Singapore executes intellectually disabled man for drug trafficking after rejecting appeal

Anti-death penalty group Reprieve said Dharmalingam’s “name will go down in history as the victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice.” “Hanging an intellectually disabled, mentally unwell man because he was coerced into carrying less than three tablespoons of diamorphine is unjustifiable and a flagrant violation of international laws that Singapore has chosen to sign up to,” Reprieve director Maya Foa said in a statement. “Nagen’s last days were spent, like much of the last decade, in the torturous isolation of solitary confinement. He had to seek the court’s permission to hold his family’s hands one final time yesterday. Our thoughts are with Nagen’s family, who never stopped fighting for him; their pain is unimaginable.” Singapore has some of the strictest drug laws in the world. Trafficking a certain amount of drugs results — for example, 15 grams (0.5 ounces) of heroin — in a mandatory death sentence under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It was only recently — and after Dharmalingam’s case began — that the law was amended to allow for a convicted person to escape the death penalty in certain circumstances.Dharmalingam spent a decade on death row and during that time his condition further deteriorated, according to his lawyer.About 300 people held a candlelight vigil in a Singapore park on Monday to protest against Dharmalingam’s impending execution, according to Reuters.