Samantha Chong of National Legal Aid Foundation says lack of proper legal representation, especially for migrants, results in innocent people being convicted.
In a report by the Asian Correspondent, Samantha Chong spoke about how the Thai national was in Malaysia, and was travelling in a bus taking her back to Thailand.
Police had stopped the bus for a random check and asked her if the bag in the seat next to her was hers, and she had replied that it was not.
“Despite her denial, she was arrested and charged with drug trafficking after the bag was found to contain heroin.
“After conviction, she claimed that her statement had allegedly been falsified by police to say she claimed ownership of the bag,” Chong was quoted as saying.
She added that the lawyer that defended her did not speak to her before the trial and as a result of such action, aside from the language barried, the Thai woman was not involved in the case trial and only found out later that she was convicted and sentenced to death.
According to Chong, this is not an uncommon incident, and that despite all the evidence to show what had transpired at the first trial, it is rare for any appeal or new case overturning the original conviction.
“If you are convicted at the High Court, your fate is sealed. The Federal Court’s judgement is simple, ‘You should have presented this new argument at the High Court’ and they will disallow it.
“I have never seen a successful case at the Federal Court,” Chong said in calling for an end to capital punishment as there could be cases of wrongful conviction leading to an innocent person facing the gallows.
Speaking at the Freedom Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur recently, Chong also said many of those convicted do not understand their rights and, in some cases, don’t even know what they are being arrested for.
“Many people on death row do not have good legal representation,” Chong was quoted as as saying by Asian Correspondent.
“Around 50% of them are migrants which raises immediate issues with language. In a lot of cases, defendants don’t even know what is happening when they are arrested and are not allowed to see a lawyer until sometimes six or seven months after arrest.”
Calling them the “silent group”, Chong said their cases are often out of the media spotlight and they are left alone to defend themselves against the word of the police.
“In about 5% of death penalty cases the witnesses are the police. In many cases, we see policemen with zero principles but if the courts only have the word of the police against the word of the suspect, who are they going to believe?” Chong told the festival audience.
Cabinet approval for court discretion
The issue of the mandatory death penalty has long been a contentious one in Malaysia with not just the law, but many people too supporting such punishment for those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, treason and waging war against the King.
However, the mandatory death sentence for the drug offence may soon be a thing of the past.
It was reported last month that the Cabinet had unanimously agreed to allow judges to impose an appropriate penalty on drug traffickers instead of the mandatory death sentence under an amendment to Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan Rakyat at the last parliamentary sitting that the relevant ministries and agencies would prepare a memorandum to be handed over to the Cabinet for approval.
She said research on the issue had been carried out through the International Centre for Law and Legal Studies (I-CeLLS) and presented to the cabinet on March 1.
“The cabinet unanimously agreed to the amendment to Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act,” she had said.
Azalina was responding to a question from Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, who had asked for updates on the government’s move to review the mandatory death sentence.
In response, the Malaysian Bar called for the government to table a bill soonest possible to put an end to the mandatory death penalty, declare an official moratorium on the use of the punishment, stay any pending executions and commute every death sentence to one of life imprisonment.
Last year, Malaysia executed nine people. This was an increase from the one sentence carried out in 2015.
This places Malaysia at number nine among the 23 countries that still have the death penalty, according to Amnesty International.
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