Minister in the Prime Minister's department Nazri Aziz cannot be faulted for not wanting to interfere in Singapore's legal process over the case of a young Malaysian facing the gallows in the republic, said renowned jurist and human rights expert Param Cumaraswamy.

param cumaraswamy interview judiciary crisis 060808 05 Param, ( right ) who is former UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, said Nazri was often known for his "irrational public statements".

"Yet in this case he cannot be faulted as Malaysia and Singapore provide for the death penalty in their sentencing laws including making it mandatory for drug trafficking," he told Malaysiakini .

"Both countries are members of Asean which enshrines the policy of non-interference in its charter," he added.

Param was responding to Nazri's recent statement that he was not aware of 22-year-old Yong Vui Kong's pending execution across the causeway.

Yong, who was only 19, when arrested for trafficking in 47g of heroin into the republic, was scheduled to be hanged in December last year but his Singaporean lawyer M Ravi had applied for a stay of execution pending his appeal for clemency.

Ravi, a well-know human rights lawyer, claimed the rejection of  clemency plea, by Singapore's president SR Nathan earlier was flawed, and urged Malaysia to take the case to the International Court of Justice.

‘Harsh, cruel and degrading'

Param clarified that this was not a case for invoking the jurisdiction of ICJ, whose main functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorised international organs, agencies, and the UN General Assembly.

He added that to date, Malaysia and Singapore have not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, although the latter does not prohibit the use of the death penalty.

"It only encourages states to abolish this penalty. Many have abolished it. When imposed mandatorily without regard to the offender's personal circumstances nor the circumstances of the offence, it would constitute arbitrary deprivation of life," said Param.

"This penalty is considered cruel, harsh and degrading under international law," he added.

Param had recently been named a member of independent experts mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council to monitor Israeli and Palestinian investigations into violations of international humanitarian and human rights law reported by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

parliament gobind singh ban over nazri mistake 251108 01 Meanwhile, N Surendran, anti-death penalty and human rights lawyer, said it was "amazingly astonishing" that Nazri, ( left )the de facto law minister, has feigned ignorance of the case.

The case, he added, is "high profile" and found it difficult to believe that Nazri had no prior knowledge of it.

But Nazri, he added, can be considered to have committed gross neglect of  his responsibility as law minister if he washes his hands of this case.

"Yong's Singaporean lawyer has said that the clemency process was illegal and flawed," said the lawyer, who represents human rights group, Lawyers for Liberty.

"Here, something illegal has been done against a young Malaysian citizen, Nazri's ignorance shows that this is gross abdication of his duty as law minister," added Surendran.