Malaysia - April 2023

The Malaysian parliament instituted large-scale legal reforms on 3 April that included removing the mandatory death penalty, reducing the overall number of capital offenses, and generally relaxing the more severe sentences allowable under Malaysian law. The law applies retroactively and will allow courts to review the sentences of 840 death row inmates. The move was praised by United Nations experts and death penalty abolition activists, although it still falls short of a 2018 Malaysian government promise to abolish capital punishment entirely.

Sources: The New Straits Times, Reuters, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

An investigation revealed hundreds of Bangladeshi and Nepalese migrant workers have arrived in Malaysia since December without finding employment, despite having paid significant fees to recruiters and middlemen. The government is investigating apparent forced labour, a practice that rights groups and foreign governments say is widely practiced in Malaysia.

Sources: Reuters, Malaysiakini