His application to set aside his death sentence was to have been heard by a five-member Singapore Court of Appeal on Monday.

However, The Straits Times reported that Nagaenthran’s new lawyer, Violet Netto, who took over the case from M Ravi, applied for an adjournment.

Nagaenthran’s Malaysian lawyer, N Surendran, told FMT there were two matters which were to have been heard at Monday’s proceeding.

“The first was an appeal to prohibit carrying out the death sentence on the grounds that it breaches several provisions of the Singapore Constitution.

“The second was a motion to have Nagaenthran’s mental condition re-assessed by a new panel of psychiatrists,” said Surendran, who is an adviser for rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).

“These have since been postponed to sometime during a two-week sitting to run from Feb 21 to March 4. We’ll probably know the exact date a week or two before the hearing.”

Nagaenthran’s case has attracted massive attention, largely due to his lawyers’ claim that Nagaenthran is intellectually challenged.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was among the leaders who wrote to Singaporean authorities appealing for clemency for Nagaenthran, with the city-state adamant that the Perak-native has been accorded full due process under the law.

Nagaenthran was arrested in Singapore on April 22, 2009, for smuggling 42.72gm of diamorphine and was sentenced to death by the Singapore High Court on Nov 22, 2010.

The appeal process had already reached the final stage on June 1, 2020, when his presidential clemency was rejected.

Nagaenthran, who was scheduled to be hanged on Nov 10, 2021, found temporary respite on Nov 9 after the court was told he had tested positive for Covid-19 when he appeared for a last-bid attempt against his sentence.

He was then granted a further stay of execution by the Court of Appeal before his application to set aside his death sentence was set for Monday (Jan 24).