Singapore - (AFP) - Singapore on Wednesday carried out the death penalty against a Malaysian with a mental disability, according to what his sister announced, after a long legal battle and despite a great international mobilization to support him.

It was Naganthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for smuggling a small amount of heroin upon entering Singapore, which has among the world's most stringent anti-drug laws, and was sentenced to death the following year.

This decision sparked widespread criticism due to concerns about his intellectual disability.

Calls for clemency for the convict multiplied, from the European Union to the British billionaire Richard Branson.

The long legal battle, which lasted more than ten years, ended last month with the rejection of a final appeal, after the judges rejected the defense's argument that the execution of a mentally handicapped man violated international law.

His sister, Sarmila Dharmalingam, who is in Malaysia, told AFP that Naganthran, 34, was executed early in the morning, condemning "Singapore's implementation of the death penalty (...) despite international calls for clemency for him."

"We are very saddened by the execution of our brother and the family is shocked," she added.
The anti-execution NGO Reprieve said Naganthran was "the victim of a tragic miscarriage of justice".
The director of the organization, Maya Foa, said that the execution of a man with an intellectual disability was "unjustified and represents a flagrant violation of international law, which Singapore has chosen to adhere to."

The death penalty for Naganthran was scheduled for November but was postponed after an appeal was filed on the grounds that the execution of a person with an intellectual disability was against international law.

His sympathizers assert that he has an IQ of 69, a level that classifies his owners as mentally handicapped, and they say he was coerced to commit this crime.

However, the authorities justified the punishment against him by saying that the court rulings showed that he knew what he was doing at the time of the crime.

British businessman Richard Branson, speaking to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, called on Singapore President Halimah Yacob to pardon Naganthran, describing the death penalty as "inhumane".

After a hiatus of more than two years, Singapore resumed executions last month with the hanging of another drug trafficker.
Death penalty opponents fear that the authorities will embark on a series of executions, as appeals from a large number of death row prisoners have recently been rejected.