Kho Jabing hanged

SINGAPORE, May 20 — A Malaysian murder convict was hanged in Singapore today, police said, hours after the city-state’s highest court rejected a final bid for him to escape the gallows.

“A 32-year-old male Malaysian national, Jabing Kho had his death sentence carried out on 20 May 2016 at Changi Prison Complex,” the Singapore Police Force said in a statement.

Kho, who was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murder of a Chinese construction worker, had been due to hang in Changi Prison at dawn today, but was granted a brief last-minute reprieve after his lawyer filed a challenge.

The Court of Appeal heard the latest plea this morning but said it raised no new arguments about the 2008 robbery gone wrong, clearing the way for the execution.

“This case has been about many things but today, it’s about the abuse of the process of the court,” said Court of Appeal Judge Chao Hick Tin.

Allowing Kho to continue with legal challenges would throw the judicial system “into disrepute,” he added.

Executions in Singapore are normally carried out by hanging at dawn on Fridays.

After Kho was sentenced to death in 2010, Singapore amended its mandatory death penalty for murder, giving judges the discretion to impose life imprisonment under certain circumstances.

Kho’s case was reviewed and he was re-sentenced to a life term in 2013. But state prosecutors appealed that ruling and his death sentence was reinstated in January 2015.

He was scheduled for execution on November 6 last year but another last-minute appeal saved him.

Kho’s accomplice in the crime had his conviction for murder overturned and got more than 18 years in prison and 19 strokes of the cane.

Singapore, which has rejected calls by rights groups to abolish the death penalty, executed four people in 2015, one for murder and three for drug offences, according to prison statistics.

Malaysia also uses capital punishment, executing murderers and drug traffickers by hanging, a system which, like that in Singapore, dates back to British colonial rule. — AFP

Death sentence of man who torched wife, daughter upheld

Victims made declarations which implicated ice seller before their death.

FMT

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here upheld the conviction and death sentence of an ice seller for killing his wife and daughter, about 10 years ago, by splashing kerosene and setting them ablaze.

A five-member panel chaired by Federal Court judge Suriyadi Halim Omar also upheld the High Court decision to sentence P Balan Subramaniam to 12 years’ jail for attempted murder of another daughter.

Suriyadi, who presided on the panel with justices Ahmad Maarop, Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha, Mohamed Apandi Ali and Abu Samah Nordin, dismissed Balan’s final appeal on his conviction, death sentence and jail sentence.

Balan, 62, was found guilty and sentenced to death by the Ipoh High Court for the murder of his 48-year-old wife, R Angeladevi.

The High Court had originally acquitted and discharged Balan on the charge of killing his daughter, Anuradha, 20, a college student, and attempted murder of his then 23-year-old daughter Malini (now 34 years old), a hospital assistant, without his defence being called.

However, on appeal to the Court of Appeal by the prosecution, the matter was subsequently remitted back to the High Court for Balan to enter his defence on the two charges.

At the end of the defence case, Balan was found guilty and sentenced to death for killing Anuradha and he was also found guilty and given a 12-year jail sentence for the attempted murder on Malini.

He lost his appeal to set aside his conviction and sentences at the Court of Appeal.

Balan was accused of committing the offence at his house in Jalan Anggerik, Desa Changkat, Batu Gajah in the Kinta District of Perak between 10pm and 11pm on October 11, 2004.

According to the facts of the case, a quarrel broke out on the day of the incident which led to the arson. Angeladevi and Anuradha had made declarations implicating Balan before their death.

Balan was represented by lawyers K Kumaraendran and Dev Kumaraendran while deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah appeared for the prosecution.

975 prisoners on death row awaiting appeals

The New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 975 prisoners sentenced to death for various offences are awaiting appeals at the Court of Appeal, Federal Court and the respective state Pardons Board.

In a reply to Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Kluang), Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Dewan Rakyat that only two Malaysians and a foreigner have been sentenced to death in 2012 and 2013.

“In 2013, a total of 8,481 prisoners have been sentenced to caning, involving 2,483 Malaysians and 5,998 foreigners.

“It should be mentioned that caning has helped in reducing the number of repeat offenders, especially with drug offences. We also need to continue caning for foreigners due to their influx into Malaysia, as it is more effective than imposing fines on them,” Zahid said.

Zahid added that the Prisons Department was looking to upgrade its facilities, especially for the condemned prisoners.

On another question by Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) about the waiting period for prisoners on death row, Zahid said: “The appeal cases of the 975 prisoners depend on the courts, where their cases are being heard.

“Based on state Pardons Boards reviewing such cases, we have seen that some cases have had their death sentences changed to life imprisonment or 20-year sentences. But this depends on the appeal made by the prisoner, prisoner’s rehabilitation report or the Attorney-General’s report.

“So, our legal system is good in that it ensures such factors can be used to review such cases. At the end of the day, the prison system is not merely to punish but to rehabilitate the convicts.”

Zahid said the rate of recidivism has declined from 32 per cent to 7.6 per cent.

Dr Mahathir tells former IGP to try the death sentence

The former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan “should try the death penalty on himself”, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today on Musa’s call that the Sedition Act include capital punishment.

Musa had said that the Sedition Act should not be retained but instead be amended to include stiffer punishments, including the death penalty.

"Maybe he (Musa) should try it himself," said Dr Mahathir, Malaysia's longest serving prime minister from 1981 to 2003.

Dr Mahathir’s comment comes amid Putrajaya’s blitz against political opponents and others who have voiced critical opinions deemed seditious under the act’s loose definition.

Dr Mahathir himself had used the now-repealed Internal Security Act during Operasi Lalang in 1987 and 1988 to curtail political dissent.

The former prime minister had also curbed the authority of the royals with constitutional amendments in 1993 to remove their immunity from criminal prosecution.

However, Umno divisions and a group called Gerakan Warganegara Mempertahankan Akta Hasutan 1948 have called for the Sedition Act to be retained to protect the position of the Malays, Islam and the royalty.

Musa had given his support to the group which was launched yesterday.

Dr Mahathir was asked about the current spate of arrests and charges under the Sedition Act at a book launch he attended today, but appeared reluctant to comment other than to make the quip about Musa trying the death penalty himself.

Musa, who was IGP from 2006 to 2010, had said that stiffer punishments, like the death penalty, were needed for those who were repeat offenders.

He was also quoted by Berita Harian today as saying that the Sedition Act should not be abolished simply to satisfy the demands of certain quarters.

“I believe that those who always incite and do this purposely should be given a stiffer punishment. The laws are there but they still do it even though they know it is wrong."

Musa suggested that Malaysia should follow Singapore, which still retains the Internal Security Act (ISA) as well as the Sedition Act. – September 11, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dr-m-tells-former-igp-to-try-the-death-sentence#sthash.rl4Otc6h.dpuf

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.

Family makes last minute plea to stop hanging

The case for judicial discretion

The Star 
Brave New World BY AZMI SHAROM

In recent surveys, most Malaysians backed the death penalty – but not the mandatory version.

IN principle I have no problems with the death penalty. There are three basic theories of punishment: deterrence, rehabilitation and retribution.

I am uncomfortable with the concept of deterrence because I am uncertain that fear of punishment is necessarily the primary factor when a person commits a crime.

Furthermore, taken to its logical conclusion, the punishment can be extremely disproportionate to the crime in order to make it “scarier”.

Neither am I convinced by the idea of rehabilitation; after all, who is to determine when a person is rehabilitated or not.

I believe in the retribution theory of justice, which is to say, you are simply punished for the crime you committed, not as an example to others and not subject to the whims of authorities who may or may not believe that you have repented and are now a good person.

And in violent crimes, then a simple punishment would be equally violent.

After all, you reap what you sow.

In practice, however, I do not believe in the death penalty.

This is because the justice system is run by humans and humans are fundamentally flawed.

Therefore, there will always be a chance that an innocent person is convicted. That is a chance I am not willing to take.

The Death Penalty Project in association with the Malaysian Bar Council completed earlier this year a report which was the analysis of over 1,500 surveys conducted amongst Malaysians.

The result of the survey was astonishing. Basically it was trying to gauge the Malaysian public’s view on the death penalty.

What was to be expected was that a vast majority of the respondents agreed with the death penalty.

What was unexpected, to me at least, was that the majority was not in favour of mandatory death penalty sentences, especially for drug and firearms offences.

Let us be clear on the distinction.

A mandatory death penalty means that if a person is found guilty of an offence which carries such a punishment, then the judge will have absolutely no choice but to mete out said penalty.

This means that the discretion of the judge to take into account the surrounding factors of the case is non-existent.

This can lead to cruel decisions and it could, oddly enough, lead to decisions where a person who has committed a crime is let off on slight technicalities because a judge is loath to send a person to his death.

The resentencing of Yong Vui Kong, the young Malaysian found guilty of drug trafficking in Singapore, is an example of how a change in the law has avoided what could have been a most unjust killing.

By most accounts, Vui Kong was very young, naïve and not particularly bright: a candidate who in most likelihood is the perfect mule for the drug kingpins who want their product moved.

Not a hardened criminal, he was to suffer for the activities of more nefarious parties who, of course, would not be caught in such a compromising position.

It is a great relief, particularly to the hard-working and persistent Save Vui Kong group who have been fighting tirelessly for his pardon, that this Malaysian youth will not die as the Singaporeans amended their laws by taking away the mandatory death sentence and giving the judge discretion as to the punishment he sees fit.

It is noted that even the Malaysian Government had tried to appeal to the Singaporeans for clemency.

If they could see the potential injustice of a mandatory death sentence and if the majority of the Malaysian public are not in favour of it as shown by the Death Penalty Project report, isn’t it time we had a serious rethink of our own mandatory death penalty laws?

> Azmi Sharom (azmisharom@yahoo.co.uk) is a law teacher. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.

Death penalty not effective deterrent, says EU rep

The Sun
by Michelle Chun and Dorothy Cheng

PETALING JAYA (Oct 31, 2012): The severity of punishment is not as effective a deterrent to crime as the certainty of punishment being carried out, said a political affairs expert from the European Union.

EU delegation to Malaysia political affairs representative Ivo Apostolov said a person would be more likely to commit a crime as long as he believed he would not be caught even if the punishment is death.

"But if one knows he will definitely be caught, he would be less willing to commit a crime even if the punishment is less severe," Apostolov said at the Taylor's University Law Awareness Day 2012 today.

He said crime is still on the rise even with the death penalty, and there is no proof it prevents crime effectively.

"In Malaysia the number of drug traffickers caught at airports keeps rising, which is why the government is considering a review of the death penalty for this offence," he said.

He also said the death penalty is contrary to the values of a nation that upholds every person's right to life.

"Before the concept of justice there was only the vendetta of vengeance, but what we want to show is that we are a humane society that respects and values every life.

"If we expect equal punishment for every crime, the cycle would never end as an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Malaysia is one of 58 countries which still retains the death penalty for murder, drug trafficking, treason and waging war against the King. More than 900 people are presently on death row.

Many Malaysians reportedly favour the death penalty as an appropriate way of deterring crime and punishing offenders.

Meanwhile, the EU, Malaysian Bar Council and the National Human Rights Commission have organised a pleadings competition among universities to raise awareness on the death sentence as mandatory punishment in Malaysia.

Kill the death penalty

The Sun Daily 
by Tan Yi Liang

PETALING JAYA (Oct 22, 2012): The moratorium and review of the death penalty should be extended to all capital punishment offences, not only drug trafficking, say legal activists.

Lawyers for Liberty founder N. Surendran told theSun yesterday civil society is calling for the repeal of the death penalty for all offences, and said capital punishment is incompatible with a modern, civilised justice system.

"It is the ultimate denial of human rights. We welcome any move by the government to impose a moratorium on the death penalty, which is long overdue," said Surendran.

He was commenting on a statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz that a moratorium on the death penalty for drug trafficking offences might be imposed.

Mohamed Nazri said on Saturday this was due to the ongoing review by the Attorney-General's Chambers of the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking.

The review is examining alternatives to the present mandatory death sentence, including extended jail terms.

It was reported that as of July this year, 640 of the more than 900 convicts on death row, were sentenced for drug offences.

On the death penalty for drug trafficking, Surendran said the concerns were greater due to the presumptions stacked against an accused person, as the burden of proof is with the accused person and not the prosecution.

Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights member Edmund Bon supported the call for an across-the-board moratorium on the death penalty.

He proposed that a Royal Commission of Inquiry be set up to review and analyse the effectiveness of the death penalty.

"The existing review on the death penalty is not sufficiently transparent and too narrow in scope," said Bon.

Criminal defence counsel Sreekant Pillai hoped the moratorium would translate into the end of the death penalty. "A death sentence has not stopped people from committing offences," he said.

930 prisoners on death row yet to serve sentence

The Sun 
by Karen Arukesamy

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10, 2012): A total of 930 prisoners are on death row in Malaysia pending their appeals, the Home Ministry said today.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop said of this number, 725 have appealed to the courts while the remaining 205 have submitted their appeals to the Pardons Board.

"Every prisoner on death row has the right to appeal. They have yet to serve their sentence because of the appeals," he told the Dewan Rakyat.

According to the Prison Department statistics, the 930 are charged for various crimes including drug trafficking, murder, weapon, kidnap and national security.

“The death row convicts can appeal under Rule 114 of the Prison Regulations 2000.

“The Prison Department will assist the death row convicts if they wish to make the appeals and submit them to the State Pardons Board for further consideration,” Abu Seman said in reply to Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor).

Karpal had asked the Home Ministry to state the number of prisoners in death row in the country as of Aug 31.

Abu Seman said since the implementation of the Prison Regulation in 2001 till Aug 31, 2012, 41 prisoners in the death row have been pardoned.

“Their sentences have been reduced to natural life sentence for six prisoners, life imprisonment for 33 prisoners, early release for one prisoner, and immediate release for one prisoner,” he said.

Death penalty to stay

Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop says there are 930 people on death row as of August, this year.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has no plans to abolish the death penalty, Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop said today.

He was responding to Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh during the question and answer session at parliament.

“The government had answered this question in the previous Dewan Rakyat session. However, we welcome the suggestion made,” he said.

Abu Seman also said that there are 930 people on death row as of Aug 31, 2012.

He said those who received the death sentence are mostly those convicted of drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping and for being a threat to national security.

He, however, said the inmates were yet to be executed as their cases were being appealed in courts and to the respective state Pardon’s Board.

“A total of 725 cases are still being appealed in courts. The balance of 205 are being studied by the Pardon’s Board, as stipulated under Clause 114 of the Prisons Act,” said Abu Seman.

5 men on death row lose appeal

The New Straits Times

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court yesterday reaffirmed the death sentences imposed on five men for murder and dadah trafficking in three separate appeals.

In all the cases, the High Court had found them guilty and the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence and conviction.

The appellants are:

Ong Lock Soon, a former debt collector who trafficked in 821.9gm of heroin at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb 28, 2002;

P. Vellertore, an ex-security guard, who murdered his three children, Rudraa Kumar, 6, Kesappata, 5, and Harini, 3, by strangling them at his house in Taman Muhibbah, Kulai, Johor on Jan 20, 2004; and,

Former welders Mohd Rizal Masiran, 28; Shuhaizal Shuaid, 33; and Mohd Razip Mohd Ali, 42, who jointly trafficked in 2.7kg of ganja in Chemor, Perak, on Oct 29, 2002.

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.

Abolish death penalty, says lawyer

The Star

A LAWYER has called on the Government to abolish the death penalty and other forms of capital punishment if it opposes hudud law.

Edmund Bon said certain forms of punishment under hudud law such as amputation was cruel and inhumane, and similar to whipping and the death penalty.

“If we are against punishment that allows amputation, then abolish all capital punishment as well,” he said at the forum.

Otherwise, he said all arguments against hudud law would fall flat.

Bon, a campaigner for the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights, also said a new set of offences needs to be included under the Federal Constitution if hudud law was to be implemented.

“Hudud law cannot be simply implemented without the Federal Constitution being amended. If the Government does not approve amending the constitution to include amputation, lashing and chopping of the hands, then it cannot be implemented, simple as that,” Bon said.

Death penalty for woman

The Star 

SHAH ALAM: A Japanese woman said she brought a bag to Kuala Lumpur thinking it only contained clothes.

A High Court here, however, did not buy her story and sentenced her to death for trafficking in 3,493gm of methamphetamine at the KL International Airport two years ago.

Justice Siti Mariah Ahmad ruled on Tuesday that former nurse Mariko Takeuchi, 37, had failed to raise reasonable doubt in her defence.

The accused said she had gone to Dubai to meet a man named Alex, to get some money from him and to pass the cash to a good friend in Kuala Lumpur.

However, she claimed, instead of meeting him, she met a driver who said he was a friend of Alex and that he, too, was going to Kuala Lumpur.

She claimed the driver asked her to bring along a bag, which she was made to understand contained only clothes.

Takeuchi was arrested at a Customs inspection counter at the international arrival hall of the KLIA at 9.55pm on Oct 30, 2009.

In her judgement, Justice Siti Mariah said she found the testimony of the accused fake and illogical.

“The excuse that the accused went to Dubai to get the money is unreasonable and highly suspicious.

“Her own good friend could have gone there herself. Or Alex could have wired the money to her,” she said, adding the court noted that Takeuchi had been in and out of Malaysia five times between September and October 2009.

Justice Siti Mariah added: “The court finds it illogical and suspicious that going back and forth between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai, as claimed by the accused, is cheaper than staying put in Dubai.

Deputy public prosecutor Aimie Yusreena Yunus prosecuted while Takeuchi was represented by lawyer Mohd Rafik Rahem.

10 October 2011 marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty.  The trend worldwide has been to abolish the death penalty, as the execution of human beings by the State serves as an “example of barbarity” to society and legitimises the taking of human life.  Malaysia is one of the 32 remaining countries in the world that still provide for the death penalty for drug-related offences.  Out of these 32, 13 have the mandatory death penalty.  Malaysia is one of them.  In all Commonwealth countries except Malaysia and Singapore, the mandatory death penalty has been declared to be a “cruel and unusual punishment.” 

The Malaysian Bar advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in the belief that every individual has an inherent right to life.  This right is absolute, universal and inalienable, irrespective of any crimes that may have been committed.  There is no empirical proof that the death penalty is effective in deterring heinous crime.  In fact, drug-related offences and addiction have been on the rise in Malaysia since the 1983 amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which brought in the mandatory death penalty.

We also know that the vast majority of arrests for drug trafficking is usually of low-ranking “drug mules” who are the most visible and easy to apprehend.  In other words, while policymakers hope that the death penalty serves as a deterrent, the reality is that the majority of these arrests of “minor offenders” would not impact the scale or profitability of the drug market.

It is well-acknowledged that no legal system in the world is foolproof or error-free.  The opportunity to right a wrong is, however, not available if the death sentence on a person has been carried out; in such event we, as a society, will be collectively responsible for having sent an innocent man or woman to the gallows.  We should take no risks to subject a person to death, as the execution of the death sentence is irreversible.

The death penalty has no place in any society that values human rights, justice and mercy.  The Malaysian Bar has organised today’s public forum, together with the European Union Delegation to Malaysia and the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), to hear the diverse views on this highly critical matter.  Two of our Members have also produced a short documentary focusing on the death penalty.  It is our sincere hope that the proceedings of this public forum as well as the documentary will further contribute to the debate on this issue in Malaysia. 

The Malaysian Bar reiterates its call on the Malaysian Government to immediately abolish the death penalty, and for an immediate moratorium on its use pending its abolition.

Lim Chee Wee

President

Malaysian Bar