Nagaenthran Dharmalingam – Executed in Singapore

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam spent 12 years in solitary confinement on death row, after being arrested as a 21-year-old for trying to smuggle 42.72 grams of heroin into Singapore in 2009. 

For years, Nagaenthran’s family and supporters have sought to have his death sentence commuted to life in prison, arguing that his low IQ of 69 amounted to a mental disability, thereby sparing him from capital punishment according to international convention. 

Nagaenthran was executed on Wednesday morning at first light, after a final farewell with his mother and other relatives. 

His death is a painful and shocking reminder of the cruelty of this abhorrent practice, and the desperate need for immediate moratorium on executions in Singapore and all retentionist countries.