Malaysia agrees to end mandatory death penalty, minister says
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MALAYSIA’S Cabinet agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty and give judges the discretion to mete out other punishments to offenders in capital crimes, three years after a previous government made the same decision.
The move will require relevant laws to be amended, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in a tweet on Friday. He didn’t say when the draft laws would be presented to Parliament for approval.
The Cabinet agreed further research into the matter was needed to ensure changes to the relevant laws would take into account principles of proportionality and constitutionality, Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said in a statement.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had planned to present to Parliament a bill to end the mandatory death penalty in March 2020, but his government collapsed before that could happen.
A number of crimes, including murder, drug trafficking and terrorism, are currently punishable by death in the South-east Asian nation.
More than two-thirds of nations have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, according to Amnesty International. BLOOMBERG
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