.JPG "Members of Amnesty International Malaysia protest against the death penalty at the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur July 25, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri")
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — Singapore should immediately stop its plans to execute Malaysian convict Pausi Jefridin on Wednesday who has an IQ of only 67, human rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said today.
The group said the Malaysian who was convicted on a drug trafficking charge should be spared as he falls in the category of a mentally disabled person with his IQ level according to Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
LFL said Singapore would be considered as “deliberately disregarding its international obligations” if it proceeds with executing Pausi tomorrow, as Singapore has acceded or agreed to be bound by the CRPD.
The group noted the international backlash against the Singapore government last November when it maintained its decision to execute another Malaysian citizen similarly convicted on drug trafficking charges, Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam whose IQ was 69 — only two points higher than Pausi’s.
LFL said that imposing the death penalty on persons with mental disability is “contrary to customary international law, inhumane and sickening”.
“Both international law and the Singapore constitution prohibits the execution of anyone who suffers from a mental disorder,” LFL said.
“To further aggravate the matter, the Singapore government only informed Pausi’s family of the execution, on February 9, 2022, barely seven days before execution date, despite knowing full well that the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, inevitably causing great difficulties to travel to Singapore due to the stringent restrictions.
“This rush to execute an intellectually disabled person is unfathomable,” it said.
Pausi is a Sabahan, and his family is said to be from Sabah.
LFL pointed out that the court has yet to hear and decide on Nagaenthran’s court challenge which has raised important questions on the legality of executing a mentally disabled person with an IQ below 70.
“Hence, Pausi who suffers the same condition, must not be executed whilst Nagaenthran’s appeal has yet to be decided.
“It is totally unacceptable to carry out this execution while the Courts have yet to decide on the critical legal and constitutional issues surrounding the execution of mentally disabled persons,” LFL said.
LFL noted that Singaporean Roslan Bakar — whom it described as having a “borderline range of intellectual functioning” — is also scheduled to be hanged tomorrow, which is the same day as Pausi’s scheduled execution.
“We therefore urge the Singapore government to halt Pausi Jefridin and Roslan Bakar’s execution immediately, review his case thoroughly and consider the exercise of Presidential clemency in light of their mental disability and Singapore’s treaty obligations under the CRPD,” LFL said.
According to the human rights movement Transformative Justice Collective’s Twitter thread on February 12, both Pausi and Roslan were arrested in 2008 and sentenced to death in April 2010 over drug trafficking offences.
The movement added the lawyers for Pausi and Roslan had in 2017 applied for them to be resentenced to life imprisonment by arguing that they were couriers and suffered from an abnormality of mind due to reduced intellectual functioning, but Singapore’s High Court and Court of Appeal rejected in 2017 and 2018 their applications for resentencing.
The Transformative Justice Collective movement questioned why there is a “pattern” of persons assessed with low IQ levels ending up on death row, while noting that the families of both Pausi and Roslan were notified of the February 16 execution just seven days on February 9.
The movement urged Singapore to halt their executions.
* An earlier version of this article contained an error which has since been rectified.
