860 on death row await appeal

The New Straits Times 
by ILI LIYANA MOKHTAR, LING POH LEAN AND NUR ADILLA NOORAZAM

AS of Feb 28, 2012, 860 offenders have been meted the death penalty, based on statistics from the Prisons Department.

However, none have been executed because they were appealing.

In a written statement by the Home Ministry, 616 were appealing to the Court of Appeal, 94 to the Federal Court and 150 to the Pardons board.

The Home Ministry was replying to a question by Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bukit Bendera) on the number of prisoners awaiting the death sentence and the number of offenders caned between 2005 and this year.

According to Prisons Department statistics, 79,487 offenders had been caned between 2005 and last year.

Of that number, 46,338 or 58.3 per cent were Malaysians while the remaining 33,149 or 41.7 per cent were foreigners.