Amnesty International Malaysia:- Release Stats on Executions...etc

17 April 2008 

Amnesty International Malaysia would hereby bring to
your attention the following response to the Deputy
Inspector-General of Police Datuk Ismail Omar’s
comment on the recent Amnesty International Report on
Death Penalty in Malaysia. We are of the view that the
observation made by Datuk Ismail Omar on the report is
incorrect and therefore his comment is misleading. 

The report titled “Death Sentences and Executions in
2007”, released on April 15 2008, merely asserts the
fact that information on executions and death penalty
in Malaysia, a country that retains and practices
death penalty as a form of punishment for a various
offences, is shrouded in secrecy. The report in every
sentence either directly or indirectly did not assert
or put forward any fact of arbitrary executions or
extra judicial killings by the police in Malaysia or
any other facts that undermine police investigations
and criminal procedures. 

The following is the exact paragraph taken from the
April 15 report titled “Death Sentences and Executions
in 2007” (AI Index: ACT 50/001/2008) that can be
referred to at our website at www.amnesty.org. 

“…Amnesty International remains concerned that
executions may have taken place in Mongolia and
Malaysia. However, due to the secretive nature of the
use of the death penalty the organization was unable
to obtain reliable information.” 

Amnesty International Malaysia therefore calls on the
government of Malaysia to make an official release on
all statistics on executions and death sentences in
Malaysia to date. We also urge the government to be
more transparent and report on cases and statistics of
death penalty and executions to the Parliament
annually. The United Nations in the past repeated
calls for the death penalty only to be used in an open
and transparent manner. 


K.Shan 
Campaigns Co-Ordinator 
Amnesty International Malaysia