Media Statement – 21/2/2025
King, PM And Government Must Act Speedily To Save Malaysian Pannir Selvam’s Life Recalling How Nagaenthran Was Executed The Day After The Court Heard And Dismissed His Application
Singapore’s Obligation To Follow UNGA Resolution – Moratorium of Execution
Whilst Malaysian convicted drug trafficker Pannir Selvam, who was scheduled to be executed to death today (20/2/2025) had been TEMPORARILY stayed by the Singapore Court of Appeal at the eleventh hour, pending the hearing and disposal of the Pannir’s application/s to the court, there is nothing to be happy about as immediately after the application is disposed of, he can still be taken to be hanged to death speedily. This may happen very fast. Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was executed the day after the Court dismissed his application.
Philippines saves its citizen from being executed by Indonesia
In November 2024, Philippines managed to save a life of a citizen, convicted for drug trafficking, from being executed by Indonesia. Mary Jane got a reprieve, a postponement of the carrying out of the sentence, and in December, she was transferred back to Philippines.
‘The dramatic turn of events began last month, when in an unusual last-ditch effort to delay Veloso’s death, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that a deal had been reached for Indonesia to send Veloso home after a decade of pleading from Manila. “Mary Jane Veloso is coming home,” Marcos said in a statement. “Arrested in 2010 on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to death, Mary Jane’s case has been a long and difficult journey.” AP, 15/12/2024
MADPET(Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) hopes that Malaysia too, will be able to achieve the same, and save the life of Pannir Selvam and bring this Malaysian home. Or at the vey least get his sentence commuted to imprisonment.
In the past, the Malaysian government acted so that Malaysians facing the death penalty will be saved from execution.
Has PM, our King and the Government tried to save Pannir? Tell us
In case of Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, who was finally executed 27/4/2022, the then Prime Minister, our King and the Malaysian government put in some effort to save him.
"In the first attempt last year, the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) and myself wrote to our counterparts in Singapore. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong also appealed to the Singapore president, seeking clemency for Nagaenthran. "A few days before the sentencing (last week), the Prime Minister and myself sent another letter to Singapore's prime minister (Lee Hsien Loong) and foreign minister (Vivian Balakrishnan) proposing a prisoner exchange programme," he [Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah] said. Saifuddin said the Singapore government had replied to all appeal letters sent by Malaysia. – NST, 30/4/2022.
Letters may not be enough, maybe there is a need for a face to face meeting or something more. What will Malaysia do if its request to Singapore to not execute Pannir is refused? Remember, a convicted criminal must be punished, and all that we are asking is for Singapore not to execute Pannir to death. Should Anwar Ibrahim, on an urgent basis, fly down and meet with Singapore’s leaders to save Pannir?
A government should be concerned for ALL its people.
Should not Singapore follow the UNGA Resolution – moratorium on executions?
Singapore is a UN Member State, and there is a UN General Assembly Resolution that calls for a moratorium on executions pending abolition of the death penalty, which obtained two-third majority in December 2024. 130 UN member states voted in favor of the resolution, while 32 voted against and 22 abstained. Malaysia voted in favour but sadly Singapore voted against.
Singapore may take time to abolish the death penalty, but at the very least in a spirit of democratic respect to the United Nations, Singapore should immediately impose a moratorium on executions.
The acting against Resolutions democratically passed is wrong, and an indication of disrespect to the institution, and in this case also the 130 UN Member states that voted in favour.
MADPET calls on PM Anwar Ibrahim, our King and the government of Malaysia to act fast to save the life of Malaysian Christian Pannir Selvam. If Philippines can do it, so can Malaysia. There is no time to dilly-dally.
MADPET also calls on Singapore to forthwith impose a moratorium on all executions, in compliance the United Nations General Assembly Resolution which was adopted on 17/12/2024.
MADPET calls for ASEAN to clearly take the position of the imposition of a moratorium on execution pending the abolition of the death penalty.
MADPET also calls for a review of Drug Laws that criminalizes drug trafficking, to ensure that the duty of proving elements of the crimes should remain with the prosecution/State. The legal presumption that one is a ‘drug trafficker’ if one is caught in possession with above a certain weight of drugs unless they can prove otherwise is unjust and EVIL. It is near impossible for any accused to be able to prove that he/she is not a drug trafficker, more so without the State Resources available to prosecution. Legal presumptions should most definitely NEVER be used for crimes that carry the death penalty.
MADPET calls for the abolition of death penalty, and for the death sentence of Pannir Selvam be commuted to imprisonment.
MADPET prays that Pannir Selvam not be executed immediately after if the Court of Appeal decides to dismiss his application, like what happened in the case of Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam. If this happens, then the right to appeal and even the right to Petition for Pardon is denied.
Charles Hector
For and on behalf of MADPET(Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)
See also:-
PM Anwar Ibrahim’s cares about Najib’s sufferings in prison but does Malaysia also care about Malaysians overseas at threat of being executed to death like Pannir Selvam..(MADPET)
Malaysia votes in favour again in 2024 UNGA Resolution for moratorium on executions pending abolition of death penalty
Filipino woman on Indonesia death row recalls a stunning last minute reprieve and ‘miracle’ transfer
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso knelt to pray when officers came to take her to an execution site in May 2015, just a few feet away from her isolation cell on an Indonesian prison island, where a 13-member firing squad was waiting.
While she prayed, the Philippines government was wrapping up a lengthy legal battle over her fate. Veloso’s life was ultimately spared — temporarily — by Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office, which issued a stay of execution shortly before Veloso was to be executed with eight other death row inmates.
“Lord, many people there believe that I am guilty, but many people out there believe that I am innocent. Lord, You are the One who knows everything, You knew that I am innocent, so I beg You, please prove that by saving me,” Veloso recalled praying in a tearful interview with The Associated Press at a female prison in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.
Duped into becoming a drug courier
The reprieve aimed to provide an opportunity for Veloso’s testimony to expose how a criminal syndicate duped her into being an unwitting accomplice and courier in drug trafficking.
Shock washed over Veloso as a group of officials from the attorney general’s office informed her of the stay just as she was being led out to the execution site on Nusakambangan prison island. In tears, she remembered a cocoon she saw the previous night hanging from a tree branch near her cell.
“In the Philippines we believe that if there is a cocoon, there will be a new life,” Veloso said. “That means I will not be executed because God will give me a new life.”
Veloso, now 39, was arrested in 2010 at the airport in the Indonesian ancient city of Yogyakarta, where officials discovered about 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin hidden in her luggage. The single mother of two sons was convicted and sentenced to death.
Veloso has maintained her innocence throughout her 14 years of incarceration. She has spent her time in prison designing Indonesian batik clothing, painting, tailoring and learning interior design and other skills.
Veloso was granted a stay of execution because her alleged boss was arrested in the Philippines, and the authorities there requested Indonesian assistance in pursuing a case against her. The woman, who allegedly recruited Veloso to work in Kuala Lumpur, Maria Kristina Sergio, surrendered to police in the Philippines just two days ahead of her scheduled execution.
The dramatic turn of events began last month, when in an unusual last-ditch effort to delay Veloso’s death, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that a deal had been reached for Indonesia to send Veloso home after a decade of pleading from Manila.
“Mary Jane Veloso is coming home,” Marcos said in a statement. “Arrested in 2010 on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to death, Mary Jane’s case has been a long and difficult journey.”
A practical arrangement
A “practical arrangement” between Indonesia and the Philippines was signed on Dec. 6, to send Veloso home, which is expected before Christmas.
Although there is no treaty between the countries, Indonesia and the Philippines are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the transfer of convicts in the ASEAN region is in accordance with the bloc’s Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, said Raul Vasquez, the undersecretary at the Department of Justice of the Philippines, after the signing ceremony.
Indonesia’s Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for law, human rights, immigration and corrections, lauded the transfer agreement as a “historic milestone” between Indonesia and the Philippines, and part of the new administration of President Prabowo Subianto’s “good neighbor” policy.
Once repatriated, Mahendra said, if the Philippines want to pardon Veloso or grant clemency, “that is entirely their authority in which we must also respect,” the minister added. The Philippines, Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation, has abolished the death penalty.
‘Like a miracle’
Veloso described the decision as being “like a miracle when I have lost all hope.”
“For almost 15 years I was separated from my children and parents, and I could not see my children grow up,” she said, her eyes filled with tears. “I wish to be given an opportunity to take care of my children and to be close to my parents.”
Born in Cabanatuan, a city in Nueva Ecija province, Veloso was the youngest of five siblings of a family who lived in extreme poverty. Her father worked as a seasonal agricultural worker on a sugar cane plantation and her mother collected discarded bottles and plastic to sell to junk shops. Veloso dropped out of school in her first year of high school and married her husband when she was just 16 years old.
The couple later separated and she became a single mother to two young sons, forcing her to emigrate to Dubai in 2009 to work as maid. She returned to the Philippines before the end of her two-year contract after an attempted rape by her employer. A year later, Veloso was recruited by Sergio to be employed as a domestic servant in Malaysia but later was shifted to Indonesia.
Major drug smuggling hub
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.
Indonesia’s last executions were carried out in July 2016, when an Indonesian and three foreigners were shot by firing squad.
There are about 530 people on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed as of last month. The Indonesian government recently agreed in principle to return five Australian nationals and a French national to their home countries.
“I was not a good Catholic before, and prison has changed my life into a skilled person who has become closer to God,” Veloso said. “I am ready to build a new life, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.”
___
Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. - AP, 15/12/2024
Nagaenthran's execution no threat to diplomatic ties
KUANTAN: Malaysia's diplomatic ties with Singapore is unshaken following the execution of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam for drug trafficking on April 27, despite pleas by various quarters including the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah for clemency.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah said both countries mutually understood the need for each government to always uphold the rule of law.
"This is not the first time a Malaysian is serving the death penalty in Singapore. We abide by Singapore's legal system.
"Diplomatic ties between both Malaysia and Singapore are not affected as we understand the needs of each country to uphold the supremacy of the law," he said when met after the 'MyRakyat Sentuhan Kasih Aidilfitri' programme at Wisma Belia Indera Mahkota here today.
Saifuddin said prior to Nagaenthran's execution, the Malaysian government had pleaded for Singapore to pardon the 34-year-old or at least reduce his sentence.
"In the first attempt last year, the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) and myself wrote to our counterparts in Singapore. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong also appealed to the Singapore president, seeking clemency for Nagaenthran.
"A few days before the sentencing (last week), the Prime Minister and myself sent another letter to Singapore's prime minister (Lee Hsien Loong) and foreign minister (Vivian Balakrishnan) proposing a prisoner exchange programme," he said.
Saifuddin said the Singapore government had replied to all appeal letters sent by Malaysia.
On the possibility of implementing the International Prisoner Exchange Programme with Singapore to avoid future executions involving other Malaysians, Saifuddin, who is also the Indera Mahkota member of parliament, said currently there was no agreement in place and a proposal on the matter needs to be put forward.
"I believe Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin is looking into the details on how the programme can be implemented. It might be successful to be implemented in the future, but we are prepared to start talks on the exchange programme," he said.
Nagaenthran was executed in Singapore on April 27 after the last-ditch legal challenge by his mother proved futile in the high-profile case which attracted international calls for clemency.
Nagaentharan, an intellectually impaired man with an IQ of 69, was on death row for more than a decade for trafficking 44 grams (1.5 oz) of heroin into Singapore in 2009.
His case had drawn the support of foreign personalities, including British business magnate Sir Richard Branson as well as actor and writer Stephen Fry, who sent out a powerful plea to Singapore to spare his life.
The Singapore court rejected his last appeal against the death sentence imposed for drug trafficking on March 29 before he was executed in Singapore's Changi prison.
His remains were buried in Buntong, Ipoh, yesterday.
On the 'MyRakyat Sentuhan Kasih Aidilfitri' programme in his constituency, Saifuddin said the event organised by the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) saw people arriving as early as 7am to purchase various products for the festive season including beef and chicken.
He said during the 'happy hour' at the programme, special discounts will be provided to customers.- NST, 30/4/2022
Singapore court grants Malaysian death row inmate Pannir Selvam 11th hour stay to execution meant to happen today
SINGAPORE, Feb 20 — Singapore Court of Appeal on Wednesday has granted Malaysian death row inmate Pannir Selvam Pranthaman a stay of execution just hours before he was scheduled to be executed on Thursday (Feb 20).
Judge of the Appellate Division Woo Bih Li, in his judgment, said the stay was granted pending the determination of Pannir Selvam’s Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases (PACC) application.
Woo granted Pannir Selvam permission to make a PACC application under Section 60(G) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969 (SCJA) without it being set down for hearing.
PACC are applications filed by a prisoner awaiting capital punishment (PACP) after all avenues have been exhausted. Pannir Selvam represented himself in the submission.
Woo said that he granted Pannir Selvam permission to make a PACC application on the grounds that he has a pending complaint with the Law Society of Singapore against his former counsel Ong Ying Ping, as well as a pending determination of another case on constitutional challenge related to Singapore’s drug laws.
The judge said in arriving at the decision, he has considered Pannir Selvam’s affidavit and written submission on February 17, as well as his further written submissions on February 18.
Woo also considered the Attorney-General (AG)’s written submissions and the Senior Director in the Policy Development Division of the Home Ministry, Sanjay Nanwani’s affidavit on February 18.
Pannir Selvam was convicted by the High Court on May 2, 2017 for the capital offence of importing 51.84g of diamorphine into Singapore under section 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 (MDA).
He was not granted a Certificate of Substantial Assistance (CSA) by the Public Prosecutor and was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty.
Since then, he had exhausted all legal avenues available under Singapore law.
Singapore’s PACC Act, which came into effect on June 28, 2024, allows PACP to make post-appeal applications, which can only be heard by the Court of Appeal.
The PACP must first apply for permission from the court to make a PACC Application.
If permission is granted, the PACC Application must be made to the Court of Appeal within three days from the date of approval.
The Court of Appeal will then determine the PACC Application. — Bernama, Malay Mail, 20/2/2025
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