Amnesty urges gov't to abolish death penalty

PETALING JAYA: Amnesty International Malaysia is urging the government to abolish the death penalty and place an immediate moratorium on executions and death sentences in the interim.
"Last year, Malaysia was one of just 25 countries that executed people, and was one of 61 countries that meted out the death sentence. The continuous use of the death penalty despite not deterring crime is another mark on Malaysia's chequered human rights record," Amnesty International Malaysia executive director Shamini Darshni said at the launch of the Death Sentences and Executions 2015 report here today.
The authorities rarely make a public announcement prior and after executions are carried out. In October 2015, the Prisons Department indicated that between 1998 and 2015, there had been 33 executions while Amnesty International recorded only 22 executions for the same period.
"This contrast in figures only serves to underline the fact that secretive executions have been a pernicious practice for far too long," she said.
The Death Sentences and Executions 2015 report records that last year, Malaysia carried out at least one execution for murder on Nov 20.
The Death Sentences and Executions 2015 records information on the use of the death penalty through a variety of sources: official figures, information from families of individuals sentenced to death, other civil society organisations and media reports.
In the wee hours of March 25, Malaysia executed three men on death row — Gunasegar Pitchaymuthu, 35, Ramesh Jayakumar, 34, and his brother Sasivarnam Jayakumar, 37.