A CIVIL society group that has been advocating for the abolishment of the death penalty for years is now helping death row inmates with legal aid to get their sentences reduced.

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network executive coordinator Dobby Chew said after the government allowed for re-sentencing for those on death row in July, the group has been working hard to coordinate with lawyers and the families of the prisoners.

“We are currently assisting 130 inmates on death row. We are doing our best to ensure they get proper representation,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Chew said part of their work is to link up inmates with lawyers and also help them with any other processes they need help with.

“Some of them (inmates) have their own lawyers while others have yet to engage one.

“Right now, we have 15 lawyers assisting the inmates on pro bono basis.

“We are also providing the lawyers some allowance for them to travel to prisons, collect evidence and for other expenses.”

He said most of the time the families approach them and they try to assist by engaging the lawyers.

“The recurring issue we face is that the families don’t have much knowledge about the case,” Chew said.

“They need a lawyer to explain to them the situation with their family member who is on death row.

“They don’t know the process and what laws have changed.

“Some also don’t have records of their family member’s case because they were convicted many years ago.”

Chew said there is a large number of cases with very little time (for lawyers) to address all the cases. It was reported there are about 1,280 inmates on death row, of which 1,080 are eligible for re-sentencing.

“At this point the cases addressed are relatively straightforward. We hope the court and public prosecutor would provide greater scrutiny of mitigating factors for cases with greater complexities (murder).”

Yesterday, eleven individuals on death row for drug-related offences had their death sentences and life imprisonment commuted under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847).

They were the first batch of inmates to appear before the Federal Court for re-sentencing after the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 (Act 846) came into force on July 4.

Seven death row convicts saw their death sentence substituted with imprisonment of 30 years from the date of their arrests.

Four other inmates had their life sentences replaced with 30 years’ jail.

Parliament passed Act 846, which aims to abolish the mandatory death penalty, vary the sentence relating to imprisonment for natural life and whipping, and provide for matters connected therewith.

Under the act, the court has the discretion to impose the death penalty or imprisonment for a period of no fewer than 30 years and up to 40 years, and for those not sentenced to death, a whipping of no fewer than 12 strokes. – November 15, 2023.