Drug Trafficker Hanged This Morning, the 5th Person to be Hanged in S’pore in 2022

By
Charleen Teh
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On 22 July, at 6am in the morning, another drug trafficker met his maker.

This is the fifth death row inmate who has been hanged this year.

The Last Minute Appeal

On 15 July, the execution date of 22 July 2022 was set for death row inmate Nazeri bin Lajim.

Three days before his execution, Nazeri submitted a last-minute appeal, asking for a stay of execution.

On 21 July, the 64-year-old Singaporean stood before the court via a video link.

He was bald, dressed in a white top, and wore round glasses with thick black frames.

He had no legal representative. He spoke in Malay, so he made his case through a court interpreter.

Justice Andrew Phang Boon Leong, Justice Tay Yong Kwang and Justice Belinda Ang presided over the hearing.

In his plea, Nazeri asked the judges for a stay of execution and stated that he needed more time to seek legal counsel as his former legal counsel, M Ravi, is not currently practising law.

The inmate added that he had a “big family” and some of his 10 siblings have yet to make the time to visit him, since some of them were out of the country.

He implored the judges to exercise their “honest compassion” by granting his appeal, adding that a stay of execution by one or two weeks would give him a “sense of relief”.

Appeal Dismissed by Court

The court spent two hours deliberating before Judge Pang delivered the Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss Nazeri’s application.

Justice Phang pointed out that Nazeri had filed his original application a mere three days ago on 19 July, after he was notified about his execution date.

Furthermore, it was “time-barred”, which meant that it was submitted past the acceptable window period.

There was no reason why the application could not have been filed earlier, hence Justice Phang found that it was “clearly an abuse of process” to impede Nazeri’s execution from being out on its scheduled date.

Ah, it’s the same phrasing from the Nagaenthran Dharmalingam’s case.

The Court of Appeal would take the appellants’ attempts to seek legal counsel into consideration, if they were reasonable, but Nazeri’s appeals were “entirely devoid of factual basis”.

Justice Phang also noted that Nazeri has been afforded due processes in a fair manner in accordance with the law, saying, “There must come a point in time that the appellant accepts the consequences of his actions.”

In spite of the delivered judgement, Nazeri begs the judge through his interpreter one last time, asking, “Why can’t I even be given a stay of one to two weeks?

“Please exercise some sympathy on me, I know that I am an elderly person, I know I have to die,” the 64-year-old Singaporean adds.

Alas, there is no sympathy for the guilty.

Justice Pang reiterated the Court of Appeal’s decision was made in accordance with the law.

“I am afraid that there’s nothing we can do; the decision is final.”

The Crime Committed by Nazeri bin Lajim

From the court documents, Nazeri was found in possession of two bundles of drugs containing not less than 35.41g of diamorphine on 13 April 2012.

While the court made an amendment to the amount of diamorphine—otherwise known as heroine—to take in account the fact that Nazeri intended to keep some drugs for his own personal consumption instead of trafficking it, the amount of diamorphine remaining still warranted the death penalty.

In 2017, he was found guilty of trafficking not less than 33.39g of diamorphine and was subsequently sentenced to death on 21 September of the same year.

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Appeals were made in July 2018 and April 2021, but both applications were dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

At least two pleas for clemency for Nazeri have been put forward. The most recent letter was delivered by his younger sister, Nazira bin Lajim, to the Istana, the President’s residence.

It was summarily rejected on 6 May 2022.

Nazeri’s family were told about Nazeri’s schedule execution on 15 July, according to lawyer M Ravi and social activist Kristen Han.

Nazeri bin Lajim was hanged on 22 July 2022, at 6am.

Singaporean Abdul Kahar Othman, 68, was hanged on 30 March for drug trafficking. A month later, on 27 April, Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, was hanged. Early this month, on 7 July, Kalwant Singh, a Malaysian, was hanged.

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Charleen Teh
Email: [email protected]