Datchinamurthy Kataiah, a Malaysian man supposed to be hung in Singapore, has been granted a reprieved

A second Malaysian citizen, 36, who was slated to be hung in Singapore, was given bail and reprieved.

According to reports, the young man, known as Datchinamurthy Kataiah, was scheduled to be hung on Friday in Singapore. Kataiah’s planned execution occurred only days after the killing of a Malaysian man who generated international outrage because he was thought to be mentally ill.

His lawyer, M. Ravi, previously stated that the Court of Appeal granted a stay of execution awaiting a legal appeal on May 20.

According to anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han, Datchchinamurthy is involved in a civil lawsuit involving 13 death row inmates who are challenging the prison department’s sending of copies of their prison communications to the attorney general’s office without their authorization.

Datchinamurthy defended himself in court on Thursday, according to Ravi and Han, because no lawyer wanted to handle the case for fear of government retaliation. If they lose, lawyers who take on late-stage death row cases are frequently accused of manipulating court processes and may be forced to pay enormous charges sought by the attorney general’s office, according to them.

In 2011, Datchinamurthy was caught and found guilty of smuggling 45 grams (1.6 ounces) of heroin into Singapore. Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, a Malaysian, had been on death row for nearly a decade before being hung on Wednesday. Singapore’s government claims that its usage of the death sentence for drug offenses is made apparent to visitors.

Nagaenthran’s friends and attorneys said he had a 69-point IQ and was intellectually impaired, and that the killing of a mentally sick individual was illegal under international human rights legislation.

The European Union and worldwide luminaries such as British business magnate Richard Branson pleaded for his sentence to be commuted, but Singapore courts found that he was aware of his activities at the time of his crime.

Singapore had put a two-year moratorium on executions because to the COVID-19 outbreak before reinstating them in March with the execution of a drug trafficker.