"We should not deny the fact that the state is killing someone and whether the state should have this kind of power. "For the most part, we are on the right track for Malaysia - it's a reform that has been a long time coming," he said. More than 1,300 people facing the death penalty or imprisonment for natural life - including those who have exhausted all other legal appeals - can seek a sentencing review under the new rules.ĭobby Chew, executive coordinator at the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, said passage of the amendments was a good first step towards total abolition of capital punishment. Eleven of those carry it as a mandatory punishment. The amendments passed apply to 34 offences currently punishable by death, including murder and drug trafficking. "The death penalty has not brought about the results it was intended to bring," he said in wrapping up parliamentary debates on the measures. Malaysia's Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh said capital punishment was an irreversible sentence and had been an ineffective deterrent. Malaysia's move comes even as some Southeast Asian neighbours have stepped up use of capital punishment, with Singapore last year executing 11 people for drug offences and military-ruled Myanmar carrying out its first death sentences in decades against four anti-junta activists. Life imprisonment sentences, defined by Malaysian law as a fixed term of 30 years, will be retained.Ĭapital punishment will also be removed as an option for some serious crimes that do not cause death, such as discharging and trafficking of a firearm and kidnapping. The new jail term will replace all previous provisions that call for imprisonment for the duration of the offender's natural life. Under the amendments passed, alternatives to the death penalty include whipping and imprisonment of between 30 to 40 years. The government, however, faced political pressure from some parties and rowed back on the pledge a year later, saying it would retain the death penalty but allow courts to replace it with other punishments at their discretion. Malaysia has had a moratorium on executions since 2018, when it first promised to abolish capital punishment entirely. Malaysia's parliament on Monday passed sweeping legal reforms to remove the mandatory death penalty, trim the number of offences punishable by death, and abolish natural-life prison sentences, a move cautiously welcomed by rights groups. Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.A general view of Malaysia's Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia April 3, 2023. (Updates with outside comment in fourth paragraph.)įor more articles like this, please visit us at In a statement, LinkedIn said the move isn’t related to the hack. “There could be compliance issues in how they’re registering people, but I haven’t seen any reporting in the Chinese press to suggest that there was something coming down the pike.” The announcement comes a week after Microsoft said state-sponsored hackers based in China were behind a massive attack on its Microsoft Exchange Server product that has claimed at least 60,000 victims.Ĭhina may be signaling displeasure over Microsoft blaming the country for the attack, Segal said. Read more about Microsoft’s history in China here. He pointed to Microsoft’s long-running business in the country, and China’s antitrust probe against the company in 2014. “Microsoft has a long torturous history in China,” said Adam Segal, director of the digital and cyberspace policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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