The applications, scheduled to be heard on Monday, involve inmates who were convicted of serious offences as minors and sentenced to indefinite custody under Section 97(2) of the Child Act 2001.
The applications were filed in March by law firm Rashid Zulkifli.
One of the applicants, Nguyen Doan Nhan, 26, a Malaysian of Vietnamese descent, has been incarcerated at Kluang prison for nearly a decade since his arrest in February 2015 at age 17.
Nguyen was convicted of murder by the High Court in 2017.
Due to his age at the time of the offence, he was sentenced to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong instead of receiving the mandatory death penalty.
His appeals to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court were dismissed, leaving him in prison with no clear timeline for release.
The other applicants are N Harichandran, R Nomalan and Hafizul Hafiq Masri (murder), Wong Soon Heng and Leong Soon Long (murder and kidnapping), and Aiman Al-Rashid Yaacob (drug trafficking). All six are aged between 30 and 35.
In their applications, filed under Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995, the prisoners argue that their indefinite detention has become unconstitutional following significant legislative changes in 2023.
They say those changes came into effect under the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 and the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of The Federal Court) Act 2023.
The prisoners contend that their detention under Section 97(2) of the Child Act 2001 now violates their rights to life and equal treatment by the law – Articles 5(1) and 8 of the Federal Constitution – due to the abolition of mandatory death sentences and natural life imprisonment.
“There has been a change in law that qualifies the applicants’ sentences to be reviewed and reconsidered on the grounds of, among others, the interest of justice and to correct injustice,” said their lawyer Abdul Rashid Ismail.
The prisoners are seeking leave for the Federal Court to review their sentences, with the possibility of receiving determinate prison terms instead of indefinite detention.
Under the 2023 amendments, mandatory death penalties were replaced with discretionary death sentences or imprisonment.
Trafficking convictions now carry a fixed term of 30 years, with men under 50 receiving a minimum of 12 strokes of the rotan.
Murder and kidnapping convictions can result in 30 to 40 years’ imprisonment plus 12 strokes of the rotan.
The applicants are also seeking relief deemed fit and proper by the Federal Court.