A three-member bench, led by Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim, along with Federal Court judges Nordin Hassan and Hanipah Farikullah, in a unanimous decision, allowed the appeals by Mehmood Nasir, 48, and Muhammad Ramzan, 34, yesterday.
The court ordered the sentences to begin from the date of their arrest on Aug 17, 2018.
Lawyer Ariff Azami Hussein representing Mehmood and lawyer S Jayananda Rao, representing Ramzan, confirmed the court’s decision to Bernama when contacted.
Jayananda said the Federal Court found that the ingredients under Section 300(c) of the Penal Code were not fulfilled, and therefore the murder convictions could not be sustained.
He said he had argued during the appeal hearing that both the High Court and the Court of Appeal failed to analyse beyond reasonable doubt the ingredients of Section 300(c) of the Penal Code and therefore the murder charge could not stand.
He added that he urged the Federal Court to substitute the charge with one under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code – culpable homicide not amounting to murder – which carries a lesser penalty.
Mehmood and Ramzan were initially charged with the murder of their compatriot, Ali Adnan, 28, in a room at an apartment in Desa Aman Puri, Selangor, between 5pm on Aug 15, 2018 and 3am the following day.
On April 7, 2023, the High Court convicted both men of murder and sentenced them to death. However, on June 21 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but commuted the death sentence to 35 years in prison along with 12 strokes of the cane.
According to facts of the case, the victim was allegedly kidnapped and held at the apartment as part of a ransom demand and his body was later discovered in a box at a separate location, following a statement made to police by Ramzan.
A post-mortem revealed that Ali died from blunt force trauma to the head.
At the Federal Court proceedings, Mehmood was represented by lawyers Ariff Azami and Azizzul Shariman Mat Yusoff.
Ramzan was represented by Jayananda Rao, Mohtaruddin Baki, and Kishan Ganesan while deputy public prosecutor Faizal@Amrin Noorhadi appeared for the prosecution.