MALAYSIA: BROTHERS EXECUTED AT KAJANG PRISON

March 15, 2017:

Brothers Rames and Suthar Batumalai, who were convicted of murder in 2010, were executed at Kajang Prison early the morning, said Amnesty International Malaysia (AIM). 
Executions in Malaysia are usually carried out on Fridays and it is believed that this is the first time an execution has been carried out on another day. 
AIM executive director Shamini Darhsni condemned the executions, saying that the brothers' new application for clemency had not been heard yet.
She added that the family of the prisoners had been told to prepare for executions this Friday, only to find out with less than 24 hours' notice that they were given wrong information about the date of the execution.
"With the clemency appeal still pending, the brothers were denied of their opportunity to have their case reconsidered and have their clemency applications heard," she said in a statement on March 15.
Rames and Suthar were sentenced in April 2010 for murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code after they were found guilty of killing Krishnan Raman on Feb 4, 2006.
The brothers have always maintained their innocence.
"They should have been granted the opportunity to have their applications heard and the executions should have been halted until the full and fair hearing of this application. Executions continue to be carried out in secretive and opaque conditions," said Shamini.
Rames and Suthar were scheduled to be executed on Feb 24, but they received a last-minute reprieve after their lawyers sent in a clemency application to the Negri Sembilan Pardons Board 
a day before. The clemency application submitted by their lawyers, Haresh Mahadevan and Co., included a statutory declaration from Krishnan's widow appealing to the Pardons Board for the brothers not be executed and instead be allowed to serve life sentences.