One country at a time

Malaysia will abolish the death penalty:

The government has agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty, giving judges discretion in sentencing.

Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the decision was reached following the presentation of a report on substitute sentences for the mandatory death penalty, which he presented at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

Obviously, this will need some time to implement, but its good news. Its a major inroad into Asia - one of the holdout regions on the death penalty - and hopefully other countries will soon follow.