Malaysia urged to ‘kill’ death penalty

KUALA LUMPUR: With 992 prisoners in death row in Malaysia, Amnesty International Malaysia today called on the federal government to do away with the death sentence.
Its executive director Shamini Darshni said that continuing to carry out the executions in secrecy and refusing to divulge information about the executions was in violation of international standards.
"Only one in 10 countries worldwide used the death penalty last year. It is shameful that Malaysia is still part of this isolated group," she told a press conference here to release Amnesty International's Death Sentences and Executions 2013 report.
She said that according to the report, there was a notable rise in death sentences imposed in Malaysia last year compared to the previous year.
In 2012, there were 60 death sentences handed down by the courts, while last year, the figure was 76, of which 37 were foreigners and 10 women, she said.
"At the same time, two people were put to death last year, one for murder and one for drug trafficking," she said, adding that both executions were carried out in secrecy.
She said the authorities did not make public the imminent executions and no post-mortem information was released.
She said that what made the executions even more disappointing is that there is actually genuine progress being made towards abolishing the death penalty in Malaysia.
This is in reference to the government's commitment in 2012 to review the law on mandatory death sentence for drug offences, she said.