EU Local Statement on the death penalty case of Mr Prabu N Pathmanathan in Singapore

The European Union Delegation to Singapore issues the following statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission and the Head of Mission of Norway.

 

The European Union (EU) calls on the Singapore authorities to halt the execution of Mr Prabu N Pathmanathan, to commute his sentence to a non-capital sentence and to adopt a moratorium on all executions.
Today, more than two thirds of the countries of the world have become abolitionist in law or practice which confirms a global trend towards abolition of the death penalty. The EU holds a principled position against the death penalty and is opposed to the use of capital punishment under any circumstances. No compelling evidence exists to show that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to crime more efficient than imprisonment. Furthermore, any errors - inevitable in any legal system - are irreversible. The EU will continue supporting the universal trend towards the eradication of the death penalty.

 

Another Malaysian:| Prabu's final message before execution: Stay away from drugs

   

In his final hours behind bars, 31-year-old Malaysian Prabu Pathmanathan, who was executed this morning in Singapore, had a message to share.

A series of images taken during Prabu’s final photoshoot in prison was shared on the Facebook page of Singaporean anti-death penalty advocacy group “We Believe in Second Chances” this afternoon, several hours after his reported hanging for a drug trafficking offence.

Prabu wanted the photos to be shared with the public, as he wanted people to know his story and  "hoped to urge people not to be involved with drugs", the group said in the post.

According to the post, Prabu had conveyed the message to a friend who was the last person to visit him, along with his brother.

On Twitter, Singaporean journalist-activist Kirsten Han said she was informed by Prabu’s friend that the photographs were taken last night.

“From what I know, the prison asks the family to buy/bring the inmate civilian clothes, then they do a photoshoot at some point in the week before execution.

“The photos are then given to the family,” said Han.

The images showed Prabu dressed in a blue T-shirt and white headwrap.

He appeared calm in several photos, while he was captured with a wide smile in others, including one where he held a copy of the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita.

Lawyer N Surendran, who represents Prabu's family, said the execution was in breach of due process.

Surendran, who is also Lawyers for Liberty’s advisor, previously claimed that there were doubts concerning the drug trafficking conviction and noted that the vehicle in which drugs were found was driven by another person, and not Prabu.

Prabu was sentenced to death for committing several acts preparatory to and for the purposes of trafficking 227.82g of diamorphine or heroin into the island state on Dec 31, 2014. - Malaysiakini, 26/10/2018

Singapore really must stop executing people and move towards abolition of the death penalty just like neighboring Malaysia.

Singapore need to emulate Malaysia in becoming a more caring, compassionate and civilized nation. 

Really, to hang a young man for possibly his very first offence is really wrong and unjust. Most likely, it may have been caused by poverty...

The family of 31-year-old Malaysian Prabu N Pathmanathan were informed last week he would be executed on Friday..Prabu, 31, had been sentenced to death for committing several acts preparatory to and for the purposes of trafficking in 227.82g of diamorphine or heroin into the island state on Dec 31, 2014.

Law Minister to appeal to S’pore to commute Malaysian’s death sentence

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Liew Vui Keong will write a letter to the Singapore government to urge it to commute the death sentence of a Malaysian man who is scheduled to be executed on Friday (Oct 26).

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said he hoped that Singapore would commute Prabu Pathmanathan’s sentence to life imprisonment.

Prabu, 31, had been sentenced to death for committing several acts preparatory to and for the purposes of trafficking in 227.82g of diamorphine or heroin into the island state on Dec 31, 2014.

“It will be a sad day. I hope they don’t do it,” he told reporters on Wednesday (Oct 24) when asked what would happen if Singapore went ahead with the execution.

Earlier on Wednesday, Lawyers for Liberty advisor N. Surendran urged Putrajaya to make “urgent and strenuous” efforts to save Prabu from the gallows.
Surendran said Prabu’s family had been informed that the execution would be held at Changi Prison on Friday for alleged drug trafficking.

“The family was only informed of the Friday hanging on Oct 20 via a letter from the Singapore Prison Services, which is less than one week’s notice.

“In the same chilling letter, the family was asked to make the ‘necessary funeral arrangements’,” Surendran said.

According to Surendran, there were doubts surrounding Prabu’s conviction, adding that the drugs was found in a vehicle driven by another person, and not Prabu.

He also claimed that the confessions obtained from Prabu by the prosecution for the trial were made under duress.

The Singapore Anti Death Penalty Campaign also called for the Singapore government to halt the execution of Prabu.

“Not only is it irreversible once an execution takes place, it also creates another set of victims – the loved ones of the executed,” it said in a statement.

On Oct 15, Liew had announced that the Malaysian government would go ahead with plans to completely abolish the death penalty in this country. – Star, 24/10/2018

Human rights groups urge Singapore to halt imminent executions

City-state expected to execute two men, including a Malaysian, following convictions for drug offences.

View through a vehicle window shows cell blocks inside Singapore’s Changi Prison [Vivek Prakash/Reuters]

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Singapore is being urged to halt the planned execution on Friday of two men convicted of drug-related offences amid reports four people were hanged in the city-state in the past three weeks.

The family of 31-year-old Malaysian Prabu N Pathmanathan were informed last week he would be executed on Friday, human rights groups said. Another man is also scheduled to hang but has not been named.

“Singapore authorities must immediately halt plans to kill these men and put a stop to this recent wave of callous executions,” Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Singapore researcher, said in a statement.

Singapore reportedly hanged a man on Wednesday and three others on October 5 also for drug-related offences, the group said.

Lawyers for Liberty, a Kuala Lumpur-based legal firm that specialises in human rights cases, urged the Malaysian government to intervene to stop the hanging.

Executions are usually carried out at dawn at Changi Prison.

“The death penalty is cruel and inhuman and particularly so when used in drugs cases, which results in the execution of drug mules from poor socio-economic backgrounds,” the firm’s N Surendran said in a statement.

‘Barbarity’

Admitting time was “running out”, Surendran and Prabu’s mother and sister delivered an appeal for clemency to Singapore’s president, Halimah Yacob, on Thursday.

“Malaysia has recognised the barbarity of the death penalty and has recently announced its total abolition. Having taken that position, the Malaysian government must do everything possible to save citizens abroad who are facing execution,” it said.

Malaysia’s government that was elected in May has suspended executions and announced its intention to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.

De facto law minister Liew Vui Keong said he would write to the Singapore government to request Prabu’s death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, local media reported on Thursday. Prabu was sentenced to death in relation to the trafficking of 228kg of heroin into the island state at the end of 2014.

“It is time for Singapore to re-establish its moratorium on the death penalty and follow the government of Malaysia’s example,” Amnesty’s Chhoa-Howard said.

Amnesty said it believes Singapore has carried out six executions this year, all in relation to drug-offences. It said there were eight executions last year. Singapore does not publicly disclose information about its use of the death penalty.

Capital punishment was imposed or implemented for drug-related offences in 15 countries last year, but executions for such crimes were recorded in only four – China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

One-hundred and six countries across the world have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. – Al Jazeera, 25/10/2018