All legal appeals have been exhausted for Timhar and Nurrie Ong, a Filipino couple facing the death penalty in Malaysia. The couple were found guilty in November 2006 of trafficking dangerous drugs and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2007 the prosecution successfully appealed against their sentence and the high court sentenced them to death by hanging that year.
On 11 August 2005, plain clothes police raided the hotel room of married couple Timhar and Nurrie Ong in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, east Malaysia, and found nine packets (weighing 336.66 grams) of Methamphetamine (crystal meth or shabu) hidden in a compartment within a box containing shoes. Malaysian law states that possession of 50 grams or more of Methamphetamine constitutes trafficking and is punishable by death.
The couple pleaded not guilty, and claimed that the box was merely handed to them for safekeeping by a Filipino woman whom they met in the airport and that they had no idea that it contained drugs. The high court ruled that the couple had trafficked Methamphetamine drugs into Malaysia from the Philippines. The judge at the high court found them guilty, and sentenced them to life imprisonment in November 2006. He also ordered further punishment of 10 strokes by a cane for Timhar Ong.
Timhar and Nurrie Ong, a Muslim couple and parents of seven children whom they left behind in southern Philippines, have now exhausted all appeals in the legal system up to the Malaysian Federal Courts. In July 2010, their family appealed for clemency to the Governor of Sabah, who chairs the Pardon Board in the state. The Philippine government, which abolished the death penalty in 2008, has an opportunity to appeal to the Malaysian government to commute the couple's death sentence.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the President of the Philippines to exert his influence and make an appeal on behalf of Timhar and Nurrie Ong, asking the Malaysian Prime Minister to commute their death sentence during Ramadan.
- Expressing concern that the death penalty is mandatory for drug trafficking cases in Malaysia.
APPEALS TO:
President
H.E. Benigno Aquino III
President, Republic of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace Compound
J.P. Laurel Street, San Miguel,
Manila, 1005
PHILIPPINES
Website: http://www.president.gov.ph/government/default.aspx AND fill in the feedback form.
Salutation: Mr. President / Your Excellency/ President Aquino
COPIES TO:
Ambassador
H.E. (Mr.) Victoriano M. Lecaros
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines
No. 1 Jalan Changkat Kia Peng
50450 Kuala Lumpur,
MALAYSIA
Email: eci@philembassykl.org.my
Ambassador Willy Calaud Gaa
Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines
1600 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20036
Phone: 202 467 9300
Fax: 1 202 467 9417
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 September 2010.
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