Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
A DELEGATION led by former president and Deputy House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on September 13–14 to congratulate the Malaysian government for abolishing the death penalty.
Arroyo was joined by former Switzerland president Ruth Dreifuss under the banner of the International Commission Against Death Penalty (ICDP), which promotes the abolition of capital punishment in states that observe a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty and promotes moratoriums on executions among nations that retain capital punishment.
Arroyo is one of IDCP’s 23 commissioners of high international standing.
A media statement from Arroyo’s office said the delegates met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Azalina Othman Said, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Ramkarpal Singh, Minister of Health Zaliha Mustafa, Speaker Johari Abdul, and members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Human Rights.
The meeting discussed the abolition of the death penalty, which the IDCP described as an “important step” taken by Malaysia as an eminent member state of the Organization of Islamic Conference.
The delegation welcomed the legal amendments that granted judges’ discretionary power in death penalty cases, including reviewing death sentences previously issued.
The IDCP delegation also met with representatives of civil society organizations against capital punishment, including two groups working for Malaysian nationals facing the death penalty in Singapore.
— Red Mendoza
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Credit belongs to: www.manilatimes.net
