PUTRAJAYA: The government had appealed for leniency to the Singaporean government regarding the death sentence of Malaysian Prabu N. Pathmanathan for drug trafficking.
The Foreign Ministry said the appeal was made on humanitarian grounds.
“Nevertheless, the Malaysian government wishes to emphasise that it respects the rule of law and due process of the Republic of Singapore,” the ministry said in a statement today.
The ministry also said Prabu’s execution was carried out at the Changi Prison in Singapore at 6.23am today in the presence of family members and also a representative of the High Commission of Malaysia in Singapore, “The High Commission is in communication with the family of the late Prabu on the arrangements for his remains,” it added.
On Dec 31, 2014, Prabu, 31, was sentenced to death for trafficking 227.82g of diamorphine, or heroin, into Singapore.
But Lawyers of Liberty adviser N Surendran, who had been leading efforts to commute Pathmanathan’s sentence, was reported as saying there were doubts surrounding Prabu’s conviction, as the drugs were found in a vehicle driven by another person, and not Prabu.
It was also claimed that the ‘confession’ obtained from Prabu by the prosecution was made under duress.
On Wednesday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said Malaysia will urge Singapore to commute Prabu’s mandatory death sentence to life imprisonment.