WITH less than four days left for Malaysian death row prisoner Kho Jabing to serve his sentence in Singapore, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on President Tony Tan to urgently grant clemency.
Kho, who is due to be executed on May 20, was convicted in 2007 of the murder of Cao Ruyin, a construction worker, in a botched robbery attempt.
HRW Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director said: “President Tan should grant clemency to Kho Jabing in recognition of sentencing reforms under Singapore law. The death penalty is always cruel, and a man’s life should not hinge on a legal technicality.”
On April 5 this year, the Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court, dismissed Kho’s appeal. An Appeals Court panel in January 2015 reversed a High Court ruling overturning his death sentence.
The dispute was whether or not his actions during the botched robbery had been done in “blatant disregard of human life”. At the time of Kho’s conviction, Singapore law imposed a mandatory death penalty for the offense, thus preventing the court from considering the full circumstances of the crime.
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Robertson said in a statement released today that mandatory death sentences are contrary to the rights to a fair trial.
He pointed out that a mandatory death sentence “makes it impossible [for the court] to take into account mitigating or extenuating circumstances and eliminates any individual determination of an appropriate sentence in a particular case”.
“The adoption of such a black-and-white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake,” he said.
A passport photo of Malaysian death row inmate in Singapore Kho Jabing. Image via The Star Online.
In 2012, Singapore’s parliament amended the Penal Code to provide courts with some discretion in sentencing certain categories of murder, including murder without intent.
Since the change of law was considered retroactive, Kho sought a review of his death sentence, stating the murder had not been premeditated and there had been no “blatant disregard for human life.” In August 2013, the High Court agreed, and re-sentenced Kho Jabing to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.
Kho’s accomplice in the crime, Galing Anak Kujat, had his conviction for murder overturned, and the court re-sentenced him for committing robbery with hurt, giving him 18 and a half years in prison and 19 strokes of the cane.
Last month, Kho’s family launched a petition urging for clemency.
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