Malaysia’s Siti Zabidah Muhammad Rasyid had been hoping for a miracle for the previous 20 years to save lots of her son Razali from dying row after he obtained the sentence 23 years in the past when he was caught with 851 grams of hashish, breaching Malaysia’s powerful drug legal guidelines.
However Siti Zabidah’s prayers have been answered this week after the Malaysian parliament handed a invoice to introduce vital reforms that may get rid of necessary dying penalties for a number of extreme crimes.
Like Siti Zabidah, the transfer has introduced a ray of hope for over 1,300 dying row prisoners within the nation who might obtain doable reprieves underneath the brand new laws.
“The enjoyment was immense,” mentioned a tearful Siti Zabidah, talking, to information company Reuters, from her residence within the state of Selangor, close to the capital Kuala Lumpur.
She claimed that her son mentioned a good friend pressured him to hold the contraband after which made him the scapegoat after being arrested.
As per the Reuters report, the household was denied an earlier try and file an enchantment in opposition to the sentence by a decide.
She recounted how she collapsed after listening to the decide’s resolution, fearing that the authorized avenues for her son have been shut.
“I can go on with no husband however not with out my youngsters,” she mentioned.
“So long as I am alive, I am going to give him power,” Siti Zabidah mentioned, including that she would stand by her son no matter occurred, the report quoted her as saying.
The brand new legislation reform applies to 34 offences which are at the moment punishable by dying, together with homicide and drug trafficking. Eleven of these have stipulated dying because the necessary punishment.
Razali’s destiny now lies with the courts, which is able to determine on a doable various sentencing or punishment.
Underneath the present modification, alternate options to the dying penalty embrace caning and a jail time period of as much as 40 years.