Abolish hanging for all offences, says LFL

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Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) wants the mandatory death penalty for all offences to be abolished.

The human rights and law reform NGO was responding to de facto Law Minister Nancy Shukri, who said the government is planning to abolish the mandatory death sentence for drug-related offences.

Although it welcomed the move, LFL expressed concern that the proposed amendments were “unnecessarily limiting”.

“It should be extended to all death penalty offences, including murder, kidnapping, firearms and waging war offences," it said in a statement today.

“Judges are in the best position to exercise their discretion to decide on the appropriate sentence for each individual case, depending on the peculiar facts and circumstances."

Judicial discretion in sentencing, the NGO added, was an essential aspect of judicial power under the country’s legal system.

“Judges are not automatons designed to sentence mechanically. To deprive the judiciary of such discretion and to force them to impose the mandatory death sentence is an unnecessary fetter on their discretion and interferes with their independence and justice.”

No place in a civilised society

It further argued that there was no cogent empirical evidence to show that the death penalty is a more effective deterrent of crime than long-term imprisonment.

“The death penalty has no place in any civilised society that values human rights, justice and mercy.

“It is the ultimate human rights violation, a state-sanctioned murder, unique in its cruelty and finality," the group stressed.

The NGO further pointed out that the death penalty disproportionately affects the poorer and lower classes, and risks the likelihood of wrongful convictions.

“Lawyers for Liberty therefore calls on the government, in line with the global trend, to immediately impose a permanent moratorium on all death penalty punishment pending the amendments, which should be extended to all death penalty offences, and to take steps towards its abolishment,” LFL stressed.

Malaysia continues to remain as one of the countries that still provide for the death penalty.

In Malaysia, death sentences are imposed on those convicted of murder, illegal use of firearms, treason and drug trafficking.

In a parliamentary written reply dated Nov 3, Nancy said there are 1,022 inmates on the death rows of prisons in the country.



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