A video of a 55-year-old single mother crying uncontrollably after being sentenced to death last year for possessing 113.9 grams of methamphetamine ignited heated online discussions about women's rights and capital punishment in Malaysia.
Under Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act, those found guilty of possessing over 50 grams of methamphetamine face a largely mandatory death sentence. Critics note that the impact of the harsh penalty is often borne by the marginalised, especially vulnerable women.
Of the 1,342 inmates on death row in Malaysia, women make up nearly 10 percent (129 female inmates), nearly twice the global rate of women sentenced to death. In 2019, 95 percent of women on death row had been sentenced to death for drug-related crimes, compared to 70 percent of male inmates. A higher percentage of women facing execution are foreign nationals (86 percent) relative to men (39 percent).
