“Nagaenthran. Save him. Only then there will be some relief. Sorry he has done wrong. Everyone please help. The plea originally in the Malay language made by Panchalai Supermaniam, the mother to Malaysian death row inmate Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam to save her son’s life who is scheduled to be executed next week. The short video by a human rights’ nonprofit organization, Reprieve, was posted by Singapore’s lawyer M. Ravi on his Facebook. “Just received the heartbreaking news that Nagaenthran will be hanged next Wednesday,” he said in his another posting earlier. The Singapore Court of Appeal had on March 29 dismissed the last application of Nagaenthran’s appeal against his execution. Hailing from Perak, Nagaenthran was sentenced to death in 2010 for trafficking 42.72g heroin in 2009 into Singapore which is known to have among the world’s toughest narcotics laws. Nagaenthran’s lawyers claim that he is intellectually disabled. Read more at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/04/21/mother-of-malaysian-on-death-row-in-singapore-pleads-for-sons-life/2054755
EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD
Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.
“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”