Japanese in Malaysia has death sentence reduced to 30-year prison term

Malaysia's top court commuted the death sentence imposed on a Japanese woman for drug trafficking to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, following a judicial reform that eliminated mandatory capital punishment for illicit drug trade and several other serious offenses.In a unanimous decision, a panel of three judges at the Federal Court replaced the death sentence handed to Mariko Takeuchi, 50, with imprisonment of 30 years from the date of her arrest in 2009, after reviewing an appeal for a lesser punishment.Takeuchi lost her appeal in 2015, with the court upholding lower court rulings in whic…READ FULL ARTICLE