PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has granted the prosecution leave to proceed with a review of its earlier ruling regarding jurisdiction over applications from prisoners who received pardons for death sentences.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Farid Wan Salleh delivered a 4-1 majority decision in favour of the prosecution’s application.
Chief Justice Wan Farid stated that leave ought to be granted when delivering the court’s decision.
The majority ruling received support from Court of Appeal President Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Azizah Nawawi.
Federal Court Judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang dissented from the majority decision.
The substantive merit review hearing has been scheduled for October 27 before a different panel of judges.
The upcoming hearing will determine whether the Federal Court has jurisdiction under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life Act 2023 to review pardons board decisions.
This matter originates from an August 27 Federal Court ruling where a separate bench decided 2-1 that the court had jurisdiction to hear three prisoners’ reviews under the 2023 Act.
That previous ruling was made by Justices Tan Sri Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, with Justice Datuk Nordin Hassan dissenting.
The case involves G. Jiva, Phrueksa Taemchim, and Mailesi Phiri, who received death sentences for drug trafficking but later obtained clemency from the Pardons Board.
These individuals received 30-year prison terms starting from their pardon dates before filing review applications under the 2023 Act.
They requested sentence revisions to run from their arrest dates, which the court subsequently granted.
The prosecution filed an application under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995 to seek leave for reviewing the 2-1 majority decision.
The prosecution contended that the judges in the majority ruling acted beyond their jurisdiction.
They argued that pardoned prisoners cannot be categorized with death row or natural life imprisonment inmates for review application eligibility under the 2023 Act.
The case initially involved four prisoners before the court struck out the prosecution’s review application against P. Balakrishnan due to inability to serve the notice of motion.
Balakrishnan had already been released from prison after completing his sentence.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Seri Saiful Edris Zainuddin led the prosecution team during the proceedings.
Phrueksa was represented by lawyer K. Simon Murali, Mailesi by Abdul Rashid Ismail, and Jiva by Datuk N. Sivananthan. – Bernama
