A COURT in Singapore on Tuesday (9) stayed the execution of a 33-year-old Malaysian man of Indian origin who has been convicted of drug trafficking after he tested positive for Covid-19.
The high court had on Monday (8) suspended the scheduled execution of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam until an appeal was heard during an online hearing. He was to be hanged at Changi Prison for drug trafficking on Wednesday (10).
Dharmalingam has been on death row for 11 years and was produced at the Court of Appeal for the hearing of a last-ditch appeal against his death sentence, Channel News Asia said in a report.
He was later taken away and a judge told the court that the former had tested Covid positive.
Justice Andrew Phang, who appeared with fellow judges Judith Prakash and Kannan Ramesh, said, “this is rather unexpected.” He also said that the court was of the view that it was not appropriate to proceed, “given the circumstances”.
“The execution is scheduled for tomorrow,” Justice Phang said.
“... If the applicant has been afflicted by COVID-19 ... it’s our view that the execution cannot take place anyway,” the judge said.
Justice Phang adjourned the hearing to a date yet to be fixed and stayed the execution until proceedings are concluded.
Lawyer M Ravi had taken up Dharmalingam’s case at the eleventh hour, ahead of his scheduled hanging on Wednesday. His court application on Monday for a judicial review of the case on grounds of Dharmalingam’s purported mental disability was dismissed but the judge granted a temporary stay of his execution until after Ravi appealed against the dismissal.
Ravi was seen hugging a fellow counsel after the stay of execution was announced, according to a Channel News Asia report.
No other details of when Dharmalingam tested positive for Covid-19 were given, according to the channel.
The man was sentenced to death in 2010 for importing 42.72 gram of heroin into Singapore in 2009 in a bundle-strapped to his thigh.
The case drew international attention as Dharmalingam’s impending execution neared, with an online petition against his death sentence drawing about 70,000 signatures as of Tuesday and coverage by international media.
Malaysia’s prime minister wrote to his Singapore counterpart on the matter and human rights groups as well as Virgin Group founder Richard Branson also weighed in on the issue.
A Palestinian boy carrying a bag over his shoulder walks through a heavily damaged street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 31, 2026. Hamas said on July 31, 2026, it had agreed to a deal announced by the US president to end its war with Israel, which includes it handing over its weapons to a Palestinian governing committee and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Getty Images
Protesters trample on photographs of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, along with Israeli and U.S. flags during a rally in Caracas on July 24, 2026, protesting the presence and influence of the United States and Israel in the country, one month after the June 24 earthquakes. Recovering from the earthquakes in Venezuela will take years, the Red Cross said on July 24, one month on from the June 24 disaster that killed more than 5,000 people. Getty Images
