MALAYSIA: 1,341 PRISONERS IN LIMBO

June 21, 2022:

The lives of nearly 1,350 death-row inmates are hanging in the balance in the prisons of Malaysia.
With a moratorium on executions, they are in limbo, not knowing when their sentences will be carried, or if their lives will be spared, as laws to abolish the mandatory death penalty remain unsettled.
“I have discussed this (those on death row due to the moratorium on death sentences) with the Attorney General’s Chambers in early May,” said Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
“It will require a lot of amendments to several laws such as the Penal Code, Dangerous Drugs Act and Criminal Procedure Code.
“There is also the consideration on what the alternative punishments can be,” said the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Parliament and Law.
“I will have to communicate with all relevant parties to settle all these matters first,” he said during a recent interview with the media in Putrajaya.
As of February this year, there were a total of 1,341 inmates on death row, based on figures given by the Prime Minister’s Department in a response to a written reply in Parliament.
Of this, 62.3% or 835 were Malaysians and 506 or 37.7% were foreigners coming from 40 countries.
A total of 905 cases involved mandatory death sentences for drug trafficking while 403 were for those convicted of murder.