Amnesty welcomes vote to end mandatory death sentences

SHAH ALAM - The Mandatory Death Penalty Abolition Bill 2023 which was passed today, lays the foundations for further reform that must put human rights and fair trial proceedings front and center.

In saying this, Amnesty International Malaysia’s executive director Katrina Jorene Maliamauv added that these historic measures will repeal the mandatory death penalty in full.

"It will also reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty is applicable at all and establish a resentencing process for those already sentenced to death," she said in a statement today.

All eyes are now on Malaysia’s Senate to take the next steps and make these reforms a reality," Maliamauv said.

She added that once these changes are enshrined in law, those applying for resentencing must be provided with adequate time, resources, and access to legal representation, as well as the right to appeal any decision. "The moratorium on executions, which has been in place since 2018, must also be maintained until the death penalty is fully abolished and all death sentences are commuted," she explained.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, Maliamauv said, adding that it is a violation of the right to life. "But this move shows human rights progress is possible. "The global trend towards abolition remains unstoppable, and while the end of the mandatory death penalty is an important step, it should not be the last. "Malaysia can and must swiftly work towards scrapping the death penalty once and for all," she added.

The Dewan Rakyat today had earlier unanimously passed a bill to abolish the mandatory death penalty.

The bill also proposes to give judges the option to impose jail terms of up to 40 years in place of the mandatory death penalty.

It was reported previously that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman said the Cabinet had agreed to several new policies in a bid to abolish the mandatory death penalty.

She said the policies include no more lifelong imprisonment as an alternative to the mandatory death penalty.