Death penalty: Putrajaya's activism laudable but hypocritical - HRW

 

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Malaysia's recent effort to dissuade Singapore from imposing the death penalty on Malaysian KD Nagaenthran was commendable.

However, it also exposed Putrajaya's "hypocrisy" because Malaysia has nearly identical laws which would sentence Nagaenthran to death for the same offence.

"Judges in Malaysia are currently required to impose the death penalty on almost anyone convicted of 'trafficking' in drugs – presumed for anyone possessing more than minimal amounts.

"Since the presumption applies to those carrying 15g of morphine or diamorphine, Nagaenthran also would have been presumed to be 'trafficking' in drugs under Malaysian law," said HRW’s Asia division legal adviser Linda Lakhdir.

In a statement today, she said although laws were changed in 2017 to allow Malaysian judges limited discretion to impose a life sentence plus whipping instead of the death penalty, research by Australia's Monash University showed that judges exercised this discretion in only four out of 38 cases convicted between March 2018 and October 2020.

Although Putrajaya imposed a moratorium on executions in July 2018, laws prescribing the death penalty remain and continue to be used.

"On the same day that the Foreign Ministry issued its statement on Nagaenthran, a court in the city of Kuching sentenced a man to death for trafficking methamphetamine," said Lakhdhir.

In view of this, she urged Putrajaya to eliminate the death penalty for all drug offences in the next sitting of Parliament.

"If it wants its international calls for clemency to be taken seriously, the government should move swiftly to full abolition of the death penalty, an inherently cruel punishment wherever it is carried out," she said.

Under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, anyone in possession of illicit drugs above a certain weight limit is automatically presumed to be trafficking the said drug.

'Change our law first'

Similarly, prominent criminal lawyer Naran Singh also called on Putrajaya to change the country’s laws first before trying to dissuade other countries from enforcing the death penalty.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, he said it was embarrassing for the government when its attempts to persuade Singapore were ignored by the republic.

"With the greatest respect to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku and the prime minister made a plea to Singapore (in the Nagaenthran case).

"To me, as a lawyer who has been representing cases that carry death penalty punishment for the past 30 years, the country must stop the death penalty here first before we get into another country's affair," he said.

Touching on the government's moratorium on the death penalty, Naran questioned the meaning of such a move.

He said such a moratorium is not legally binding, and that it even worsens the experience of death row inmates as they are now put in an uncertain situation.

"I have a client who is waiting for his death sentence. But now, no one knows if he is going to be hanged or not.

"Those sentenced to death are put in limbo, which is worse, in my opinion.

"The moratorium is not legally binding, as the MPs have not gone to Parliament to ensure that all death sentences are not to take place and replaced with life imprisonment," he said. - Mkini