The family of death row inmate Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam is set to sue Singapore Attorney-General Lucien Wong, over alleged "negligence" by the city state's criminal justice system against the former.

According to a Malaysiakini report, the suit is expected to be filed sometime next week.

"What I have is the instruction (from) the family to sue the AG (Wong) over their negligence and willful disregard.

"After putting them on notice (about) Nagaenthran's mental health, they should have just stopped and said 'Okay, I'll get someone to review.

"(There has been a) willful disregard for human life. We will be suing. Nagaenthran and the family will be claiming damages as well," the family's Singapore lawyer M Ravi told the portal when contacted yesterday.

Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 for trafficking 42.72g of diamorphone (from which heroin is made) into Singapore, and sentenced to death in 2011.

He was set to be hanged on Nov 10, but his lawyers managed to obtain an 11th hour stay, citing the need for a psychiatric assessment, as they claimed he had a borderline intellectual disability with an IQ of 69. The Singaporean authorities, however, argued otherwise.

The 33-year-old was then granted a temporary reprieve, before being granted a further extension on the stay, after catching COVID-19 while under detention at Changi prison.

Ravi told Malaysiakini that Nagaenthran has been incapable of "understanding" the current predicament he is in, and claimed that the inmate has suffered a further decline in his mental health in recent weeks.

Nagaenthran's impending execution had sparked an outcry from various quarters, including anti-death penalty, human rights, and legal groups.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has personally written a letter to his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong for Nagaenthran to be spared the gallows. UN experts and the European Union have also intervened on the inmate's behalf.


Source: Malaysiakini
Photo source: Malaysiakini