Singapore | Prolific lawyer M Ravi, known for drug death-penalty cases, found dead

Ravi Madasamy, a high-profile lawyer who represented death-row inmates and campaigned against capital punishment, was found dead in the early hours, prompting a police investigation into an unnatural death

KUALA LUMPUR — Prolific Singapore lawyer Ravi Madasamy who tried to save Malaysian drug traffickers from the gallows found dead in the early hours with police investigating a case of unnatural death.

Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who had previously represented 56-year-old Ravi in court and described him as a friend, said he was deeply saddened by the news.

“He has had his struggles but was always true to the cause he fought with all his heart. The cases he argued have helped shape constitutional law in Singapore.

“He has contributed to and will be missed by the legal profession,” Thuraisingam said.

He was fearless in his advocacy and would often push the envelope.

Lawyer Shashi Nathan also paid tribute to Ravi, describing him as a man who had contributed significantly to the law.

“Ravi was often divisive and went against the grain. But deep down I always sensed he had a good heart and wanted the best for his clients.

“He was fearless in his advocacy and would often push the envelope,” he was quoted saying by The Straits Times.

Ravi had spoken openly about his difficult upbringing. He told reporters in 2005 that his father, who died in 2003, was an alcoholic who was frequently in and out of jail.

His mother, a construction labourer who supported the family, died in 2000 at the age of 59.

One of seven siblings, Ravi studied law in Britain after graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993. He began practising law in 1997.

Ravi was involved in several high-profile criminal cases. In 2020, he successfully helped overturn a decision that had reinstated the death penalty for his client, Malaysian national Gobi Avedian.

Gobi had been charged with importing 40.22g of heroin after being caught at Woodlands Checkpoint on Dec 11, 2014. He was initially sentenced in 2017 to 15 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane.

While the prosecution later succeeded on appeal, putting Gobi back on death row, Ravi filed a review application that resulted in the death sentence being set aside and the original sentence reinstated.

He is also widely known for his activism and constitutional challenges, particularly his opposition to Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code, which criminalised sex between men.

In 2020, he argued that it was “absurd and arbitrary” for the law to remain on the statute books given the Government’s policy of non-enforcement in respect of consensual homosexual acts in private. Section 377A was repealed by Parliament in 2022.

Despite his legal contributions, Ravi remained a controversial figure within the legal fraternity.

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2006, he was no stranger to disciplinary proceedings, with past findings citing improper conduct ranging from disruptive courtroom behaviour to the improper handling of clients.

Over the past two decades, he faced sanctions including fines and suspensions, and was eventually struck off the rolls by the Court of Three Judges in two separate matters.

One involved “false and unwarranted attacks” made on Facebook in August 2020 against then President Halimah Yacob, then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former prime minister Goh Chok Tong.

In another case, he was found to have repeatedly interrupted a High Court judge in November 2021 while representing a former SBS Transit bus driver, accusing the judge of bias and falsely claiming his client wished to withdraw the suit.

Investigations later revealed that a paralegal from Ravi’s firm had written to the court stating the client wanted him to continue acting, despite having discharged him.

At the time of his death, Ravi was serving a five-year suspension — the maximum allowed under the law for making what the court described as “baseless and grave” allegations against the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Law Society, arising from comments made to socio-political website The Online Citizen and posts on Facebook in 2020.

Ravi also had a long association with politics and contested the 2015 General Election under the Reform Party banner.

He ran in Ang Mo Kio GRC against Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, securing 21.36 per cent of the vote.

R.I.P — DPN

Source: scoop.my, T. Vignesh, December 24, 2025

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but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

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