Malaysian Court Sentences 9 Filipinos to Death for Sabah Incursion

A Malaysian court Thursday sentenced nine Filipinos to death for taking part in a foiled incursion in the eastern state of Sabah that left more than 70 people dead four years ago.

A three-member Appeals Court panel in Putrajaya overturned last year’s life sentences handed to the nine defendants by a lower court, which convicted them of participating in the incursion. The prosecution had appealed to the appellate court to change those sentences to capital punishment.

Court documents said the nine belonged to the Royal Sulu Force, who identified themselves as followers of the late Jamalul Kiram III, the self-proclaimed sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines.

Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, the nephew of Kiram III, was among the nine Filipinos who received the death penalty on Thursday.

As he delivered the death sentence on Thursday, Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh described the attack as unprecedented in Malaysia and said prosecutors compiled enough evidence proving that the intrusion had been pre-planned and carefully executed.

“For above reasons, we allow the appeal and set aside the sentence imposed by High Court against the respondents and substitute it with the death penalty against each of the respondents,” Zawawi said.

Full story: BenarNews

Ray Sherman
Kuala Lumpur