Court rules Pardons Board decisions are final and cannot be challenged under the law.
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has ruled that Pardons Board decisions cannot be challenged in court, overturning an earlier ruling that allowed prisoners to seek sentence revisions.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh determined the court lacks jurisdiction to alter Pardons Board orders under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life Act 2023.
The bench unanimously allowed the prosecution’s application to review an August 2024 decision that had granted three prisoners’ request to change their sentence commencement dates.
Justice Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali stated that courts have long maintained the Pardons Board’s prerogative power is non-justiciable and not subject to judicial review.
He emphasised that filing an application under Act 847 was equivalent to challenging the Pardons Board’s decision, which cannot be adjudicated by the judiciary under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution.
The respondents remain at liberty to submit a fresh application to the Pardons Board for reconsideration of their sentence commencement dates.
Justice Wan Ahmad Farid noted this is not the end of the road for the three respondents, who can file new petitions under the Prison Regulations 2000.
He said the power to reconsider its own orders rests exclusively with the Pardons Board as a non-justiciable prerogative power.
The three respondents – G. Jiva, Thai national Phrueksa Taemchim and Zambian national Mailesi Phiri – had their death sentences for drug trafficking commuted to 30 years’ imprisonment.
Their Pardons Board order specified the sentence would run from the date of the Board’s decision rather than their initial arrests.
The prosecution successfully sought leave to review the August 2024 decision under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Saiful Edris Zainuddin led the prosecution team in the case. – Bernama
