drug offences

Kabinet setuju pinda hukuman mati pengedar dadah

admin

Sumber: FMT News

KUALA LUMPUR: Kabinet sebulat suara bersetuju untuk membenarkan para hakim mengenakan hukuman yang sesuai ke atas pengedar dadah dan bukan hukuman mati melalui satu pindaan kepada Seksyen 39B Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952.

Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said berkata kementerian dan agensi berwajib akan menyediakan satu memorandum untuk persetujuan jemaah menteri.

Beliau berkata kajian ke atas isu itu dijalankan melalui Pusat Pengajian Hukum dan Perundangan Antarabangsa (I-CeLLS) dan dibentangkan ke jemaah menteri pada 1 Mac.

“Kabinet sebulat suara bersetuju untuk meminda Seksyen 39B Akta Dadah Berbahaya,” katanya. Read more →

‘Prabagaran maintained his innocence until the end’

Nur Farzana Md Yusof

Source: FMT News

PETALING JAYA: S. Prabagaran, who was executed in Singapore on Friday for drug trafficking, accepted his fate but maintained his innocence until the end.

The 29-year-old Malaysian, who is from Johor Baru, was hanged to death at the Changi Prison yesterday and was cremated at the Mandai crematorium in Singapore.

We Believe in Second Chances co-founder Kirsten Han said those who were with him said he was jovial and joking with the prison guards even during the approaching hours of the execution.

“Prabagaran always told his cousin that he was innocent but that he accepted his fate,” The Star quoted Han as saying. Read more →

Decriminalising drug use offers glimmer of hope — Nursalina Fairuz Salleh

Coordinator

Source: New Strait Times

(file pix) A former drug addict working on a farming project at the Teduhan Kasih Melaka home in Jasin, Melaka. Decriminalising some drugs can save recourses by reducing incarcerations. Pix by Khairunisah Lokman for the NST.

THE topic of drug addiction is almost always paired with negative views, depending on one’s understanding of the depth of the problem.

The social stigma that surrounds drug addiction in Malay-
sia is no less different, perhaps even exacerbated, with the country having some of the most draconian drug laws in the world.

Despite our zero-tolerance approach, we still find ourselves grappling with drug abuse, having no success in controlling the supply and demand of illicit drugs. We are far from winning this war against drugs, and there is much to do even after decades of fighting. Read more →

Lam Thye suggests moratorium on death penalty cases

Coordinator

Source: The Star Online

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, pic from the Star Online.

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, pic from the Star Online.

PETALING JAYA: The Government should consider whether its review of the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking should include making it retrospective on pending cases, said social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye (pic).

Lee said the proposal for the review under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act was timely as this could help prevent a “travesty of justice”.

Judges, he said, must be given the discretion to mete out suitable sentences on a case by case basis, especially for drug mules.

“While supporting the review of Section 39B, I also hope that the Government will address the issue raised by lawmakers and legal practitioners, including whether the move, if approved, could have a retrospective effect on pending death penalty cases,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

He also called on the Government to decide whether a moratorium should be imposed on pending cases so as to ensure justice for those facing such charges.

Lee was responding to a report in The Star that lawyers and human rights groups had called for all pending executions to be put on hold while the decision by the Government to review the death penalty for drug trafficking was being deliberated. Read more →

Malaysia will not interfere in Singapore death row cases

admin

Source: The Star Online

File pic

Death Penalty – File pic

SINGAPORE: Malaysia will not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, including a court case involving a Malaysian death row inmate in Singapore.

“We are aware that there is an effort to put pressure to bring a particular court case here to a higher profile,” Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore Datuk Ilango Karuppannan told Bernama.

It was reported that a Malaysian death row inmate S. Prabagaran, aged 30, was making a judicial review application to direct the Government to start proceedings against Singapore in the International Court of Justice over his conviction for drug trafficking.

The Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian Government were named as respondents in the application which was filed at the Malaysian High Court registry in January this year. Read more →

Don’t deny rights of man on death row, lawyers tell Singapore

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

PETALING JAYA: The lawyers of death row prisoner Prabagaran Srivijayan are calling for Singapore to allow them access to their client after the country’s prison authorities rejected their application to meet with him.

Lawyers, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya, slam authorities for denying them access to client to discuss judicial review filed in KL High Court. Pic from FMT News.

Lawyers, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya, slam authorities for denying them access to client to discuss judicial review filed in KL High Court. Pic from FMT News.

Prabagaran, 29, is on Singapore’s death row after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

His lawyers, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya, said the Singapore Prison Services had on Feb 13 rejected their application seeking access to Prabagaran.

In a press statement released today, Surendran and Latheefa said they were entitled to meet and consult with Prabagaran as they were acting for him in legal matters.

They referred to a judicial review application filed on Jan 16, adding that it was imperative that they consulted Prabagaran over the proceedings.

Prabagaran had filed leave application for judicial review in the KL High Court, in an effort to compel Putrajaya to start legal proceedings against Singapore before an international tribunal for denying him a fair trial.

“The right to have access to and consult with lawyers is a basic right recognised under both Singapore and Malaysian law,” Surendran and Latheefa said today. Read more →

Death row inmate’s judicial review bid not interfering with Singapore affairs, says lawyer

admin

Source: The Malay Mail Online

V. Eswary, pictured with lawyer Surendran (right), filed the judicial review at a High Court here today. — Picture by Choo Choy May

V. Eswary, pictured with lawyer Surendran (right), filed the judicial review at a High Court here today. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — The judicial review bid by a Malaysian death row inmate in Singapore to compel the Malaysian government to take his case to an international court is not an “interference” in Singapore affairs, his lawyer N. Surendran said today.

S. Prabagaran, 29, who is facing death sentence for drug trafficking in Singapore, and his mother V. Eswary, both filed the judicial review at a High Court here today, seeking leave to obtain a mandamus for the Malaysian government to institute legal action against Singapore at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“We are not entering Singapore’s affairs. It’s just wanting justice done for a Malaysian citizen,” he told reporters after filing the judicial review here today.

“Malaysia has the right to raise any cases regarding the treatment of its citizens abroad,” he added. Read more →

Malaysian on Singapore death row to file judicial review forcing Putrajaya’s intervention

admin

Source: The Malay Mail Online

noose-hang-death-penalty-2410KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — A Malaysian who is on death row in Singapore will file a judicial review tomorrow to compel Putrajaya to file a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ahead of his execution.

S. Prabagaran, 29, will file the judicial review at the High Court here tomorrow via his lawyers in Malaysia, led by N. Surendran.

Surendran told Malay Mail Online that this was the only avenue left available for Prabagaran, who is set to face execution in a few weeks for drug trafficking.

“He had exhausted all his appeals and the only way for him is for the Malaysian government to intervene and file a case with ICJ against the Republic of Singapore,” Surendran said. Read more →

Mum pleads for Govt’s help to save son on S’pore death row

Coordinator

Source: The Star Online

Press conference on 11 January 2017. Prabagaran's mother, V. Eswari was accompanied by lawyers and civil rights advocates.

Press conference on 11 January 2017. Prabagaran’s mother, V. Eswari was accompanied by lawyers and civil rights advocates.

KUALA LUMPUR: A 54-year-old single mother from Johor Bahru is pleading to the Government to help her save her 29-year-old son, who is on death row in Singapore for drug trafficking.

Her son, S. Prabagaran, has exhausted all legal appeals and is facing imminent execution.

He is awaiting the result of a clemency petition to the Singapore President. The clemency request was sent in February last year, with its result due anytime soon, according to lawyers.

Singapore, however, has not granted a clemency request for the past 13 years. Read more →

Racism and the Malaysian drug war — Fifa Rahman

Coordinator

Source: The Malay Mail Online

By Fifa Rahman

OCT 11 — There’s a fantastic documentary on Netflix called 13th which talks about the high levels of incarceration of black people in the US, and talks about Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs” as a genocide decimating young coloured communities.

In Malaysia, the “War on Drugs” isn’t often thought about in racial terms.

Politically, racism is recognised in other things — like lackadaisical attitudes towards people who protest the building of new churches, preventing the translation of Bibles into Malay, proposing things like halal and non-halal trolleys.

But the fact is, poor Malay communities are disproportionately the key targets of the War on Drugs in Malaysia.

Their houses are barged into, children watch as their fathers are taken away, or they cry and scream as social workers take them away from their mothers, because they think that a woman who uses drugs is an unfit mother and it simply would be too much work to provide her with support.

We’ve got to remember that UNODC statistics show that worldwide, only, 11.14 per cent of all drug use is problematic. Read more →