A few Members of Parliaments (MPs) from the government are appealing to Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to intervene in the death sentence case against Malaysian national, Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, which is scheduled to be carried out in Singapore tomorrow (February 20).
According to a report by Sinar Harian, Bukit Gelugor MP, Ramkarpal Singh, shared that his party hopes the Malaysian government will request that the Singapore government postpone the execution of the sentence.
“We believe that Pannir is just a ‘drug mule’ and should not be hanged while drug syndicates abroad are still free and may be devising new strategies to recruit victims from Malaysia to carry packages across the border without knowing the contents,”
“Given that the information and cooperation provided by Pannir is essential and important in the investigation process in Malaysia, we appeal to Singapore not to carry out the death sentence against Pannir,” he said during a press conference.
Present to show their support at the press conference were Subang MP, Wong Chen, Bukit Bendera MP; Syerleena Abdul Rashid, Batu MP, P Prabakaran, former Batu Kawan MP, Kasthurri Patto and Pannir’s sister, Angelia Pranthaman.
Also participating were nine NGOs including BERSIH and SUARAM.
They hope to bring Pannir back to Malaysia
Ramkarpal went on to share that they hope Pannir will be brought back to Malaysia to continue his imprisonment so that he can provide information and facilitate the investigation into the case, similar to what Indonesia has previously done.
“As what was displayed by Indonesia, 7 death row prisoners were sent back to their respective countries, five Australians, one woman from the Philippines and one man from France,”
“In this reference, the woman from the Philippines, Mary Jane Veloso, had provided critical information that helped the Philippines police arrest the mastermind of the drug syndicate,” he explained.
He added that Mary Jane Veloso is currently serving her sentence at the Women’s Detention Centre in the Philippines and was not released, following her assistance in capturing the mastermind of the drug syndicate.
“We support the efforts of the Malaysian government, like Singapore, which views the scourge of drug trafficking in the country and the ASEAN region seriously, and is actively hunting down the masterminds of the drug syndicates responsible for destroying society and communities,”
“However, using the death penalty against drug mules in this multi-million Ringgit transaction by a syndicate that is still free to roam is inappropriate,” he said.
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