Malaysia scraps mandatory death penalty and natural-life prison terms

‘The death penalty has not brought the results it was intended to bring,’ says deputy law minister

File: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin attends a parliament session (AP)

Malaysia's parliament passed sweeping legal reforms to abolish the mandatory death penalty and natural-life prison sentences in a landmark move to respect each individual's right to life.

Malaysian lawmakers on Monday voted in the lower house of the parliament to approve the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill after years of effort by successive governments to make the death penalty optional in the country.

The bill will next be brought to the government-controlled senate for approval, before being presented to the King and gazetted into law.