KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 866 death row prisoners have been spared as of 14 October this year, said Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) stated that 52 of these prisoners had their death sentences commuted to imprisonment after successfully appealing their cases at the Court of Appeal.
"The other 814 death row inmates had their death penalties commuted to imprisonment after applying for a review under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 or Act 847," she said in a parliamentary written reply on Wednesday (Nov 6).
Azalina added that during the same period from 1 January to 14 October, 12 prisoners were sentenced to death by the High Court and another six received the same sentence by the Court of Appeal.
She was responding to a question from Ramkarpal Singh (Pakatan-Bukit Gelugor) on the statistics of prisoners who had been given the death sentence and those who had their sentences commuted this year.
Under the Revision of Death Penalty and Life Imprisonment Act 2023 (Federal Court Temporary Jurisdiction), which came into effect on Sept 12 of last year, death row inmates have 90 days to seek a review of their sentence by the Federal Court.
The Federal Court can revise death sentences and substitute them with life imprisonment—between 30 and 40 years—and between six and 12 strokes of the rotan, depending on the crime.
However, courts still have the discretion to impose the death penalty for offences such as murder, terrorist acts and taking hostages.
