Singapore woman escapes gallows in Malaysia
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A LIFE SAVED
'We also shouldn't lose focus of the fact that there's a life at stake. Saving that is in itself a victory.'
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, on Noor Atiqah's (above) 12-year sentence
-- PHOTO: THE FAMILY OF NOOR ATIQAHKUALA LUMPUR - A Singaporean woman sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking has been spared the gallows, after the charge against her was reduced to possession instead, an offence which does not carry the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia.
Noor Atiqah M. Lasim, 26, will now have to serve a 12-year jail term instead, after she was caught with 370g of heroin and other drugs in her bag at the Sepang airport budget terminal on Jan 5, 2009.
She has maintained all along that she had not known that the bag she was carrying contained drugs.
During the Court of Appeal hearing in Putrajaya on Wednesday morning, the prosecution decided not to contest the appeal against the conviction for trafficking.
