The Death Penalty, Restorative Justice, and Second Chances

The Malaysian Parliament had passed The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023 and the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life Bill 2023 give judges discretion to choose between the death penalty and life imprisonment for certain offences and remove the death penalty entirely for others.  This is being hailed by many anti-death penalty advocates as a right step forward, though challenges still remain as they push towards abolishing capital punishment entirely. The FreedomFilmFest through the Freedom Film Network have been bringing socially relevant, human rights films to Malaysians since 2003, including those advocating for the abolishment of the mandatory death penalty here in Malaysia. On today's show, we catch up with filmmakers Sherrie Razak Dali (Lawyer & Co-director, Menunggu Masa), Hidayah Hisham (Director,  Ayahku, Dr G) and Mohammad Alshatri (Director, Peluang Kedua) about the films they made which captured the realities of those facing the death penalty, and the hardships and struggles of their families on the outside. We discuss why restorative justice should be the way, instead of punitive justice.

Image Credit: freedomfilm.my