A year after Pannir’s execution, his sister writes back

One year after Pannir Selvam’s execution in Singapore, Angelia Pranthaman continues to hold her brother - and the words he left behind - close to her heart. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) PETALING JAYA: For 11 years, letters helped Angelia Pranthaman stay close to her brother, Pannir Selvam, despite the prison walls between them.

His final letter took her four months to finish reading. A year later, she picked up her pen to write back.

Pannir was arrested for drug trafficking at Singapore’s Woodlands checkpoint on Sept 3, 2014. Sentenced to death in 2017, he was executed on Oct 8 last year.

“His letter was written on Oct 7, 2025, at around 8.30pm, and he was executed the following morning, at 6-6.10am,” Angelia told FMT Lifestyle.

“I heard his voice in the words and was terrified to learn it was written at the very end of his life. I had to stop reading,” the 32-year-old recalled, describing the experience as “extremely painful and heartbreaking”.

In that final letter, Pannir described himself as calm and strong. He thanked the Singaporean couple who had supported him, whom he described as “Neo Kele Lims”, and still found room for the everyday reminders of an older brother: eat on time, rest well and take care.

The siblings had written to each other almost weekly, sharing family news, thoughts and the ordinary details of their lives.

On Wednesday, exactly a year after his final letter, Angelia returned to that familiar ritual. “I realised that I still had so much to tell him,” she said. “I was simply writing to my brother.”

By sharing her reply, Angelia hopes readers will see the person behind the case: a brother who wrote poetry, had dreams and cared deeply about others.

An excerpt from Pannir’s final letter to Angelia, written just hours before his execution. (Angelia Pranthaman pic) On World Day Against the Death Penalty today, she also wants people to understand what an execution leaves behind.

“Execution does not end suffering or reduce the crime rate. It transfers that suffering to the people who are left behind. For 11 years, our family lived with the uncertainty of whether Pannir would be executed.

“Every letter, phone call and development carried enormous emotional weight. Then, when the execution happens, people think the story is over. For the family, it is not.”

Below is Angelia’s letter to Pannir:

Oct 7, 2026 - 3:33 AM

Dear Prince Pannir Selvam,

My heart and soul.

It has been a year since I last wrote to you.

During the eleven years you spent on death row in Changi Prison, we exchanged frequent letters. We wrote to each other through those prison walls, and somehow those letters became our way of staying close.

Today, those letters are history. They are some of the most precious things I have left of you.

Pannir, I still have so much to tell you. I still don't know how to say goodbye to you. So, I won't.

I will write to you instead. I cannot hear your voice anymore, Pannir. But I can still hear you in the words you left behind.

I remember our conversations, our laughter, your jokes. Those moments with you are among the moments I have lived most deeply. You were my most precious gift, and I wish, with all my heart, that we had been given more time.

When they refused to give you one last chance to call family, you asked for a pen and paper. And with that, your words fell even deeper.

Angelia (first left) with Pannir (third left) and their siblings, in a family photograph from happier times. (Angelia Pranthaman pic) You are such a brilliant mind, Pannir. Even now, I am astonished by the power of your ideas. You were the “idol person” and the general instigator behind so many of our human rights projects. You were a real hero. A lion. You were my brother. And I love you, I want to love you. And I will always love you.

I don't know how to understand, in my mind, what it means to love you after you are dead. A part of me still wants to take care of you. I still want you to love me and care for me. I still want to have problems to discuss with you. I still want to do little projects with you.

You were right, Pannir. You had lived with death long enough. And yes, the world knows who you are. Your death marked a history in this world. Your name, your story and your voice became part of the protest against the death penalty. And we will continue what you left behind. I promise.

I will carry your voice to the hearts of others. I will send your love and thank you to everyone who prayed for you, supported you and walked with us through all those years. I will tell them that you loved them too.

You wrote that even in your final hour, you remembered NeoKeleLims. That was you, Pannir.

Even when the world was closing in around you, you were still thinking about us.

Angelia during an interview with FMT in April 2025, months before her brother's execution. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) Now that I have loved you in so many ways, I cannot remember loving anyone else in quite the same way that I love you. Perhaps that is why I cannot say goodbye. I will carry you with me in my heart.

You are real. And you were right - there is never a goodbye for both of us. Never…

Head held high. I love you, Pannir.

Your little sister,

Angelia

My brother was hanged to death.

But they could never hang his words.