Malaysia urged to intervene in Pannir Selvam’s execution for drugs in Singapore

Lawmakers in Kuala Lumpur have urged the government to intervene as time runs out for convicted Malaysian Pannir Selvam, who will be executed in Singapore on Thursday for smuggling around 50 grams of heroin into the city state.

Pannir, 30, was sentenced to death in 2017 for importing diamorphine – a potent opioid known as medical heroin – into Singapore in 2014.

The defence has argued that Pannir was a drug courier and not a trafficker. According to Malaysian lawmakers, Pannir had assisted Singapore authorities, which led to the arrest of a Malaysian recruiter for the drug operation.

Singapore’s authorities did not issue Pannir a certificate of substantial assistance. If such a certificate is issued to an accused person facing a capital offence after the person has been determined to be a “courier” and provided substantive assistance, the court has the discretion to sentence the person to life imprisonment with, where applicable, caning.

Singapore has a zero-tolerance approach to drug trafficking, a deterrent the city state says has resulted in it having a fraction of drug use issues which beset other Southeast Asian nations.

Calls for Malaysia’s government to urge Singapore to grant leniency to Pannir have mounted in the past few days.