Condemned Malaysia drug trafficker Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam’s appeal against his death sentence has been adjourned.
The hearing was scheduled for 24 January and the adjournment was applied for by his new lawyer, Ms Violet Netto, who took over the case from his previous lawyer, M. Ravi.
Nagaenthran is appealing against a decision by the High Court that denied him permission to begin judicial review proceedings challenging his death sentence.
At the time of writing, the new hearing date has yet to be set.
The hearing was going to be heard by a panel of five judges, including Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justices Andrew Phang, Judith Prakash, Belinda Ang and Chao Hick Tin.
Recap
Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 with 42.72 grams of heroin strapped to his thigh and convicted in 2010, he was then sentenced to the mandatory death penalty.
His appeals against his sentence and conviction were dismissed in 2011 and he applied in 2015 to be resentenced to life in prison following a change in the law.
However, his death sentence was upheld in 2017 following evidence provided by psychiatric and psychological experts.
Nagaenthran then made a last-hour attempt to challenge his death sentence on 10 November, citing mental disabilities.
However, it was dismissed and he then filed an appeal against it.
He then tested positive for Covid-19 on the day of his appeal hearing and was granted a stay of execution, and the hearing was then subsequently adjourned.