KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Singapore has executed Malaysian national Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, 38, for trafficking 51.84 grammes of heroin into the republic in 2014, according to his family and an activist quoted by the New Straits Times (NST).
“Yes, he has been hanged,” Pannir’s sister, Sangkari Pranthaman, and Singapore-based Transformative Justice Collective member Kirsten Han told NST yesterday.
It is Singapore’s second execution of a Malaysian in less than two weeks, following another hanging on September 25.
Under the city-state’s strict laws, trafficking more than 15g of heroin carries the mandatory death penalty.
Family lawyer N. Surendran said Singapore appeared to be on an “execution spree”, alleging that Malaysians were being “targeted”.
“Pannir is the second Malaysian in less than two weeks to be executed. The Malaysian government must intervene with Singapore, as there are more Malaysians on death row,” he told NST.
Han said Pannir had turned his life around while on death row, becoming “a writer, poet and activist”, and helping others through an NGO he founded with his family.
Supporters held a candlelight vigil outside the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, calling for clemency.
Pannir was convicted by the Singapore High Court on June 27, 2017, for trafficking heroin at the Woodlands checkpoint on September 3, 2014, and sentenced to death. His appeal and clemency petition were later rejected.
Last month, Singapore executed another Malaysian, K. Datchinamurthy, 39, for a similar offence, underscoring its zero-tolerance approach to narcotics crimes.
Amnesty International has condemned Singapore’s continued use of the death penalty for drug offences, calling it a violation of international human rights standards.