Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 5:49:22 GMT -5
15 years on and death row man still alive
Malaysias longest serving death row prisoner wants to know why he is still
alive.
Sapuan Hanim said that for the past 15 years, he has suffered from mental
anguish and the pressure of waking up every day wondering whether it was
going to be his last day alive.
Because of this, he has filed a motion with the Federal Court to commute
his death sentence to a life sentence the first time such an argument is
being raised by someone facing the gallows.
The case is going to be heard on Oct 2. In his affidavit, Sapuan said that
he was arrested for drug trafficking on Nov 12, 1987 and was convicted and
sentenced to death in 1992.
His appeal was turned down in 1997 and he has been on death row since.
"I do not know when my death sentence will be carried out. This
unexplained delay has caused mental torture and psychological stress.
"It is humiliating and inhumane to live under the shadow of death for 14
years and 7 months."
Sapuan believes that his death sentence should be commuted to a life
sentence because the delay in carrying out the death sentence is
unconstitutional.
He also says that it is against public policy to mete out the death
sentence based on the special facts of this case.
In June, the NST reported that several death row prisoners have been in
limbo.
This revelation raised the possibility that the prisoners were receiving 2
punishments the death sentence itself, and long periods of living in
conditions similar to solitary confinement.
In 1993, the United Kingdom Privy Council ruled that it was "inhumane and
degrading" to hang anyone who had spent more than 5 years on death row.
(source: New Straits Times)
Malaysias longest serving death row prisoner wants to know why he is still
alive.
Sapuan Hanim said that for the past 15 years, he has suffered from mental
anguish and the pressure of waking up every day wondering whether it was
going to be his last day alive.
Because of this, he has filed a motion with the Federal Court to commute
his death sentence to a life sentence the first time such an argument is
being raised by someone facing the gallows.
The case is going to be heard on Oct 2. In his affidavit, Sapuan said that
he was arrested for drug trafficking on Nov 12, 1987 and was convicted and
sentenced to death in 1992.
His appeal was turned down in 1997 and he has been on death row since.
"I do not know when my death sentence will be carried out. This
unexplained delay has caused mental torture and psychological stress.
"It is humiliating and inhumane to live under the shadow of death for 14
years and 7 months."
Sapuan believes that his death sentence should be commuted to a life
sentence because the delay in carrying out the death sentence is
unconstitutional.
He also says that it is against public policy to mete out the death
sentence based on the special facts of this case.
In June, the NST reported that several death row prisoners have been in
limbo.
This revelation raised the possibility that the prisoners were receiving 2
punishments the death sentence itself, and long periods of living in
conditions similar to solitary confinement.
In 1993, the United Kingdom Privy Council ruled that it was "inhumane and
degrading" to hang anyone who had spent more than 5 years on death row.
(source: New Straits Times)