MALAYSIA: RETRIAL FOR 4 ON DEATH ROW

Malaysian Federal Court judge Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman ordered the retrial of four lorry drivers over the alleged murder of G. Murugan, a factory worker, in Kuala Sawah on August 26, 2002. The men are M. Manimaran, 27, M. Ganasan, 40, A. Sagathevan, 33, and P. Puvaneswaran, 44. The Federal Court declared their conviction by the High Court could not be sustained and the four to be held as remand prisoners pending a possible re-hearing. Counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, who appeared for Manimaran and Puvaneswaran, said: "My clients have spent the last two years in solitary confinement." The four appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal in October 2008 which upheld the conviction of the High Court in Seremban in 2007.