Cabinet to get proposal to defer sentences of those on death row for drug trafficking

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 700 locals and foreigners on death row for drug trafficking may get a reprieve on their sentences, pending a study to abolish the death penalty for the offence, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said Wednesday.

He said a proposal to defer the sentences will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval on the moratorium.

Nazri said this was a necessary move pending a review by the Attorney-General for the abolishment of the death sentence for conviction under Section 52(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

He said there were 75 Indonesians and some 600 Malaysians on death row for drug trafficking.

Nazri was speaking to reporters this after meeting up with a delegation of Indonesian lawmakers in Parliament.

Nazri was reported to have said that one of the main reasons was because there were about 250 Malaysians arrested as drug mules and sentenced to death abroad, including in China, Venezuela and Peru.

He has said that it was was difficult to justify appealing to these countries for clemency when drug traffickers were hit with mandatory death sentences.

Convicted drug traffickers in the country now face the mandatory death sentence under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

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