Why we need clear provisions for house arrest

 Going by the examples set by other countries, Najib Razak does not merit home detention. Malaysia must come up with the necessary provisions if house arrest becomes a norm.

There is a long list of people who have been, or still are, under detention in their own homes around the world.

Many are former heads of state or government. Apart from Najib Razak, we can count Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy among them.

Like Najib, Sarkozy was convicted of a criminal offence. On the other hand, Suu Kyi is being detained for her opposition to the military dictatorship that continues to hold sway in Myanmar.

Another politician who also lived at home but as a prisoner was ex-Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Unlike Malaysia, both Argentina and France already had provisions in their legal systems for home detention when their respective leaders — in this instance de Kirchner and Sarkozy — were sentenced.

In Argentina, the provision for house arrest goes back a long way — all the way back to 1886 when its first National Criminal Code was put in place. There have been several updates — in 1921, 1996 and subsequently in 2008.

According to Argentina.gob.ar, the official portal of the Argentine State, several conditions must be met before a prisoner qualifies for home detention.

He or she must be suffering from a terminal illness, or a malady that “cannot be adequately treated in prison” but does not require hospitalisation.

A person with a disability, making him vulnerable to inhumane or degrading treatment in a prison environment or any person aged over 70 also qualifies. So do pregnant women and caregiving mothers.

At age 72, de Kirchner qualifies on age alone.

In France, house arrest is provided for under Article 142-5 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure.

It states that a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a year or less in jail can be confined to his home under strict conditions. The prisoner must also show that he does not pose a flight risk.

Sarkozy was sentenced to three years but qualified anyway because two of those three years were suspended.

As far as we know, Najib is neither ill nor pregnant. He does not have any young child to watch over either.

At age 76, former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad is still serving out his six-year prison sentence for corruption. Najib is three years younger than him.

Even if we pick a leaf or two from the Argentine and French playbooks on home detention, Najib does not qualify on any front.

In September, Najib was granted a conditional pardon by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong under which he could serve out the remainder of his six-year sentence in the SRC International case under house arrest.

The condition was that he paid the RM50 million fine. Umno managed to raise the sum and the fine was paid on Nov 6.

Najib is already home to continue serving his sentence, but it is not too late to start thinking about putting in place provisions for house arrest.

Chances are there will be more to come. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT