they’d rushed through the process. And that affected me, plus there was no outrage in the legal sector, in the legal community... it was disgraceful," Ravi told RICE, a portal on South East Asian politics and culture, in 2019.

Ravi went on to launch the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.

The PAP-led Singapore regime has constantly harassed activists who question its decades-old grip on life in the city-state.

In recent years, Ravi has been a frequent target.

In 2023, his law practice licence was suspended over remarks he made in an interview on the case of a drug runner named Gobi Avedian.

A court in Singapore accused him of making "grave and baseless accusations of improper conduct" against the attorney-general as well as officers from the AG's Chambers and the Singapore Law Society.

Ravi refused to be intimidated and instead doubled down on his views when asked to retract his remarks, saying he was entitled to criticise "the unfairness associated to the miscarriage of justice".

Referring to Gobi's case, he said he was glad that he had managed to reopen a death penalty case and save "at least one life".

"I have choices. I chose to dedicate my 20 years to the cause of human rights and access to justice in Singapore at huge personal cost. I have no regrets," said Ravi.

It was not the only time Ravi was stopped from continuing his work as a human rights lawyer in Singapore, where the legal fraternity would normally maintain a safe distance for fear of repercussions.

Ravi represented, among others, Malaysian Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who was controversially executed in Singapore for a drug offence.

Nagaenthran, who had been diagnosed with a low IQ that made him unfit for capital punishment, was hanged on April 27, 2023.

Ravi had urged the Malaysian government to take Nagaenthran's case to the International Court of Justice, saying his former client had not even been given an opportunity to be assessed by his psychiatrists.

“Without giving an opportunity to have him properly assessed, and to take away his life, is a waste of this entire judicial exercise,” he had told MalaysiaNow.

Ravi and fellow lawyer Violet Netto were fined S$20,000 after they were accused of not following the standards expected of a lawyer in filing last-minute applications in court to save Nagaenthran’s life.

A defiant Ravi then told the court: "History will be with me and will judge me."