Nagaenthran a/l K. Dharmalingam (Nagaen), a Malaysian Indian who was convicted of trafficking 42.72 grams of heroin in April 2009 was hanged at Changi Prison on 27 April 2022; he was 33.
Nagaen was convicted for entering Singapore from Malaysia at Woodlands Checkpoint with a bundle of heroin strapped to his thigh. He confessed to committing the crime, but gave statements claiming that he was ordered to commit the crime out of duress by a mastermind who assaulted him and threatened to kill his girlfriend. He also claimed he did so to get money to pay off his debts before he later denied any knowledge of the contents of his bundle.
Prior to Nagaen’s execution, his case attracted international attention, with many activists and foreign organizations asking for Singapore to commute Nagaenthran’s death sentence to life imprisonment due to his intellectual disability and overall, to abolish the death penalty while condemning Singapore for its use of the death penalty on drug traffickers.
The government of Singapore, in response to these pleas, asserted that Nagaenthran was not substantially mentally or intellectually impaired despite his low IQ, and hence there was no basis for the government to intervene and commute Nagaenthran’s death sentence.
After the international outcry against the hanging of Nagaen, the Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore (CNB) pushed out a factsheet on its social media. The post set out to put the facts regarding the case of Nagaen. The post by CNB has gotten mixed reviews, but some felt that it was in bad taste as it was put out after Nagaen had been executed and served his sentence.
Facebook user Marie Wasylah’s said, “He has served his sentence, has he not? Why are we still talking about it? Let it rest. Let the family have some peace. They deserve that, at least!”. Her comment received more than 60 likes.
Another user, Malcom Ong, said, “I think we should just let the matter rest since he had already served his sentencing.” His comment is well liked as well.
Other top commenters though said that drug traffickers should be offered no mercy because they destroy a lot of families.