No regrets, says Singapore rights lawyer M Ravi after 5-year suspension

M Ravi says he chose to dedicate his legal career to the cause of human rights and access to justice in Singapore.

Prominent human rights lawyer M Ravi was today suspended for five years after a court in Singapore said he had made "grave and baseless accusations of improper conduct" against the republic's attorney-general as well as officers from the AG's Chambers and the Singapore Law Society.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon delivered the decision, the maximum sanction possible for misconduct on the part of lawyers, Channel NewsAsia reported.

Ravi, who had made a name for himself representing prisoners on death row, including Malaysian inmates in Singapore, was suspended over remarks he gave in an interview on the case of a drug runner named Gobi Avedian.

He said the public prosecutor had been "overzealous in his prosecution" of Gobi, blaming this for the death sentence later handed down on his client.

According to the report, he also asked the state, the prosecutor and the Singapore law minister to apologise to Gobi, adding that "the fairness of the prosecution was 'called into question by the court itself'".

When asked to retract his remarks, he published the letter from the AG's Chambers on social media, saying he was entitled to criticise "the unfairness associated to the miscarriage of justice".

Responding to his suspension, he said he was glad that he had managed to reopen a death penalty case and save "at least one life", referring to that of Gobi.

"I have choices," he added. "I chose to dedicate my 20 years to the cause of human rights and access to justice in Singapore at huge personal cost.

"I have no regrets."

Ravi represented, among others, Malaysian Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam who was controversially executed in Singapore for a drug offence last April.

Nagaenthran, who had been diagnosed with a low IQ that made him unfit for capital punishment, was hanged on April 27.

Ravi and fellow lawyer Violet Netto were later slapped with S$20,000 in fines after they were accused of not following the standards expected of a lawyer in filing the 11th hour applications in court to save Nagaenthran’s life.

Ravi had also faced a string of professional disciplinary inquiries which could result in him being fined, suspended or struck off as a lawyer, including 3 contempt of court proceedings as well as a number of police investigations.

He and another fellow lawyer were also ordered to pay S$10,000 in personal costs to the attorney-general over an ethnic discrimination suit filed by 17 Malay death row convicts.

The judge said then that Ravi had pursued the suit even when told that it had not received consent from the attorney-general.

Source: malaysianow.com, Staff, March 22, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

TELEGRAM

TWITTER

CONTACT: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement. “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again. Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams. Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

USA | Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?

New drugs and medical treatments undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective for public use. Under federal and state regulations, this testing typically involves clinical trials with human subjects, who face significant health and safety risks as the first people exposed to experimental treatments. That is why the law requires them to be fully informed of the potential effects and give their voluntary consent to participate in trials. Yet these regulations have not been followed when states seek to use novel and untested execution methods — subjecting prisoners to potentially torturous and unconstitutionally painful deaths. Some experts and advocates argue that states must be bound by the ethical and human rights principles of biomedical research before using these methods on prisoners.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog