Groups laud stay of execution of death row prisoner

The Star

PETALING JAYA: Several groups have lauded the stay on the execution of P. Chandran, but warned that there are many others still in death row who are yet to be executed.

Amnesty International said the Government's move to halt Chandran's execution scheduled for Friday was a positive step forward.

"We are glad that Chandran Paskaran will not be put to death today (Friday), but his life is still at risk – his death sentence must be commuted immediately," said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific deputy director in a statement.

"It is shocking that it took an outcry from human rights groups for this postponement to happen. What about the other secretive executions Malaysia is planning to carry out that do not get the same attention?," added Arradon.

The execution of death row prisoner P. Chandran was halted after a reprieve from Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, following pleas from his family.

The Bar Council welcomed the show of compassion and the swift intervention of the Sultan.

"The Malaysian Bar is heartened by, and, which resulted in the stay of execution of the death sentence on Chandran s/o Paskaran," said its chairman Christopher Leong in a statement.

Leong added that the Bar also commended the Prime Minister and the Government for their role in the matter.

"The Bar notes that the Malaysian Government has, since 2010, announced its willingness to re-look at the mandatory death penalty, with a view to its possible abolition or the reintroduction of a discretionary death penalty.

"In light of such review, the authorities and the Government should, in the interests of justice, impose an immediate official moratorium on any and all executions of the death sentence," said Leong.

Chandran, then 29, was sentenced to death in 2008 after a Johor Baru High Court convicted him for the murder of K. Muthuraman Krishnasamy, 36, by slashing him with a parang in front of the victim's house in Taman Puteri Wangsa, Ulu Tiram, at about 8.15pm on July 19, 2003.

The court found that Chandran and 11 others, who were still at large, had attacked the victim following an argument over a CD player.

Post-mortem results revealed that Muthuraman suffered 24 slash wounds all over his body.

Chandran's previous appeals at the Appeals and Federal Courts were dismissed.