PETALING JAYA: Another Malaysian is scheduled to be hanged in Singapore on July 7 for drug trafficking.
Kalwant Singh, 32, was convicted of possession of 60.15gm of diamorphine and trafficking 120.9gm of the drug.
In a Twitter post, Singaporean rights activist Kirsten Han said Kalwant was arrested when he was 23 and has spent the last nine years in prison.
She said Kalwant’s sister Sonia and niece Kellvina tried to visit him earlier this month after not being able to see him since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as financial and health reasons. However, their request was denied.
“When they finally got to Singapore, they asked if they could be allowed an extra visit on Tuesday as visits for death row prisoners were usually on Saturday or Monday but (they) were refused,” she said, citing a video posted by Singaporean reform group Transformative Justice Collective.
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (Adpan) has also commented on the execution notice, saying Singapore’s eagerness to pursue executions for drug offences was a “flagrant disregard for the right to a fair trial”.
“Both the trial court and Court of Appeal found that Kalwant and his co-accused were acting as nothing more than couriers,” it said in a statement.
However, it said, the co-accused was granted a certificate of substantive assistance by police and sentenced to life in prison and 15 strokes of the cane, while Kalwant was sentenced to death.
Adpan has called on Singapore to halt the scheduled execution, impose a moratorium on further executions and bring its law in line with international standards.
Malaysian Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was sent to the gallows in Singapore on April 27 for trafficking heroin.