KUALA LUMPUR: The 1,020 prisoners currently serving the mandatory death or natural life imprisonment sentences must file their application for review at the Federal Court within three months effective today, said Deputy Minister in Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh.

He said it is a one-off application and the filing of the motion and supporting affidavit for the review must be done by the Prisons Department.

"The application for review can be submitted to the court manually or via e-filing within the next 90 days, as the Review of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847) comes into effect today.

"However, the court can consider an extension for the application for review on reasonable grounds," he said during a briefing on the implementation process of Act 847 at the Asian International Arbitration Centre, here today.

He said prisoners can choose their own lawyer, have one appointed by the court in the case of a death sentence, or be represented by a lawyer from the National Legal Aid Foundation in cases of natural life imprisonment, to submit the application.

"Cases in Sabah and Sarawak will be handled by the respective state lawyers. As for foreigners, the Prisons Department will have discussions and engagement sessions with the relevant embassies and consulates," added Ramkarpal.

He said the application for review will involve a hearing before a panel of Federal Court judges who have the power to either maintain the current sentence or commute it to a jail term of not less than 30 years and not exceeding 40 years.

"If the court rejects their application and maintains the current sentence, prisoners can appeal to the Pardons Board," he said.

According to Ramkarpal, the mandatory death sentence involves 491 local and 415 foreign prisoners, whereas 82 local and 32 foreigners are serving imprisonment for natural life.

-- BERNAMA