End death penalty, AI urges MalaysiaBy ASSOCIATED PRESShome/News/World/End death penalty, AI urges MalaysiaKUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Amnesty International (AI) urged Malaysia’s government on Thursday to keep its promise to abolish the death penalty, saying unfair trials and the use of harsh treatment to obtain confessions put people at risk of execution. Parliament, which resumed meeting this week, will instead remove mandatory death penalties for some offenses and give courts discretion in imposing the sentence. The report said 73 percent of the 1,281 people on death row as of February were convicted of drug offenses, including 568 foreigners from 43 countries and many poor members of ethnic minorities. It said some prisoners were tortured and beaten to make them confess. In one case, a Malaysian man detained in 2005 for possessing drugs and later sentenced to death had his finger broken by police, who also threatened to beat up his girlfriend, it said.

Source: Manila Times October 11, 2019 17:57 UTC