03 July 2012 :

crying family members and friends of four men, sentenced to death for trafficking in more than 22kg of cannabis, rushed to hug them at the High Court. An 8-year-old daughter of one of them was seen hugging her mother and wept uncontrollably while one of the accused, a student, was heard advising his friends to be careful and not end up like him. Badrul Hisham Kamaruddin, 41, his brother Mohd Amirul Hisham Kamaruddin, 23, and their two friends, Syed Mohamed Anis Alkaff Syed Osman, 55, and Azahar Ali, 47, were given the death sentence for the offence committed more than three years ago. The courtroom was packed with parents, relatives and friends of the four who came to hear the sentencing meted out by Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad. The judge said she believed the evidence of two witnesses, who were the agent provocateurs in this case. She noted that in their defense, the brothers had brought up a person named "Jo", who allegedly was dealing with the two agent provocateurs for the sale of snakeskin. She said the existence of "Jo" was in doubt as he was not produced in court. Asmabi said she accepted the evidence of a prosecution witness, who testified that the drugs was transferred from the Volvo that was driven by Badrul to another car supplied by the agents. The four were charged with committing the offence in front of a factory in Subang New Village at about 4.20pm on Feb 21, 2009.