SINGAPORE has executed Malaysian national Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, 38, for trafficking 51.84 grams of heroin into the city-state in 2014, despite years of appeals, legal challenges and calls for clemency from activists and his family.
"Yes, he has been hanged," confirmed his sister, Sangkari Pranthaman, and Singapore-based activist Kirsten Han of the Transformative Justice Collective, speaking to the New Straits Times.
Pannir’s execution is the second involving a Malaysian in Singapore in less than two weeks, following the hanging of another individual on 25 September. His case has drawn regional scrutiny over Singapore’s continued use of the death penalty for drug-related offences.
Under Singaporean law, trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin or 500 grams of cannabis carries a mandatory death sentence. Pannir was convicted by the Singapore High Court on 27 June 2017 for attempting to bring heroin through the Woodlands checkpoint in September 2014.
His legal avenues were exhausted after the Singapore Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in February 2018. A clemency petition to the President of Singapore was also recently rejected. On 6 September, the Court of Appeal turned down a further application for a stay of execution, which was linked to an ongoing disciplinary complaint he had lodged against a former lawyer with the Law Society.
Delivering a written decision on the matter, Judge Woo Bih Li stated: “There is no basis to grant the present application to order a stay of execution. I therefore dismiss it summarily without the need for an oral hearing.”
“In my view, there is nothing exceptional whatsoever about the circumstances of the present case and therefore no basis to exercise the court’s inherent jurisdiction and power to stay the applicant’s execution,” he added.
Despite this, Pannir’s supporters say his case warranted a reprieve. “There was every reason not to kill Pannir,” said Kirsten Han.
“He and his family had cooperated with the authorities to the best of their ability. He had spent his years in prison improving himself — becoming a writer, a poet, an activist. Through his family, he even established an NGO to assist others in need. He had redeemed himself in every way he could.”
Dozens of supporters held a candlelight vigil outside the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on the eve of the execution, urging the Singaporean government to halt the sentence.
In a statement, family lawyer N. Surendran described the recent executions as part of a troubling trend, saying: “Pannir is the second Malaysian in less than two weeks to be executed. The Malaysian government must intervene with Singapore, as there are more Malaysians on death row.”
Singapore also executed 39-year-old Malaysian K. Datchinamurthy last month for a separate drug-related offence.
Rights groups including Amnesty International have consistently condemned Singapore’s approach, calling its use of the mandatory death penalty for non-violent drug offences a breach of international human rights standards. - October 8, 2025
