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Pannir Selvam Pranthaman is believed to be at risk of execution in Singapore, following the recent rejection of judicial appeals. A Malaysian national, he was convicted in 2017 of importing 51.84g of diamorphine (heroin). The judge found that he had only transported the drugs, but sentenced him to the mandatory death penalty as the prosecution did not issue a certificate of substantive assistance.

Pannir Selvam Pranthaman’s conviction relied on the legal presumption of knowledge of the drugs. The Misuse of Drugs Act allows legal presumptions to be used by the prosecution where the burden of proof is shifted onto the defendant to be rebutted to the legal standard of “on a balance of probabilities”. Presumptions of guilt effectively lower the threshold of evidence needed to secure a conviction in capital cases, undermine fair trial guarantees under international human rights law and violate the right to be presumed innocent, a peremptory norm of customary international law.

Executions in Singapore have continued at an alarming rate, with four men hanged in November alone. Amnesty International calls on the government of Singapore to commute the death sentence of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman and immediately establish an official moratorium on all executions as a first critical step.