UN experts urge the government of Singapore immediate end capital punishment

The group of eleven experts of the United Nations condemned the execution in Singapore of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a Malaysian who had an intellectual disability and was a victim of human trafficking, as well as Abdul Kahar bin Othman, a Singaporean national, for drug-related crimes. The UN experts also urged the authorities to stop the execution of another Malaysian man -- Datchinamurthy Kataiah -- for a similar offence and to change his death penalty to adequate prison terms under International human rights law.

UN human rights experts warned Singapore’s continued use of capital punishment for drug-related crimes ran contrary to international law, and urged the Government of Singapore to immediately establish an official moratorium on all executions with a view to fully abolishing the death penalty. 

According to the international law, States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the “most serious crimes’. Under international law, only crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing can be considered as ‘most serious’ and the mandatory use of the death penalty constitutes “an arbitrary deprivation of life”.