This week’s newsletter is coming a day late because I wanted to include something that I was involved in on Saturday afternoon. It’s going to be another short one because I want to focus on this (and also need a bit more rest!)
Appealing for compassion
Last month, the Court of Appeal dismissed a constitutional challenge of the presumptions clauses in the Misuse of Drugs Act brought by Datchinamurthy Kataiah, Jumaat Mohamed Sayed, Saminathan Selvaraju, and Lingkesvaran Rajendaren—all four prisoners who have already served between seven to ten years on death row. With the conclusion of this application, there’s nothing keeping the authorities from scheduling their executions.
Yesterday afternoon, Datch and Jumaat’s families signed a joint appeal to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong for clemency on behalf of all four families. Then Datch’s family, accompanied by myself and members of Student Actions for Transformative Justice (SATU), delivered the letters to the Istana mailroom.
The families’ plea notes the recent clemency granted to Tristan Tan Yi Rui, a 33-year-old Singaporean, and urges that President Tharman and PM Wong apply the “same principles of fairness and compassion” to their loved ones. They highlight the injustices and emotional traumas that the prisoners and their families have already experienced, beyond the death sentences: Datch and Sami were among the death row prisoners whose private correspondence had been unlawfully forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and Datch and his family were also put through extra turmoil when he was given an execution notice in 2022 while he was still party to ongoing litigation in relation to this prison correspondence matter. He’d had to argue his own application for a stay of execution just a day before his scheduled hanging, and when the High Court ruled in his favour, the AGC immediately appealed the decision—a move that had Justice Andrew Phang saying that “given that [the consequences] are so dire, frankly I am surprised that the AG is pursuing this appeal”. And while the court has ruled that the Misuse of Drugs Act’s presumption clauses are constitutional, the families reiterated that they are “firmly of the view that the application of the twin presumptions is fundamentally unfair”.
The act of handing a letter or two over at the Istana mailroom—and watching the guards go through their strict security protocols—is rather straightforward and mundane, but clemency pleas are always desperate, fraught endeavours. They’re last-ditch appeals made to powerful men and women who make their decisions in comfortable, air-conditioned environs, insulated from the grisly realities of the gallows in Changi Prison. These powerful, wealthy individuals never have to look people like Datch, Jumaat, Sami or Lingkes in the eye; they occupy positions of privilege and apply subjective judgement to people whose lives have been so, so different from theirs. To aid this decision-making, they will look to the opinion of the AGC, the very government body that prosecuted these men and demanded the death penalty in the first place. It’s an outrageous situation that lets politicians play god, yet prisoners and families have little choice but to beg and pray for a lifeline.
There’s so much about this situation to be devastated by and furious about. Later this month, we’ll be heading to Hong Lim Park again to express our anger (and grief, and the anger that comes from grief) about Singapore’s horrific commitment to state violence and killing. Save the date below, and come join us in demanding an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
📍 Hong Lim Park
📅 29 September 2025, Monday
🕕 7pm–8:30pm
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