Federal Court commutes ex-soldier’s death sentence to 40 years’ jail
Majority bench upholds murder conviction but reduces sentence under amended death penalty law.
The Federal Court in Malaysia has reduced the death sentence of former soldier Abdullah Mohamed to 40 years imprisonment following his conviction for murdering his nine-year-old daughter, Nur Aina Nabihah Mohammad Abdullah, in 2018. The court, composed of Justices Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Nazlan Ghazali, ruled unanimously to dismiss Abdullah's appeal against his conviction but overturned the death sentence.
This decision came into effect due to the recent Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, which grants courts the discretion to impose either the death penalty or a term of imprisonment between 30 and 40 years for murder. The court ordered Abdullah, aged 44, to receive 12 strokes of the cane, backdated to the date of his arrest, January 31, 2018.
During the sentencing phase, defense counsel Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi argued for Abdullah's rehabilitation, while deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin maintained that the death sentence should remain in place, citing Abdullah's lack of remorse. The case involved Abdullah punishing his daughter and her siblings for not performing their prayers by making them do 500 push-ups and sit-ups, leading to the girl's exhaustion and ultimately her death.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
