Malaysia’s High Court sentenced a Thai woman to be executed by hanging

Malaysia’s High Court sentenced a Thai woman to be executed by hanging after it found her guilty on drug trafficking charges. Judicial Commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab announced the sentence on Natcha Babkaew, 32, a food hawker. Babkaew had been charged with trafficking 18,630 grams of marijuana and was caught by the Bukit Kayu Hitam Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex November 2010. Abdul Wahab said in making the verdict that Natcha’s defense argument that she did not know that the bags she was carrying contained drugs was “not credible” as she was paid handsomely to deliver the bags. “Generally, the accused did not deny she was carrying two bags from Bangkok which she had received from two African men for delivery to an African man in Changlun,” the judge said, in comments published by Bernama news agency.