KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian man who is on death row in Singapore for drug trafficking has filed a judicial review to compel the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Malaysian government to institute proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop his execution.
S. Prabagaran, 30, and his mother V. Eswary, 54, had through their lawyer N. Surendran, filed the legal action at the High Court registry today.
The applicants are seeking for a mandamus order to direct the respondents (Foreign Minister and government) to institute legal proceedings against Singapore in the ICJ in Prabagaran's case.
They are also seeking for a declaration that the respondents are legally obliged to protect Prabagaran's right to a fair trial.
On July 22, 2014, Prabagaran was convicted in the High Court of Singapore of trafficking 22.24g of diamorphine (heroin), an offence under Section 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) and was sentenced to death on Sept 22, the same year.
He then appealed at the Court of Appeal to set aside his death sentence, but his motion was dismissed on Dec 2, last year.
Surendran said his client has exhausted all domestic legal remedies in Singapore and a fair trial process has been denied to him there.
"This is why Malaysia has to take this case to the ICJ, saying that a fair trial process was denied to the first applicant (Prabagaran) in Singapore.
Surendran said he strongly urges the government and the Foreign Minister to take action before the application is heard.
"His mother (Eswary) had sent a memorandum to the Foreign Ministry, but there was no response, therefore we had no choice, we had to go to court," he added.