Bid to review court's power to revisit pardons boards' decisions on hold
In a split decision in August 2024, the Federal Court ruled that the commuted 30-year jail terms handed down on four inmates should run from the date of their arrest rather than the date of their pardon.
PUTRAJAYA : The prosecution's application to review a Federal Court ruling that it has jurisdiction under a 2023 law to revisit decisions made by three pardons boards has been put on hold.
In a majority ruling in August 2024, Justices Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Hanipah Farikullah ruled that the commuted 30-year jail terms handed down on four inmates should run from the date of their arrest rather than the date of their pardon.
Justice Nordin Hassan dissented.
This resulted in the prosecution filing a review application on grounds that the judges in the majority had acted beyond their jurisdiction.
Today, lawyer N Sivananthan said the scheduled review hearing before a three-member bench was vacated to explore the possibility of allowing 123 other condemned prisoners to begin their jail terms from the date of their arrest, as held by last year's ruling.
A court registrar gave the prosecution and the lawyers acting for the four inmates more time to reach an amicable solution.
'A case management has been fixed on June 3 to report to the court on any possible outcome,' the lawyer told reporters.
Sivananthan said he was informed that, based on prison records, these prisoners also had their death sentences commuted to jail terms from the date that their respective pardons boards approved their clemency petitions.
'They will be serving a longer duration in prison as the time served from the time of their arrest was not taken into account,' he said.
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The Federal Court had allowed the 30-year jail terms of the four applicants – G Jiva, 55; P Balakrishnan, 48; Thai national Phrueksa Thaemchim, 41; and Zambian national Mailesi Phiri, 47 – to begin from the date of their arrests for drug trafficking.
In doing so, the court overturned orders by the pardons boards of Kedah, Penang and the federal territories that the jail terms run from the date the pardons were granted.
Prosecutors argue that the apex court's decision was inconsistent with the powers accorded to it under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.
N Sivananthan is appearing for Balakrishnan and Jiva, K Simon Murali is representing the Thai woman, while Abdul Rashid Ismail is acting for Mailesi.
Deputy public prosecutors Asmah Musa, Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi, Ng Siew Wee and Solehah Noratikah Ismail are appearing for the prosecution.
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