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The invitation was made in response to a blog article on Oct 10, in which Branson said he had joined a global community of advocates who tried to stop the execution of a Malaysian convicted on a drugs charge.
The home ministry said Branson could use the debate “to demonstrate to Singaporeans the error of our ways and why Singapore should do away with laws that have kept our population safe from the global scourge of drug abuse”.
Branson had said that the Malaysian, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, had a “well-documented intellectual disability”, and was hanged despite that.
The home ministry said: “We have clarified on several occasions that this is untrue. The Singapore courts held that Nagaenthran knew what he was doing and that he was not intellectually disabled.”
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