Sunday, July 29, 2012  Malaysia may abolish death penalty for
drug offenders  Reduced sentences for couriers should be
considered  ALTHOUGH the attorney-general's statement that he
was considering giving judges discretionary powers in deciding
whether to award the death penalty to drug mules convicted of
trafficking appears to be a bolt out of the blue, this is
actually only another step in the process that the country has
gradually been taking towards lessening its use of the death
penalty. In its 2009 Universal Periodic Review report to the
United Nations Human Rights Council, Malaysia had declared that
it was proposing to amend "existing anti-drug trafficking
legislation to reduce the maximum sentence to life imprisonment"
from the currently practised mandatory death. Last year, a
parliamentary roundtable agreed to a resolution calling for an
immediate moratorium on the mandatory death penalty, and in
particular, its use on drug offenders. The A-G's proposed review
will also afford those currently on death