JOHOR BARU, Nov 2 — The Singapore High Commission today clarified that the photoshoot involving convicted drug trafficker Prabu N. Pathmanathan in the week before his execution was done at his request.
In a statement, the Singapore High Commission said that the photos were given only to Prabu’s family.
The commission denied earlier claims by lawyer N. Surendran who criticised the Singapore government for conducting a photoshoot the week before Prabu’s execution.
“There have been media reports on the photoshoot of Mr Prabu. The High Commission would like to clarify that the photoshoot was carried out only upon Mr Prabu’s request and only Mr Prabu’s family was given the photos,” read the six-paragraph statement.
On October 26, Surendran slammed the Singapore government for taking Malaysian citizen Prabu to a photoshoot the week before the latter’s execution.
He said the practice was “macabre”, and did not absolve Singapore from carrying out the capital punishment despite pleas for leniency.
The Singapore High Commission’s statement also addressed an October 26 statement by the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Ministry that Prabu’s family and a Malaysian High Commission representative bore witness to the execution.
“The (Singapore) High Commission would like to clarify that, in accordance with standard procedures, no family members or representatives of the High Commission of Malaysia in Singapore were present during the execution,” it said.
The statement also touched on the media issue of Prabu’s clemency petition, saying he was accorded full due process under the law, and was given access to legal counsel throughout the process.
“There is no international consensus against the use of the death penalty when it is imposed according to due process of law.
“The issue of capital punishment is a question that every State has the sovereign right to decide for itself, taking into account its own circumstances.
“Singapore respects the sovereign right of other States to determine their own legal systems and expects the same in return,” read the statement.
Prabu, a convicted Malaysian drug trafficker, was executed on October 26 and the episode sparked fresh calls to scrap the death penalty, a legacy of British colonial rule.
Last month, the Cabinet decided to abolish the death penalty.
It was reported on October 24 that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong had planned to write a letter to the Singapore government to urge it to commute Prabu’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
Prabu was sentenced to hang for committing several acts preparatory to and for the purposes of trafficking in 227.82g of diamorphine or heroin into the island state on December 31, 2014.
