Prabu's photoshoot was done at his request, says Singapore High Commission | malaysia

JOHOR BARU, Nov. 2 – The Singapore High Commission today clarified that the photoshoot involving convicted drug trafficker Prabu N. Pathmanathan in the week before his execution was done at his request.

In a statement, the Singapore High Commission said that the photos were given only to Prabu's family.

The commission denied future claims by N. Surendran who criticized the Singapore government for conducting a photoshoot the week before Prabu's execution.

"There have been media reports on the photoshoot of Mr Prabu. The High Commission would like to make sure that the photoshoot was only available to Mr Prabu's request and Mr Prabu's family was given the photos, "read the six-paragraph statement.

On October 26, Surendran slammed the Singaporean government for taking on the Malaysian citizen's Prabu to a photoshoot the week before the latter's execution.

He said the practice was "macabre", and did not absolve Singapore from carrying the capital punishment despite pleas for leniency.

The Singapore High Commission is also addressing an October 26 statement by the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Ministry that Prabu 's family and a Malaysian High Commission.

"The (Singapore) High Commission would like to make clear that, in the United States, they are present during the execution," it said.

The statement also concerns the issue of Prabu's clemency petition, which has been granted under the law.

"There is no international consensus against the use of the death penalty when it is imposed according to due process of law.

"The issue of capital punishment is that every state has the right to decide for itself, taking into account its own circumstances.

"Singapore respects the sovereign right of other states to determine their own legal systems and expects the same in return," read the statement.

Prabu, a convicted Malaysian drug trafficker, was executed on October 26 and the episode sparked fresh calls to scrap the death penalty, a legacy of British colonial rule.

Last month, the Cabinet decided to abolish the death penalty.

It was reported on October 24 that Minister in the Prime Minister 's Department of the Department of Justice.

Prabu was sentenced to 227.82g of diamorphine or heroin in the island state on December 31, 2014.