The Malaysian citizen set to be hanged for heroine trafficking on Friday has now been given one month to appeal against his conviction and death sentence.

According to the Singapore online publication, The Online Citizen , the Court of Appeal yesterday accepted 21-year-old Yong Vui Kong's application for an extension of time, after an hour-long hearing.

The decision also rules out the Attorney General's application to quash a stay of execution that was granted by the High Court on Dec 5, on the grounds that the decision was "wrong in law".

johor singapore causeway 070905 Yong was arrested in July 2007, and was found guilty of trafficking 42.47gm of the drug in November this year.

He previously withdrew his appeal, but decided to apply for an extension in order to have time to speak to his mother, who still does not know about her son's fate.

Yong's counsel, Ravi Madasamy told the court that his client was under a delusion when he withdrew his appeal earlier, and this should therefore be nullified.

Ravi argued that after 20 months of imprisonment, his client had "become hopelessly confused" about the nature of his appeal, and was under the impression that he had to lie in order to maintain his appeal.

Change of mind due to change in religion

Yong had instructed his previous counsel to withdraw his appeal in a letter which read: "I made this decision because I have come to embrace Buddhism whilst serving sentence and realised that I must not lie and to own up to what I had done."

The prosecution, however, argued that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction over the case as Yong's appeal was technically dismissed when it was withdrawn and his application for clemency has also been rejected.

This was turned down by the court which saw that the case has not run its full course, and that the timing of the clemency application was irrelevant.

The court also accepted that Yong withdrew his appeal under a "misapprehension', and that their judgment was based on provisions in the Supreme Court of Judicature Act.

Ravi said that the appeal will be on the grounds that capital punishment is incompatible with the Singapore Constitution, based on a precedent set in Taiwan and South Korea.

As such, he said, the outcome of the appeal may bear greater legal significance in regard to the mandatory death penalty globally.

The Online Citizen reported that the court was packed with reporters, law students and members of the public.

The mainstream media in Singapore and Malaysia had until yesterday been silent on the case, while the Malaysian High Commission has yet to come forward with a statement.