Rethinking Death

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Malaysia’s lower house of parliament on Monday voted to abolish the mandatory death penalty for certain offenses, including drug-related crimes, a move that bucks regional trends as the country’s neighbors see a rise in public executions, Al Jazeera reported.

The new amendments would apply to 34 offenses currently punishable by death, including murder and drug trafficking as well as kidnapping and arms trafficking.

Instead, courts could sentence the convicted person to whipping, or imprisonment for up to 40 years under certain conditions.

The bill will now go to the parliament’s upper house where it is widely expected to be passed, before going to the king for his signature.

Malaysia has had a moratorium on executions since 2018. Even so, courts have continued to send inmates to death row.

Government officials said their decision to abolish the death penalty for certain crimes was because they saw it as an irreversible punishment that had not been an effective deterrent.

Human Rights Watch hailed the vote as an “important step forward for Malaysia,” adding that the southeast Asian country could encourage its neighbors to “to re-think their continued use of the death penalty.”

In 2022, Singapore executed 11 people for drug offenses, according to government data. Meanwhile, Myanmar executed four pro-democracy campaigners, using the death penalty for the first time in decades.

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