Clemency bid gathers steam for Thai trans woman jailed in Malaysia for drugs

Advocates claim the country’s justice system is uneven, with comparisons to swift halved sentence for former prime minister Najib

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Activists have urged Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah to pardon a Thai transwoman serving a life sentence for drug trafficking. Photo: Facebook/selangorroyaloffice

Published: 12:04pm, 15 Nov 2024Updated: 8:25am, 16 Nov 2024

Anti-death penalty advocates in Malaysia are urging the public to petition the Sultan of Selangor to pardon a Thai quadriplegic trans woman serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, a case they say highlights the country’s uneven justice system.

Thanakorn Sinsanoi, 33, who goes by her female name Pau, has been imprisoned since 2013 after arriving in Malaysia with 1.3kg (2.9lbs) of methamphetamine in her luggage, a package she claimed was packed by a friend.

Pau’s sentence was commuted from a death penalty to 30 years in 2023 after Malaysia lifted mandatory capital punishment.

In prison, she caught tuberculosis twice, the disease ultimately causing her to be quadriplegic – paralysed from the neck down – and having to be wheeled on a hospital bed for her court appearances.

Her plight has sparked an outcry, with the public noting Pau’s severe disability and deteriorating health in prison and comparing her situation to former prime minister Najib Razak, who recently had his corruption sentence halved by the pardons board, chaired by the king.

Advocacy group Hayat said that despite her lawyer’s plea for leniency due to her health situation, the court ruled that it cannot commute the sentence further as 30 years was the minimum the law allowed.