Summary

  • Lawyer Naran Singh wants the government to take immediate steps to sign a treaty to enable prisoners to serve their sentence in their home country.

  • Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, a Malaysian on death row in Singapore, is schedule for execution on Wednesday.

Lawyer Naran Singh has urged Putrajaya to sign a mutual agreement with Singapore so that prisoners may serve their sentence in their home country.

He told Malaysiakini that this would aid Malaysians on death row in Singapore, such as Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, who is scheduled for execution on Wednesday (Oct 8).

"I would urge the government - especially Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the ministers concerned, and the law minister - to take immediate steps to sign a treaty or mutual agreement with Singapore," he said today.

Earlier today, a group of MPs lobbying for a halt to Pannir's execution called on Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and local authorities to confirm the status of a related investigation here.

Group spokesperson Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh revealed that the death row inmate has provided crucial information that could expose a cross-border drug trafficking network between Malaysia and Singapore.

Save lives

Naran (above) explained that a mutual agreement will spare Malaysian prisoners in Singapore from the death sentence, allowing them to serve a jail term here instead.

In turn, he said, any Singaporeans who have been convicted here can be transferred to the island republic.

He further criticised government politicians who are also practising lawyers for not implementing measures such as this suggestion for a mutual agreement with Singapore.

"They should take immediate steps to save lives, if they’re serious about it," he added.

He added that it is already common knowledge that the law is "static" in Singapore - something the lawyer-politicians should know.

"(In Singapore) a death sentence means a death sentence," he said.

Pannir convicted

The Singapore High Court, on May 2, 2017, convicted Pannir for importing not less than 51.84g of diamorphine into Singapore. He was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty.

Pannir Selvam Pranthaman

The Singapore Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on Feb 9, 2018, and a clemency petition to the Singapore president was rejected.

Pannir was granted a stay of execution twice. The first was in May 2019, on the basis that he intended to challenge the rejection of his clemency petition and the public prosecutor’s decision not to issue a certificate of substantive assistance to him.

The second stay of execution was granted in February 2025, pending the determination of a post-appeal application in a capital case.

The Singapore Court of Appeal dismissed his bid for a stay of execution on Sept 6.

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