KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 ― The removal of the mandatory death penalty for drug offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act 2017 starts today, however, Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) said there were still major flaws in the Act.
With the amendment to the Act, judges are now given the discretion to sentence convicted drug traffickers with a life sentence alternative with no less than 15 strokes of the whip.
In a statement today, Madpet said the new law will only benefit those who have yet to be convicted by the High Court.
“If one has already been convicted and sentenced to death prior to the amendment then even the Appellate Courts will not have the power to review the death sentence, and impose an alternative sentence for drug trafficking.”
“The only way that those already sentenced to death can escape the death penalty is if the Appellate Courts set aside the conviction for drug trafficking,” it said.
Madpet’s coordinator Charles Hector said the implementation delay resulted in injustice for 10 individuals who have been sentenced to death as reported by the media.
“This is because judges still had no discretion to consider and impose any other sentence other than death penalty until the Act came into operation,” he said.
Charles added that despite the amendment, limitations were still evident when considering the factors by which a judge can review a case before sentencing a convict.
He added that the amended Act also did not address the more than 800 convicts in the country currently on death row for drug trafficking.
“Madpet calls for the immediate amendment of the law to ensure full unfettered discretion be given to judges when it comes to sentencing those convicted of drug trafficking.”
He also urged for judges to be allowed the discretion to impose sentences fitting for the crime, especially for first time offenders.
Madpet in the statement also called for the abolition of the mandatory death sentence in Malaysia conclusively and reiterated its call for a moratorium on executions pending abolition following the amendment to the Act.
The amendment of the Act was first passed on November 30 via a majority voice on the last day of the Dewan Rakyat meeting.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman tabled the alteration to the bill to give full discretion to judges in sentencing drug convicts.
The previous version of the amendment bill states that judges could only exercise their discretion if the Public Prosecutor issued a certificate declaring that the convict had cooperated with authorities.
The relevant section 39B of the amendment bill was altered to remove the requirement of the certificate.
The amendment bill however does not apply in retrospective for previous convictions.
