She also said that opposing the death penalty should in no way be equated to one condoning a crime, as families of the victims still had the right to see wrongdoers held accountable for their actions.

Commenting on a news report that Canny Ong’s killer had been executed, the activist took to Facebook to say that many family members of victims had admitted that executing a convicted murderer did not “genuinely relieve their suffering.”

“It just extends that suffering to the family of the condemned person.

“Revenge is not the answer. The answer lies in reducing violence, not causing more death. Executing someone because they’ve taken someone’s life is revenge, not justice,” she wrote.

The death penalty, Siti also said, was discriminatory in that it was often used against the most vulnerable in society, including the poor, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as people with mental disabilities.

She added that in situations where justice systems were flawed and unfair trials rife, the risk of executing an innocent person was ever present.

“When the death penalty is carried out, it is final. Mistakes that are made cannot be unmade. An innocent person may be released from prison for a crime they did not commit, but an execution can never be reversed.”

Research, she also noted, has shown that the death penalty did not prevent crime.

In fact, crime rates from countries that had banned the death penalty had not risen and in some cases had plunged, she argued.

“Ending the death penalty is consistent with the mercy, compassion and forgiveness that all major world religions emphasise.”

On Friday, Ahmad Najib Aris was hanged for the 2003 murder of Ong, after spending 11 years on death row.

The former aircraft cabin cleaning supervisor was convicted of having killed Ong after abducting her from a shopping complex in Bangsar.

In Malaysia, the death penalty is reserved for those convicted of murder, possessing or smuggling a certain amount of drugs and kidnapping among others.