KUALA LUMPUR – A Yemeni man today saw his death sentence for a charge of trafficking 1.8kg of methamphetamine quashed, after the Federal Court here allowed his appeal to set aside a decision by the Court of Appeal for the case to go for a retrial.
Lawyer, Rahmat Hazlan, who represented Yahya Hussein Mohsen Abdulrab, 31, told reporters this through WhatsApp today.
He said a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, in a unanimous decision, agreed with the Court of Appeal that the previous counsel was “flagrantly incompetent”.
“However, the Federal Court held that the Court of Appeal was wrong to order a retrial instead of an acquittal. Having found that the appellant was deprived of his constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair trial, the proper order should be an acquittal,” the lawyer said, adding that the court then ordered the appellant to be acquitted and discharged.
“The deprivation of such right is in itself sufficient to grant an acquittal. On the merits of the case, the Federal Court held that the additional evidence also shows that a reasonable doubt has arisen in the prosecution’s case,” the lawyer said, adding that the court then ordered the appellant to be discharged and acquitted on the charge.
The other judges on the bench were Federal Court judges Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan.
Rahmat said the appellant has been incarcerated for more than eight years and that the court was also of the view that it was unfair to order a retrial as it would lead Yahya Hussein to languish further in prison.
In 2014, the 31-year-old was sentenced to death by hanging by the Tawau High Court in Sabah which found him guilty of the crime.
The offence was allegedly committed at the arrival hall of the Tawau Airport, at about 11am, July 25, 2013 and the charge under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 carries a mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.
In 2020, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial after concluding that the appellant was deprived of his right to a fair trial due to the ‘flagrant incompetence’ of the counsel who conducted the trial.
The appellant then appealed to the Federal Court for an order of discharge and acquittal.
Yahya Hussein was also represented by lawyers Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed while deputy public prosecutor Hanim Mohd Rashid prosecuted. – Bernama, July 13, 2021
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