Japanese in Malaysia has death sentence reduced to 30-year prison term

Malaysia's top court commuted the death sentence imposed on a Japanese woman for drug trafficking to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, following a judicial reform that eliminated mandatory capital punishment for illicit drug trade and several other serious offenses.

In a unanimous decision, a panel of three judges at the Federal Court replaced the death sentence handed to Mariko Takeuchi, 50, with imprisonment of 30 years from the date of her arrest in 2009, after reviewing an appeal for a lesser punishment.

Takeuchi lost her appeal in 2015, with the court upholding lower court rulings in which the former nurse was sentenced to hang for trafficking 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamine into Malaysia in 2009.

She filed an appeal for a lesser punishment after a law allowing prisoners sentenced to death or life imprisonment to seek a reduced sentence took effect last September. The law was part of the judicial reform that abolished mandatory death or life sentence for 11 offenses, including drug trafficking, murder and terrorism.

Takeuchi testified at her trial that she did not know about the drugs found in a suitcase she brought to Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Dubai. She pleaded innocent, maintaining that she was carrying the suitcase as a favor for an Iranian acquaintance.

Takeuchi, who hails from Aomori Prefecture, was the first Japanese tried for drug trafficking in Malaysia and the first sentenced to death.

Her lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told reporters outside the courtroom that Takeuchi could be freed by 2029 as prison rules allow one-third remission to a jail term for good behavior.

Prior to the law taking effect, there were 1,020 convicts on death row or serving life sentences, according to government data. Most of the convicts requested a review of their sentences after the enforcement of the law and had their death penalty reduced to jail term.

Source: kyodonews.net, Staff, May 29, 2024

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