Malaysia should abide by UN Resolution on death penalty - another 2 Thai nationals sentenced to DEATH

On 18/12/2007 (Tuesday), The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.The resolution, which calls for "a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty," was passed by a 104 to 54 vote, with 29 abstentions. MALAYSIA SADLY VOTED AGAINST.

Irrespective of this, Malaysia must abide by the said United Nations Resolution - and declare an immediate moratorium on executions at the very least.

The next step would be the abolition of the death penalty. DEATH PENALTY judges, who decide and pronounce that a person is to be murdered by the state should become a matter of the past in Malaysia.

There is also that question of DISCLOSURE - Malaysia has still not revealed how many persons were HANGED TO DEATH in the past years, and how many are in death row waiting to have their lives extinguished by the Malaysian people.

What really is the stand of the Pakatan Rakyat (the PAS, the DAP, the PKR ....) on Death Penalty - noting of course that the Malaysian Bar, a body of 12,000 over lawyers, has called for the abolition of the Death Penalty since 2006.

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Death Penalty: Malaysia Sentences Two to Hang for Marijuana Trafficking, Iran Executes Nine Drug Sellers- from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #536, 16/5/08

Countries around the world, but particularly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, continue to resort to the death penalty for drug offenses. This week, we report on more executions in Iran and death sentences for marijuana in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, a Malaysian court sentenced two Thai citizens to death for marijuana trafficking. The two men, Masoh Daloh, 35, and Romuelee Yakoh, 46, were convicted in the Kuala Lumpur High Court of trafficking 75 pounds of pot. They had been arrested in 2002 with 34 kilogram-sized slabs of marijuana in their vehicle. Both men have appealed their sentences.

Malaysia has hanged more than 200 people, mostly its own citizens, for drug trafficking offenses since it imposed the death penalty for them in 1975. It has come under recent criticism from Amnesty International over secrecy surrounding its resort to the death penalty, but the government denies any cover-up and insists the ultimate sanction is a necessary deterrent to criminality.

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities announced May 5 that they had hanged 12 convicted criminals, including nine people convicted of drug offenses, according to the anti-death penalty organization . The nine drug offenders were hanged in the northeastern city of Bojnourd, not far from the Afghan border. One of them was hanged in public, the first reported public hanging since Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Sharoudi ordered an end to the macabre displays without his prior approval in January.