Singapore executes a mentally disabled man for trafficking

Singapore on Wednesday executed a Malaysian man with a mental disability condemned for a drug offense.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was hanged for attempting to smuggle less than 43 grams (1.5 ounces) of heroin into Singapore.

The city-state's government has said its use of the death penalty for drug crimes is made clear at the borders.

His case sparked widespread criticism because he was believed to be mentally disabled with an IQ of only 69.

His brother Navin Kumar said the execution had been carried out and said the body would be sent back to Malaysia, where a funeral would be held in the town of Ipoh.

Dharmalingam was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010

The 34-year-old Dharmalingam had been on death row for more than a decade.

His lawyers had filed multiple appeals against his execution but a Singapore court on Tuesday had turned down a last-minute legal challenge put forward by his mother.

At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Dharmalingam and his family reached through a gap in a glass screen to grasp each others' hands tightly as they wept. 

Rights groups condemn the death penalty

"Hanging an intellectually disabled, mentally unwell man because he was coerced into carrying less than three tablespoons of diamorphine is unjustifiable and a flagrant violation of international laws that Singapore has chosen to sign up to," Maya Foa, director of non-governmental organization Reprieve told the Associated Press.

Rights group Amnesty International who previously called the trial "a travesty of justice," said it was "unspeakably heartbroken at this incredible cruelty."

lo/wmr (AP, Reuters)