Criminal Procedure Code · Updated to 1 May 2023 · Chapter XXVII · Sentences and the Carrying Out of IT
281. Provisions as to execution of sentences of death
Feedback & supportWith regard to sentences of death the following provisions shall be followed:
after sentence has been pronounced a warrant, under the seal of the Court, shall be made out for the commitment of the person sentenced to the custody of the officer in charge of the district prison, and the warrant shall be full authority to the said officer, or any officer appointed by him for that purpose, for receiving into his custody and detaining the person so sentenced until the further warrant or order of the Court;
Court
“Court” means the High Court, a Sessions Court, or a Magistrate’s Court of any class, as the context may require;
in cases in which notice of appeal is not given within the prescribed period, the Judge passing sentence of death shall, as soon as conveniently may be after such period has elapsed, forward to the Menteri Besar of the State in which the crime was committed, a copy of the notes of evidence taken on the trial, together with a report in writing signed by him, setting out his opinion whether there are any reasons, and, if any,
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what reasons there are, why the sentence of death should or should not be carried out;
in cases in which notice of appeal is given the Judge who passed sentence of death shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the appeal has been determined by the Court of Appeal, forward to the
Federal Court the report in writing referred to in subparagraph (i); and, if the Federal Court dismisses the appeal made to it, the Judge presiding in that
Court shall as soon as conveniently may be after the dismissal forward to the aforesaid Menteri Besar, the said report in writing together with a copy of the notes of evidence taken at the original trial, a copy of the record of the proceedings before the Federal Court and also such report, if any, on the case as the Federal
Court may think fit to make signed by the Judge presiding in the Federal Court;
the Menteri Besar shall, upon receipt of the proceedings, submit the same to the Ruler of the State and shall communicate to the Court of the Judge passing sentence a copy under his hand and seal of any order the Ruler of the
State may, acting in accordance with Article 42 of the
Constitution, make thereon, which order, if the sentence is to be carried out, shall state the place where the execution is to be held, and if the sentence is commuted into any other punishment shall so state; and if the person sentenced is pardoned shall so state;
on receiving the copy of the said order the Court shall cause the effect of the same to be entered in the records of the Court, and when the said order directs the sentence to be carried out shall appoint the time when it is to be carried out and shall endorse the time so appointed on the said order, and shall in all cases cause the order to be carried into effect by issuing a warrant or taking such other steps as may be necessary;
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the Ruler of the State acting in accordance with
Article 42 of the Constitution may order a respite of the execution of the warrant and afterwards appoint some other time or other place for its execution;
the warrant shall be directed to the officer in charge of the prison for the district where the sentence is to be carried into effect, who shall carry the sentence into effect, in accordance with law;
there shall be present at the execution of the sentence the Medical Officer in charge of the prison, the
Superintendent of Prisons, the Officer-in-Charge of the prison and such other officers of the prison as the latter may require, and there may also be present any
Minister of Religion in attendance at the prison and such relations of the prisoner or other persons as the
Superintendent thinks proper to admit;
as soon as may be after judgment of death has been executed the Medical Officer shall examine the body of the person executed and shall ascertain the fact of death and shall sign a certificate thereof and deliver the same to the Officer-in-Charge;
a Magistrate of the district shall, within twenty-four hours after the execution, hold an inquiry and satisfy himself of the identity of the body and whether judgment of death was duly executed thereon, and he shall make a report of it to the Menteri Besar of the
State;
when a sentence of death is avoided by the escape of the person sentenced to death, execution of the sentence shall be carried into effect at such other time after his recapture as the Court shall order;
no omission or error as to time and place and no defect in form in any order or warrant given under this section and no omission to comply with the provisions of paragraph (e)
shall be held to render illegal any execution carried into
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effect under the order or warrant, or intended so to have been carried into effect, or shall render any execution illegal which would otherwise have been legal.