00:00Former Police Commando Azila Hadri has been given a new lease on life after the Federal
00:07Court allowed a review application of his death sentence and commuted it to imprisonment.
00:13A three-judge panel led by Chief Justice Tuntengku Maimun Tuanmat substituted the death sentence
00:19with 40 years in jail, effective from his date of arrest on November 1, 2006, and 12
00:25strokes of the rotan.
00:27Azila was convicted in 2009 for the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Sharibu in October
00:332006.
00:36In the unanimous decision, Tengku Maimun said there were strong mitigating factors and valid
00:42reasons for the court to exercise its discretion in favor of the applicant.
00:47She said the applicant had also provided affidavits that allowed the court to apply the proportionality
00:53principle in the sentencing, and this affidavit included a letter from Altantuya's father,
00:59Dr. Sharibu Setev, who supported Azila's application to have his death sentence commuted
01:05to prison time.
01:07Azila's application for a review of his sentence came about following the establishment of
01:12the Mandatory Death Penalty Abolition Act 2023, which came into effect on July 4.
01:19Azila's co-accused Cpl. Sirul Azhar Umar fled to Australia before the federal court
01:24reversed an earlier court of appeal verdict that discharged and acquitted the two men
01:29and reinstated their conviction and death sentence in 2015.
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