Malaysia Parliament votes to scrap mandatory death sentences

Malaysia’s Parliament on April 3 approved a bill that would scrap mandatory death penalties and limit capital punishment to serious crimes as part of wide-ranging reforms.

Malaysia's Parliament on April 3 approved a Bill that would scrap mandatory death penalties and limit capital punishment to serious crimes as part of wide-ranging reforms, bringing possible reprieves to more than 1,300 prisoners on death row.

While the death sentence remains, courts will now be given the option of imposing jail sentences of between 30 and 40 years and caning not less than 12 times, Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh said.

Previously, courts had no choice but to mandate hanging as punishment for a range of crimes including murder, drug trafficking, treason, kidnapping and acts of terror.

The reforms include abolishing the death penalty for some offenses that don't cause death that fall under kidnapping and certain firearm crimes, officials said. Natural life imprisonment, in which prisoners are kept behind bars till death, will also be replaced with jail terms of between 30 and 40 years.

Mr. Singh called the reforms a significant step forward for Malaysia’s criminal justice system. He said 1,318 people are on death row in the country, including 842 who have exhausted all avenues of appeals. Most cases are linked to drug trafficking.

Once the bill comes into effect, prisoners will have 90 days to file a review of their sentences but not their convictions, he said.