KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Two Malaysians who are on death row in Singapore for drug trafficking today failed to obtain leave for a judicial review to compel the government to intervene by referring the republic to the International Court of Justice (IJC).
This followed a decision by High Court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah in dismissing the applications by S. Prabagaran, 30, and his mother, V. Eswary, 54, as well as K. Datchinamurthy, 32, and his mother, A. Letchumi, 54,
Hanipah made the decision in chambers in a proceeding attended by their lawyers, N. Surendran and Latheefa Koya, as well as Senior Federal Counsel Datuk Umar Saifuddin Jaafar and Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, who represented the home minister and the government, and lawyer Andrew Khoo, from the Bar Council.
Surendran, when met by reporters, said the applications were dismissed on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in such a case as it involved a policy of a foreign country.
“No cost to order was made as the case involved public interest,” he said, adding that an appeal would be filed soon against today’s decision.
Prabagaran and Datchinamurthy, together with their mothers, filed the application last January 16 and February 3, respectively. They named the home minister and the Malaysian government as respondents.
In their applications, they had sought a mandamus order to compel the respondents to initiate proceedings against Singapore at ICJ, as well as a declaration that they (respondents) are legally obliged to protect and give effect to their (Prabagaran and Datchinamurthy) right to a fair trial.
On July 22, 2014, Prabagaran was found guilty by the Singapore High Court on a charge of trafficking in 22.24gm of diamorphine (heroin) and was sentenced to death on September 22 the same year for the offence.
As for Datchinamurthy, he was found guilty, together with Singaporean J. Christeen, on April 1, 2015, by the Singapore High Court with trafficking in 44.96gm of diamorphine (heroin) and was sentenced to death for the offence the same year.
Prabagaran and Datchinamurthy have used all legal remedies in Singapore, including an appeal to the Singapore Court of Appeal to set aside the death sentence, but claimed they were denied fair trial in the republic. — Bernama
