The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) is gravely concerned with the imminent execution of  Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam in Singapore. 

Nagaenthran was convicted under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act for trafficking 42.72 grams of  Diamorphine (heroin). His I.Q. has been assessed to be 69, a level that is internationally recognised as an  intellectual disability. During his trial, his defence raised evidence that he suffers from intellectual  disabilities that impair his rationality and ability to assess risk. The defence was dismissed despite  psychiatric assessment highlighting his inability to make judgments, decision making, impulse control and  ability to assess future consequences. The assessment notes that his condition was influenced by severe  alcohol use disorder, severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and borderline intellectual functioning. 

In Nagaenthran’s case, it is apparent that his mental health and intellectual disabilities have contributed  to his involvement in the offence, and this factor should have been considered in his conviction and  sentence. Failure to do so indicates a systemic failure in Singapore’s criminal justice system to recognise  the effect and impact of mental health conditions or intellectual disabilities in a person’s culpability and  capacity to commit a criminal offence. 

International law restricts the application of the death penalty to the ‘most serious crime’, which is limited  to intentional crimes with lethal or extremely grave consequences. Drug offences do not constitute the  most serious crime, and any execution for drug offences violates international law and standards.  

Furthermore, the insistence to convict, sentence and execute a person suffering from intellectual  disabilities violates Singapore’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons  with Disabilities, which Singapore ratified in 2013. The execution of any person with mental or intellectual  disabilities is extremely unconscionable and reprehensible. The person would be unlikely to have the  appropriate capacity to stand trial or even appreciate the severity of their predicaments.  

ADPAN calls for the commutation of the sentence against Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam and for the  Government of Singapore to ensure that he is given the appropriate mental health assessment and care  in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.