It said in its global report, “Death Sentences and Executions” that the amendments, approved by the king in December last year, were an encouraging step.
However, it added that the scope of the changes was limited by the requirement of certain grounds to be met by the defendants.
“It is still unclear what impact they will have on reducing the number of people executed,” said AI Malaysia interim executive director Gwen Lee at the national launch of the AI global report today.
She said the amended law required those found guilty of transporting drugs to show the judge that they had assisted the authorities in disrupting further drug trafficking activities in order to qualify for a discretionary sentence.
“They have created an impossible conflict for defendants. In order to escape the gallows, the defendants have to give information to help crime prevention which could be used against them at the trial,” she added.
Lee also reiterated AI’s call to the government to abolish the death penalty in Malaysia.
She said the use of the death penalty for drug crimes was prohibited under international law and standards.
In countries where capital punishment has not yet been abolished, she said, its imposition is restricted to the most serious of crimes.
“Malaysia’s resort to the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is clearly out of line,” she added.
She said Malaysia was among only 11 countries that had carried out executions every year for the past five years, with at least four executions in 2017.
“The four executions figure reflects only the cases that we were aware of, since no official figures were made public last year.
“The true figure could be higher but the veil of secrecy that surrounds the use of the death penalty in our country makes it impossible to have even a glimpse of the real picture.
“This shows that there is still much work to do in ending the death penalty in Malaysia,” she said.
She said three of the known executions were for murder and one for discharging a firearm, offences that carried the mandatory death penalty under the law.
“Although there seems to be a slight drop from the number of executions reported last year, we are not sure of the exact number of executions in Malaysia as this information is not made accessible to the public.
“AI believes that the number is higher than what was reported.”
The AI report noted that at least 38 new mandatory death sentences were imposed last year – 21 for drug trafficking, 16 for murder and one for the discharge of a firearm.
Figures compiled by the Prisons Department and reported in local media indicated that 1,122 people were under sentence of death as of February 2017, it added.
Lee added that AI would campaign for clemency in the case of Hoo Yew Wah, a Malaysian who has remained on death row since 2015.
Hoo’s family members were also present at today’s event.
Hoo was found in possession of 188.35g of methamphetamine in Johor and was automatically presumed to be trafficking the drug. He was subsequently charged under Section 39(B) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952.
The courts rejected his appeals in September 2012 and July 2013.
“Hoo was convicted based on the statement he made at the time of arrest in Mandarin without a lawyer present and the content of which was contested at the trial and appeals.
“According to him, during his detention, the authorities broke his finger and threatened to beat his girlfriend to make him sign the (confession) document.
“Such treatment was raised in court but the judges dismissed them and upheld his conviction and sentence,” said Lee.
Hoo’s April 2014 petition for a pardon from the Sultan of Johor remains pending.
Lee said AI believed that Hoo, like hundreds of others on death row, deserved a second chance at life.