MALAYSIA: 930 ON DEATH ROW

A total 930 death row prisoners were in jails in Malaysia as of Aug 31, their cases pending appeal in the courts and a decision of the Pardons Board, the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) was told today.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop said these prisoners had been convicted of various offences, among them drug trafficking, murder, kidnap and offences related to firearms and national security.
He was replying to a question from Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) on the latest statistics of death row prisoners in the country.
Abu Seman said the appeals of 725 of the prisoners were at the appeal process in the courts while the rest were awaiting a decision of the Pardons Board.
He said that based on the appeals between 2001 and Aug 31 this year, 41 death row prisoners were pardoned, with six having their death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, 33 to set terms of imprisonment, one released earlier and another released immediately.
Replying to a supplementary question from Karpal Singh, Abu Seman said the government had no plan to dispose of the mandatory death sentence.
To another supplementary question, from Mohd Nor Othman (BN-Hulu Terengganu), he said the government had no plan to bill costs to repeat offenders as the number of such offenders was small.