Kuala lumpur: Two men escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal substituted their death sentences with 30 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane each for drug trafficking. The decision was made by a three-member panel comprising Datuk Azmi Ariffin (now a Federal Court judge), Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, who dismissed Muhamad Nor Aziz and Muhamad Shafiq Aliff Mazlan's appeals against their convictions.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the panel allowed the men's appeals to set aside the death sentences and replace them with 30 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane each, with the prison terms taking effect from the date of their arrest on August 24, 2019. In their grounds of judgment dated August 11 this year, Judge Meor Hashimi stated that the trial judge's two-year delay in preparing the grounds of judgment did not amount to excessive delay that had prejudiced either appellant.

The judgment highlighted that mere allegations by counsel, without strong evidence of a miscarriage or failure of justice on the part of the trial judge, were insufficient to set aside a conviction. Judge Meor Hashimi emphasized that the two appellants had received a fair and impartial trial and were given adequate opportunity to defend themselves.

The Court of Appeal panel also scrutinized the trial judge's grounds of judgment and found no misdirection in assessing the witnesses' conduct, nor any omission by the trial judge in evaluating the material facts of the case. The prosecution witness, acting as an 'agent provocateur,' provided credible and consistent evidence, establishing the involvement of both appellants, with a common intention, in the drug trafficking offense.

Muhamad Nor Aziz, 40, a mechanic, and Muhamad Shafiq Aliff Mazlan, 34, a lorry driver, were found guilty by the High Court on October 21, 2022, of trafficking 32.5 grammes of heroin and 45.2 grammes of monoacetylmorphines. For possessing 895.9 grammes of Etizolam, the two men were also sentenced to two years in prison each, with the sentences taking effect from August 24, 2019, the date of their arrest.

They were charged with committing the offenses in a Perodua Myvi at Jalan Kepong-Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, at 7:27 pm on August 24, 2019. The two men subsequently filed appeals at the Court of Appeal against their convictions and the death sentences imposed for the drug trafficking offense.