The execution of Malaysian K Datchinamurthy in Singapore has been postponed. It was originally planned to happen on Thursday, September 25, at Changi prison.
N Surendran, the inmate’s attorney, said the inmate’s family was notified of the situation by phone after midnight.
“We have no further information at this point. We are praying for the best outcome,” he told FMT.
Datchinamurthy was supposed to be put to death on Thursday for bringing 44.96 grams of diamorphine into the city-state illegally.
He received a death sentence in 2015 after being arrested in 2011. He was set to be put to death in 2022, but he was granted a stay of execution while he filed a lawsuit against the Singaporean government over his death sentence.
Earlier this month, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia called on the government to step in and stop the executions of four Malaysians on Singapore’s death row, including him.
P Pannir Selvam, S Saminathan, and R Lingkesvaran are the other three.
Two King’s Counsels applied to represent Saminathan, Datchinamurthy, and Lingkesvaran in their appeals against their convictions and sentences, but their applications were denied by the Singapore High Court in January 2024.
The Straits Times reported that the court rejected the applications of Edward Fitzgerald from Britain and Theodoros Kassimatis from Australia, who wanted to be admitted to the Singapore Bar on an as-needed basis to represent the prisoners.
