25 prisoners seek Federal Court review of commuted death sentences
They urge the apex court to depart from a recent ruling, arguing their exclusion from the 2023 sentence review law violates their right to equality.
Twenty-five prisoners have petitioned the Federal Court to re-evaluate the earlier ruling that denied them the right to seek sentence reviews under a 2023 sentencing reform law, following their death sentences being commuted by pardons boards. Lawyer Abdul Rashid Ismail, representing the prisoners, urged a three-member bench to disregard the November ruling that the Federal Court lacked jurisdiction to review commuted death sentences.
The prisoners, convicted of drug trafficking and murder, argue that their 2007 sentence review was permitted despite a prior pardon, and that the November decision created unequal treatment between those granted mercy and those denied it. Deputy public prosecutors urged the court to uphold the earlier ruling, stating that the Federal Court had already determined its lack of jurisdiction over such applications.
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