Singapore | Pannir set to be executed on Feb 20

His former lawyer, M Ravi, says the only recourse now is for the Malaysian government to file an urgent application to the International Court of Justice challenging the execution.

PETALING JAYA: Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, the 38-year-old Malaysian convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore, will be executed on Thursday (Feb 20), according to his former lawyer, M Ravi.

In a Facebook post today, Ravi said Pannir’s sister told him that she had received a letter from the prison today confirming his execution in four days.

Ravi claimed that during his time representing Pannir in 2020, Singapore’s prison authorities improperly forwarded confidential information on 13 inmates to the Singapore Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“Several of these letters involved privileged communications between the inmates and their lawyers,” he said.

The Singapore Court of Appeal later ruled that both the AGC and the Singapore Prison Service acted unlawfully in the matter.

“This has certainly undermined the administration of the death penalty in Singapore.

“The breach is egregious under international law especially when it involves interference with privileged solicitor-client information,” he said.

Ravi said Pannir had assisted the authorities in this case, but the prosecution did not certify his cooperation, leading to the judge’s imposition of the mandatory death penalty in 2017.

Pannir was convicted on June 27, 2017 by the Singapore High Court for trafficking 51.84g of diamorphine at the Woodlands checkpoint on Sept 3, 2014.

Ravi said Pannir’s only recourse now is for the Malaysian government to urgently file an application at the International Court of Justice to challenge his execution under international human rights law.

Those interested in signing the petition for the Malaysian government to support the commutation of Pannir’s death sentence can visit the link here.

Source: freemalaysiatoday.com, Staff, February 16, 2025

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