M Ravi

Ravi Madasamy (ரவி மாடசாமி), better known as M Ravi, is a Singaporean human rights lawyer and activist.

Known for his work as a cause lawyer, he has served as counsel in multiple high-profile court cases in Singapore, many of which have become leading cases in Singaporean constitutional law and Singapore's approach toward capital punishment and LGBT rights.

After graduating from the National University of Singapore and Cardiff University, Ravi qualified and practised law in Singapore.

He was defence counsel for death row inmates Yong Vui Kong, Gobi Avedian, and Cheong Chun Yin, all of whom had their death sentences separately commuted to jail terms (life imprisonment for Yong and Cheong, and 15 years' imprisonment for Gobi).

Throughout his career, he launched lawsuits against the Singapore government on human rights issues, including the constitutionality of Section 377A, freedom of expression, and voting rights, which have led to judicial and political changes.

Ravi is an activist for death penalty abolition and LGBT rights.

Ravi was born on 9 April 1969, the sixth of seven children, to parents of Tamil descent.

His father was a construction worker while his mother was a homemaker.

In his memoirs, he described his father as "too fond of the bottle, and... beatings he rendered to his wife and children".

After attending Deyi Secondary School and Anderson Junior College, he graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology.

He subsequently completed a Bachelor of Laws at Cardiff University.

Ravi was called to the bar in 1996 and began to practise law in Singapore.

Initially having a general practice, Ravi was approached by opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam in 2003 to defend Vignes Mourthi, an inmate on death row for smuggling heroin into Singapore.

The case was Ravi's first capital punishment case and marked his transition into specialising in such cases after six years of practice.

In 2004, Ravi represented Shanmugam s/o Murugesu, a taxi driver sentenced to death for smuggling cannabis, in Public Prosecutor v Shanmugam s/o Murugesu.

After an unsuccessful appeal, Ravi led a public campaign to petition S. R. Nathan, the President of Singapore, to pardon Shanmugam, organising events protesting against the death penalty and Shanmugam's execution.

President S. R. Nathan ultimately did not issue a pardon, and Shanmugam was subsequently hanged.

In the same year, Ravi represented a number of political protestors in Chee Siok Chin v Minister for Home Affairs.

In 2006, Ravi also defended Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, a Nigerian sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

In 2008, Ravi represented opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and his sister Chee Siok Chin in a defamation lawsuit against them by Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, and Lee's father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Reuters and The New York Times noted that the waging of lawsuits by Singaporean political leaders have been criticised as attempts to "cripple opposition politicians".

Ravi later defended other opposition politicians and dissidents in lawsuits against them by politicians from the ruling party.

These included Roy Ngerng, who was sued by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for defamation; Daniel de Costa, who was charged with criminal defamation for op-eds written on members of the Cabinet of Singapore; and John Tan, who applied for a declaration that his contempt of court conviction did not disqualify him from standing for elections.

From 2009 to 2015, Ravi represented Yong Vui Kong, a Malaysian citizen sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

The landmark case raised legal issues concerning human rights, including the constitutionality of judicial caning, as well as the reviewability of the clemency process and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.

After six years of hearings, the Singapore government made changes to the laws on the death penalty for drug trafficking.

During a re-sentencing trial in the High Court, Ravi successfully appealed for Yong to have his death sentence commuted to a lower sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 20 years, as well as 15 strokes of the cane.

Ravi later appealed against the caning sentence, arguing that it was unconstitutional, prejudicial, and a form of torture.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, which Ravi described as "[bringing Singapore] back to the Middle Ages".

Shortly after, Ravi successfully reopened the case of death row inmate Cheong Chun Yin, who also had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane under the new laws on capital punishment.

Ravi later acted for the death row inmates Norasharee Gous (who was later executed in 2022) and Gobi Avedian, who were the second and third cases in Singapore's legal history which the Court of Appeal had agreed to reopen and review.

Tan was charged under Section 377A in 2010, despite the Singapore government stating in parliament that they would no longer prosecute citizens under the law.

After years of proceedings, the Court of Appeal ruled that Section 377A was not unconstitutional.

The case was described by The Guardian as a "milestone in the struggle against Section 377A".

In the same year, Ravi represented British writer Alan Shadrake in Shadrake v Attorney-General after Shadrake was charged with and convicted of scandalising the Singapore judicial system.

Another of constitutional law case Ravi took up was Vellama d/o Marie Muthu v Attorney-General, which involved Vellama d/o Marie Muthu, a cleaner, bringing a lawsuit against the Singapore government for not holding a by-election after opposition member of parliament Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Workers' Party and consequently lost his parliamentary seat.

In 2011, Ravi launched a constitutional challenge in the High Court after his client, Tan Eng Hong, was arrested and charged under Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises gay sex.

He ran for the 2015 general election as a member of the Reform Party contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC, but lost to the governing People's Action Party.

For his advocacy and pro-bono work, Ravi has been recognised by international activists and NGOs, including Richard Branson, Amnesty International, the International Bar Association (IBA), and Human Rights Watch.

In 2023, he was awarded the IBA Human Rights Award.