P Ramlee’s grandson among 3 who escape death after acquittal

The grandson of Malaysian film icon P Ramlee was among three men who escaped the gallows today after the High Court in Shah Alam acquitted them of a drug trafficking charge imposed some four years ago.

Zakaria Nasir was arrested alongside Mohd Faizul Zulkipli and Mohammad Saifuddin Darmawan on Jan 15, 2018 after police found drugs during a raid at an apartment in Puchong.

The trio were charged with trafficking drugs under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1955 and spent the duration of the trial in jail.

High Court judge Nurulhuda Nur’aini Mohamad Nor acquitted them today after ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Rajpal Singh Mukthiar Singh and Phan Yantong Nur Sarah appeared for Faizul while Dir Kheizwan Bin Ab Halim @ Kamaruddin represented Saifuddin and Zakaria was represented by Latheefa Koya and Zaid Malek.

The prosecution was conducted by Mohammed Heikal Ismail.

Drug trafficking is considered a capital offence in Malaysia with those convicted liable to the death penalty.

The government under Barisan Nasional had agreed to impose a moratorium on all executions pending a move to abolish the death penalty.

In March 2019, though, the government led by Pakatan Harapan said it would abolish the mandatory death penalty for 11 criminal offences but leave it to the courts’ discretion to decide whether a person convicted of a serious crime will hang.

However since then, there have been no further steps taken towards this partial abolition.