Singapore: A mentally disabled Indian-origin Malaysian man was hanged in Singapore last week, his family said, after losing a long legal battle and despite a storm of appeals for clemency. Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, which has some of the world’s toughest drugs laws, and handed a death sentence the following year.
The plan to hang him sparked widespread criticism, with the UN, EU and UK billionaire Richard Branson among those condemning it. Nagaenthran was arrested aged 21 as he tried to enter Singapore with heroin weighing about 43 grams - equivalent to about three tablespoons. Supporters say he has an IQ of 69, a level recognised as disability, and was coerced into committing the crime. But authorities have defended his conviction, saying legal rulings found he knew what he was doing at the time of the offence.
