Cases with mandatory death sentence to be postponed

 

A tribunal is to be set up to review the cases of those who received the mandatory death sentence, says the law minister. (Bloomberg pic)

PETALING JAYA: Cases that carry the mandatory death sentence but have yet to be tried in court, will be deferred until the punishment is abolished, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said.

He also said that several sections of laws that provide for the mandatory death sentence would need to be further refined, Bernama reported.

“All this must be studied in detail and also the types of punishment we need to introduce,” he was quoted as saying.

Wan Junaidi had announced earlier today that the government had decided to abolish mandatory death sentences for certain offences, to give judges discretion in sentencing.

He said the government had yet to set a timeframe for the change, as there were areas that needed to be looked into. This included the proposal to set up a tribunal to study cases of those who had been handed down the mandatory death sentences.

A total of 1,359 people were reported to be on death row as of November last year.

“In terms of the constitution, this needs to be looked into by the attorney-general’s side and also by my ministry. If it contradicts the constitution, it cannot be implemented,” he told reporters in Kuching.

Wan Junaidi said the mandatory death sentence must be properly defined as some laws did not give the courts the option to use their discretion to impose other sentences. - FMT