Singapore's top court stays execution of Malaysian-Indian after he tests COVID-19 positive
Singapore, Nov 9: A 33-year-old Indian-origin Malaysian man's execution was stayed on Tuesday by Singapore's top court after the convicted drug trafficker, believed to be mentally challenged, tested positive for COVID-19.
Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was to be hanged at Changi Prison for drug trafficking on Wednesday. Singapore's High Court on Monday suspended his scheduled execution until an appeal is heard during an online hearing.
Nagaenthran, who has been on death row for 11 years, was ushered in briefly into the dock at the Court of Appeal for the hearing of a last-ditch appeal against his death sentence, Channel News Asia reported.
However, he was later abruptly taken away, and a judge informed the court that Nagaenthran had tested positive for COVID-19.
Justice Andrew Phang, who appeared with fellow judges Judith Prakash and Kannan Ramesh, said, "this is rather unexpected".
He said the court was of the view that it was not appropriate to proceed, "given the circumstances".
"The execution is scheduled for tomorrow," said Justice Phang.
"... If the applicant has been afflicted by COVID-19 ... it's our view that the execution cannot take place anyway," the judge said.
The prosecution said they only just heard of the development and needed to take instructions.
"I think here, we have to use logic, common sense and humanity," said Justice Phang.
He adjourned the hearing to a date yet to be fixed and issued a stay of the execution until proceedings are concluded.
Lawyer M Ravi had taken up Nagaenthran's case at the eleventh hour, ahead of his scheduled hanging on Wednesday.
His court application on Monday for a judicial review of the case on grounds of Nagaenthran's purported mental disability was dismissed, but the judge granted a temporary stay of his execution until after Ravi appealed against the dismissal.
The case was fast-tracked and the appeal set to be heard in the highest court on Tuesday afternoon, with a packed courtroom including foreign media and local activists.
Ravi was seen hugging a fellow counsel after the stay of execution was announced, according to a Channel News Asia report.
No other details of when Nagaenthran tested positive for COVID-19 were given, according to the Channel.
Nagaenthran was sentenced to death in 2010 for importing 42.72g of heroin into Singapore in 2009 in a bundle strapped to his thigh. He failed in his appeals to the High Court in 2011, to the Apex Court in 2019 and in his petition to the president for clemency.
The case drew international attention as Nagaenthran's impending execution neared.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob wrote to his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on the matter, and human rights groups as well as Virgin Group founder Richard Branson also weighed in on the issue.
An online petition calling for him to be pardoned from the death sentence has since garnered more than 70,000 signatures. It argued that Nagaenthran should be spared the gallows because he had committed the offence under duress, and had been assessed to have a low IQ of 69.
The case came under the spotlight late last month when the Singapore Prison Service wrote a letter to Nagaenthran's mother on October 26, informing her that the death sentence on her son would be carried out on November 10.
The family was expected to travel from Ipoh, a major city in northern Peninsular Malaysia, to be with Nagaenthran at Singapore's Changi Prison. The prison's letter said the family would be allowed extended daily visits till November 10. The letter was circulated on social media.
Nagaenthran appealed to the Court of Appeal against his conviction and sentence, and his appeal was dismissed in September 2011.
In 2013, the law was changed to give judges the discretion to impose life terms and caning for drug couriers, instead of death, if specific conditions are met.
In 2015, he filed a resentencing application to set aside the sentence of death imposed on him, and to substitute it with life imprisonment.
The High Court dismissed this application in 2017, and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in 2019. His petition to the President Halimah Yacob for clemency was also unsuccessful.
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
