SINGAPORE. LAWYER TO CALL ON UN TO HELP SAVE DEATH ROW INMATE

lawyer M. Ravi said he would appeal to the United Nations in a last-ditch attempt to save his client Shanmugam Murugesu from being executed in Singapore for drug smuggling. Ravi told AFP he would lodge a complaint with the UN special rapporteur for extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, claiming that his Murugesu, 38, had faced discrimination during his trial.
Citing previous cases in Singapore where drug traffickers committing similar offences were let off with prison sentences, Ravi said there was an urgent need to retry the case to prevent a "miscarriage of justice".
"I am certainly desperate to save his life, as a doctor to his patient, as a counsel to his client," he told a press conference, adding he would ask the UN to urge Singapore authorities to stay the execution. Ravi said he had served a separate notice on to Singapore President S.R. Nathan, who the previous week had rejected a clemency appeal, pleading that the case be reopened for him to submit new arguments to court. Murugesu, a former star athlete who was convicted of trying to import 1,029.8 grams (36 ounces) of cannabis, was convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court in April 2004.