Unknown to many Nigerians who have relatives and associates in Malaysia, a such people might be facing death penalty in the country.
The reason is that, as of now, not less than 119 Nigerians are in that situation.
According to the Amnesty International 119 Nigerians are among a total of 1,281 persons sentenced to death in Malaysia.
The information is contained in the body’s report titled, “Fatally flawed: Why Malaysia must abolish the death penalty, with the Nigerians sid to have been tried for drug-related offenses.
The AE said the 1,281 death row inmates were being kept in 26 detention facilities across Malaysia.
In Malaysia 33 offences are punished with death sentence.
“As of 22 February 2019, 1,281 people were under sentence of death in Malaysia, held in 26 detention facilities across the country.
“A startling 44 per cent (568) of all those under sentence of death were foreign nationals, from 43 countries.
“Nationals from Nigeria made up 21 per cent of this group, with those from Indonesia (16%), Iran (15%), India (10%), Philippines (8%) and Thailand (6%) following suit.
“A significant 73 per cent of all those under sentence of death have been convicted of drug trafficking under Section 39(b) of the Dangerous of Drugs Act, 1952 — an extremely high figure for an offence that does not even meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes’ under international law and standards and for which the death penalty must not be imposed,” AI said in the report.
