KUALA LUMPUR – Singapore has suspended the execution of Malaysian national K. Datchinamurthy, who was scheduled to be hanged today for trafficking 44.96 grams of heroin, his lawyer N. Surendran confirmed.
“At around midnight, the family received a call from Changi Prison informing them that the execution would not proceed this morning,” Surendran was quoted as saying by the NST.
Representing the family, Surendran said they were “praying and hoping for the best possible outcome,” but added that no further details had been provided.
Datchinamurthy was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to death in 2015. His execution, initially set for 2022, was stayed after he mounted a legal challenge against the Singapore government over his death sentence.
Earlier this month, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) highlighted his case along with those of three other Malaysians on death row in Singapore – P. Pannir Selvam, S. Saminathan, and R. Lingkesvaran – urging the Malaysian government to exhaust all diplomatic and legal avenues to protect its citizens facing capital punishment abroad.
On Tuesday, The Straits Times reported that Singapore police were investigating a group of individuals who went to the Istana earlier this month to deliver two letters appealing for clemency on behalf of the four inmates.
In January 2024, Singapore’s High Court rejected applications by Australian King’s Counsel Theodoros Kassimatis and British King’s Counsel Edward Fitzgerald to represent three Malaysian death-row prisoners in their appeals. – September 25, 2025