DEATH PENALTY: Beijing Sentence Shakes Malaysia's Own Policy

DEATH PENALTY: Beijing Sentence Shakes Malaysia's Own Policy
By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (IPS) - Malaysia's unshakable stand on the death penalty appears to be wavering as a country unites in sympathy and outrage over the plight of a young Malay woman sentenced to death in China for allegedly acting as a drug courier.

Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, 24, a university science graduate from a poor Malay family of rice farmers, admitted to having 2.9 kilograms in her luggage when she was arrested at Shantou airport last January.

She told a court in southeast China during her trial in May 2007, that she was travelling for a highly-paid job she secured over the internet. But she was unaware what was in the bag she was carrying for a Nigerian friend. The judge rejected her explanation and sentenced her to death, the usual sentence for such an offence.

"She thought she was carrying important corporate documents," her mother, Umi Ibrahim, told IPS. "We cry everyday ... what can we do? We want her to live not die."

Most Malaysians appear to share the mother's anguish.

The case is fast-developing into an emotive national issue. Politicians have set aside their differences to halt Lazim's execution. The ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and its rival the Islamic fundamentalist Pan Malaysian Islamic Party are even vying in their efforts.

Both are collecting money for the family, working to arrange family visits and promising they will save Lazim from execution.

The government is at a distinct disadvantage in the race to save Lazim. Malaysia's punishment for drug-related crimes is as harsh, if not harsher, than most other countries. The government supports the death penalty.

"Malaysia has suddenly woken up to the fact that ordinary Malaysians are now caught in the same death-penalty trap that we put others in," Nagarajan Surendran, a human rights lawyer and executive co-director of Malaysians Against the Death Penalty, a NGO campaigning against capital punishment, told IPS. Trafficking in more than 200 grams of dangerous drugs carries a death sentence.

"Today there are about 300 people on death row here, mostly for drug offences," Surendran said. Many of the 359 people executed from 1980 to 2001 had been sentenced for drug offences.

Much national outrage is today focused on how the Chinese might eventually end Lazim's life, although her sentence has been suspended for two years on humanitarian grounds. "People are shot in their heads with rifles. It is a horrific way for a young girl to die," said Surendran, expressing a widely-expressed view.

The case has also suddenly brought to public attention a number of others. There are some 30 young Malaysian women either sentenced or awaiting trial for drug-related offences in more than a dozen countries besides China, including Japan, Brazil and Peru. Several could be sentenced to death.

Many are university graduates lured by offers of high salaries and opportunities to travel. Behind the tempting offers are shady front companies run by international drug cartels.

"The syndicates are willing to throw money at the unsuspecting girls before they make their moves," federal narcotics department director Bakri Zinin told local newspapers in November.

The problem of young Malaysians caught ferrying drugs is already posing a major problem for the foreign ministry. Diplomats are kept busy finding defence lawyers, monitoring trails and making regular health and welfare checks on the young women.

"Their fate is a major embarrassment to the government," said Ramu Annamalai Kandasamy, a human rights lawyer representing many such clients and death-row inmates, told IPS. "The government has to come up with a firm policy on how to help the victims on death-row in far off countries."

Surendran's proposal is for Malaysia to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions. This would lift the threat of execution of foreigners on Malaysian soil. Other countries would be likely to respond in kind.

"Malaysia would get a more sympathetic hearing if it imposed a moratorium. One good turn deserves another," he argues.

"People would understand," he adds, suggesting that the public would agree that a change in policy over the death penalty was the most diplomatically effective way of saving the lives of condemned Malaysians on foreign death-rows.

A moratorium could also help secure the reduction in other harsh sentences imposed on Malaysians by foreign courts, diplomatic sources say. Peru was ready to reduce sentences of up to 20 years imposed on Malaysians in return for the sparing five of its nationals on death-row in Malaysia, they add.

Many opposition politicians would support a moratorium, or even total abolition, if it could save the lives of Malaysians like Lazim.

"These girls made a mistake in their youth. They deserve to live, not to be killed so cruelly. Imagine the pain their loved ones are going through," said opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok.

"If Malaysia abolishes the death sentence it can stand on a higher moral ground and ask foreign countries to spare the hangman's noose.

"It is time Malaysia complied with international standards," she added, citing the U.N. General Assembly resolution last December calling for a moratorium on executions. The resolution urged all states that still maintain the death penalty "to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty".

(END/2008)

Parents visit death row girl (37 Malaysians convicted of or awaiting trial for drug-related offences in China)

Friday December 21, 2007 (Star)

Parents visit death row girl

By CELESTE FONG

GUANGZHOU: Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, who is facing the death sentence for heroin trafficking here, received a surprise Hari Raya Haji gift yesterday.

Her parents, Mohamad Lazim Jusoh and Umi Slaia Ibrahim, visited her at the Shantou Detention Camp.

Parental pain: Mohamad Lazim and Umi Slaia looking at their daughter’s picture at their house near Pasir Puteh recently. They got to meet her yesterday. — Bernam

It was an emotional meeting for the family and a brief one due to prison regulations. They hugged each other and talked for 30 minutes.

Mohamad Lazim brought along his eldest daughter’s favourite dishes – beef sambal, fish crackers, fried mini popiah and biscuits.

Umi Azlim, 24, a Universiti Malaysia Sabah graduate in Biological Science, was detained at Shantou airport on Jan 29 after immigration officers found 2.98kg of heroin on her.

She was given the death sentence in May and is not allowed to appeal for two years.

Mohamad Lazim said his daughter was surprised to see both of them and had sought their forgiveness. He said prison authorities provided books for her to read.

Umi Azlim: Allowed to see her parents for 30 minutes

“I told her to control herself as it was pointless shedding tears over what has happened,” he said, adding that they did not discuss the drug smuggling case.

“We are not here for that reason nor to find a solution but to see her. We had not seen her for two years. We are sad but managed to see her on Aidiladha. This is a blessing after our prayers.

“Umi (Azlim) told us that a friend had shown her an Internet advertisement which offered a lot of money for sending goods,” he said.

“I’m relieved and happy that my daughter is in good health. She can already speak Chinese and teaches English to the others,” said Umi Slaia.

Mohamad Lazim said that on his return to Kelantan, he would discuss ways to engage a Chinese lawyer to file an appeal.

The former soldier, who is now a mechanic at Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd, and his wife are scheduled to return to Malaysia tomorrow.

Malaysian vice-consul Haniah Mohd Adenan, a local staff member of the consulate and officials from the Foreign Affairs Department accompanied the couple to the camp, located 470km from here.

PAS Supporters Club chairman Hu Pang Chaw, who acted as interpreter, was among those accompanying the couple from Kota Baru.

Hu said Malaysia did not have any representatives in Shantou so the Malaysian consulate here had arranged with the Chinese Foreign Affairs to meet them at Shantou Airport.

Umi Azlim is among 37 Malaysians convicted of or awaiting trial for drug-related offences in China.

Wednesday December 5, 2007 (Star)

PAS to pay travel costs for detained woman's dad

KOTA BARU: Kelantan PAS plans to pay travel costs and legal expenses for Mohamad Lazim, 50, father of Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim who is now detained in Guangzhou, China after she was sentenced to death by the High Court there for smuggling heroin.

Its committee member Datuk Husam Musa said Mohamad, a mechanic, met party officials Wednesday.

"We will also foot the legal expenses and engage a defence lawyer in China to handle the legal issues surrounding Umi," Husam said after attending the state exco meeting here.

Umi's mother Umi Slaia Ibrahim, 45, who sells "goreng pisang" near the family home in Kampung Tok Kamis, Pasir Puteh said she wanted to meet her daughter and find out how she ended up in jail, awaiting the death sentence.

She said her daughter travelled to China on a company errand to deliver equipment for foot massaging, adding that she was searched at the airport where among her possessions was a package containing heroin.

Pasir Puteh Umno division head Datuk Kamaruddin Md Noor is also taking an interest in the case and has sent officers to interview the family.

"Of course, we are concerned for any Malaysian citizen to be facing the gallows overseas. We would study where we can accord help," he said.

She was charged in May and sentenced to death in June. Under China's laws, she will be given two years to appeal.

Tuesday December 4, 2007 (Star)

Malaysian gets death for drugs in China

PASIR PUTEH (Kelantan): A 24-year-old woman from Kelantan has been sentenced to death by the Guangzhou High Court in China for trafficking in 2,983gm of heroin.

Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim was sentenced on May 15 and has two years from the date of conviction to file an appeal.

Her mother, Umi Slaia Ibrahim, 45, said the family had not heard from her for a year and was shocked to receive a letter dated July 12 from Wisma Putra stating that her daughter was being held in China since Jan 19.

Umi Azlim: Her family had not heard from her for a year.

“This is so distressing,” Umi Slaia said at her home in Kampung Tok Kamis here yesterday.

The drugs were found in Umi Azlim's luggage on arrival in Shantou.

Umi Azlim is a Universiti Malaysia Sabah graduate and said to have been working for a company selling foot massage equipment in Kuala Lumpur.

Her mother said Umi Azlim was frequently sent abroad as she was fluent in English.

“She used to call home regularly but the calls stopped in January,” she said.

Another Malaysian, Raja Munirah Raja Iskandar, 22, is being held at Tokyo's Kosuke detention centre also for drug smuggling. – Bernama