PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court does not have jurisdiction to revise the orders from the pardons boards in the case of three pardoned convicts who sought to begin their sentence from the date of their arrest, the court said.
In the unanimous decision, a five-judge panel chaired by Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh allowed the prosecution's review application and set aside the decision of a previous panel.
On Aug 27, last year, the previous three-judge panel had ruled that the commuted 30-year jail terms handed down for drug trafficking on three inmates - G. Jiva, Thai national Phrueksa Thaemchim, and Zambian national Mailesi Phiri - should run from the date of their arrest.
This decision overturned the orders by the respective pardons boards of Kedah, Penang and the Federal Territories, which stated the jail terms should run from the date the death sentence was commuted.
The prosecution then filed to review the decision of the three-judge panel, which was decided by the present panel here on Wednesday (Nov 12).
Justice Che Ruzima Ghazali, who read the decision, said the previous panel's decision was tantamount to challenging the clemency process as the decision of the pardons board was a separate jurisdiction from the courts.
He said the Federal Court has the jurisdiction to review three categories of the death sentence; one that was handed down by a presiding panel, one that was handed down by a panel presiding in an appeal, and one that was sustained by the pardons board after clemency was rejected.
However, the status of the three convicts (who are respondents in the present case) had been altered as they were no longer considered on death row after their death sentence was commuted.
"Although the respondents were dissatisfied with the date they must serve the imprisonment, their dissatisfaction did not make the decision by the pardons board null.
"In our opinion, the respondents are no longer in the death row category that would allow them to apply for a review," Justice Che Ruzima said here on Wednesday.
The respondents, however, were not without remedy as they could still apply a fresh application to the pardons board to reconsider the starting date of their prison time.
Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid said in his supporting judgment that this was allowed under Rule 54 and Rule 113 of the Prison Regulations 2000 and that there had been a precedent by the Penang Prisons Board that reviewed its own decision.
Other judges on the panel were Court of Appeal president Justice Abu Bakar Jais, Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Azizah Nawawi.
