PUTRAJAYA - The Federal Court five-man bench today granted a prisoner’s application to be spared the remaining whipping sentence imposed on him after he fainted during his first caning.
Deputy public prosecutor Iznina Hanim Hashim requested the court to revoke the remaining 11 strokes of the cane that a previous Federal Court panel had imposed on Indian national Najmudeen Abdul Kader, who was convicted of a drug trafficking offence.
She said Najmudeen, 39, was unable to undergo the whipping sentence due to hypertension and fainting during his first caning.
She said the prosecution is not opposing Najmudeen’s application, which was made under Section 291 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code for health reasons.
Iznina also said the prosecution also not seeking to replace Najmudeen’s whipping sentence with additional imprisonment.
The panel, comprising Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, sitting with Federal Court judges Datuk Nordin Hassan, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, subsequently set aside the remaining 11 strokes.
On June 21 this year, the Federal Court allowed Najmudeen’s review application under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023, commuting his death sentence to 30 years in jail with 12 strokes of the cane.
Najmudeen was convicted of trafficking in 4.04kg of ketamine which he committed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, on Aug 8, 2008.
Meanwhile, the same panel of judges also granted a similar application to former tyre shop worker Muhammad Irshaduddin Khalis Nasurudin, 32.
Iznina informed the court that Irshaduddin could not serve the 12 strokes of the cane imposed on him due to kidney failure and hypertension, and the prosecution is not objecting to his application.
On Aug 7, this year, the Federal Court had allowed Irshaduddin’s review application to commute his death sentence to 35 years in prison with 12 strokes of the rotan.
He was convicted of killing his ex-fiancee Nursyafikah Ahmad Ismail, 22, in a motorcycle parking area, Econsave Supermarket in Jalan Mersing, Kluang, Johor, between 5.40 pm and 5.45 pm on April 10, 2015. - BERNAMA