Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Malaysia should save Yong like it managed to save Umi Azlim (and maybe others) from the death penalty

Well, I have heard that the court of appeal has granted Yong Vui Kong a second stay of execution to have his appeal heard. The date of the appeal may be in about two months' time but no date has as yet been set.

From my earlier post,
Yong Vui Kong was arrested in June 2007, when he was 19, by officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau. He was charged with trafficking 42.27 grams of heroin, and then sentenced to death in January 2009. Yong Vui Kong received a stay of execution on 3 December, but is now scheduled for execution on 11 December. His appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeals on 8 December.


It gives Malaysian government, UMNO, MCA, PAS, PKR, DAP and other Malaysians more time  to campaign for the life of this 21 year old Malaysian boy... Remember how UMNO, PAS, MCA and even the Malaysian government acted when Malaysians were sentenced to death in China, and they did manage to get the Chinese government to commute one death sentence to life imprisonment. See earlier post:Yong Vui Kong (21) may be hanged on 11/12/09 - and why is UMNO, MCA, Government not doing anything to get his sentence commuted ?

As we campaign for the life of this Malaysian who may be hanged in Singapore, we should also campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia, and pending that an immediate moratorium on all executions as per the UN General Assembly resolutions in 2008 and 2007.


On 18 December 2007, the UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution calling for "a moratorium on executions" by an overwhelming majority: 104 votes in favour, 54 against and 29 abstentions. - RESOLUTION 62/149

On 18 December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a second resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
It is a UN General Assembly Resolutions, and Malaysia should respect it as a member of the United Nations family.



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