Wan Junaidi: International transfer of prisoners programme in 2015

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is scheduled to implement the international transfer of prisoners programme before June next year, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said today.
He said so far, nine countries had expressed their interest to enter into an agreement with Malaysia on the transfer of international prisoners following the passing of the International Transfer of Prisoners Bill in 2012.
The countries are Iran, Latvia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, the Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, he added.
"Amendments to several matters in the Prisons Act will be debated at the current Dewan Negara sitting and we are confident it will be passed unanimously in the interest of the nation.
"After it is passed and signed by the Yang Dipertuan Agong, the Prisons Department will discuss with the Attorney-General's Chambers to draft the agreement on the (prisoners) transfer which might take some time to be finalised," he told a media conference after closing a meeting of heads of the prison institution here yesterday.

Also present was Prisons Director-General Datuk Seri Zulkifli Omar. Wan Junaidi said the transfer of international prisoners could only be carried with countries having similar laws with Malaysia.
He said there were more than 100 countries having similar laws with Malaysia. Currently, there are about 2,000 foreigners in Malaysian prisons who are eligible for the transfer, he said, adding that more than 1,700 Malaysians are serving time in several countries.
He said there were several criteria for prisoners to be eligible to be transferred to their country of origin, like their remaining sentence should not be less than six months, their cases were not in the appeal process and the prisoners were not on death row. – Bernama