It’s only been days since Malaysia’s disgraced former Prime Minister Najib Razak started serving his 12-year jail sentence.
However, former two-time premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that Najib will most likely get a royal pardon.
Source: Najib Razak on Facebook
This means that Malaysia’s king may pardon him for all his crimes and release him from prison.
According to Reuters, the palace of King Al-Sultan Abdullah had received a petition for a pardon from supporters of Najib.
The palace did not respond to the media’s request for a response to Dr Mahathir’s comment.
In a Facebook post on Thursday (25 Aug), Dr Mahathir wrote that Najib will “most likely” be granted a pardon after being imprisoned.
Source: Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad on Facebook
Quoting the phrase “justice delayed is justice denied”, Dr Mahathir explained that because Najib’s case took such a long time, it caused many other cases of theft, abuse of power, and corruption to be delayed and not brought to trial.
“A delay in the trials will result in justice being neglected,” he wrote.
Furthermore, the behaviour of Najib and his lawyers, who have used all sorts of excuses to obstruct the trial, only worsened the delays. Dr Mahathir said,
For Najib, he will most likely be pardoned after being imprisoned.
If pictures are anything to go by, Najib seems to be close to some of Malaysia’s royals.
Social media posts show him attending Eid celebrations with the king back in May this year.
Source: Najib Razak on Facebook
The Star notes that while Najib will be able to apply for a royal pardon, he must go through a prison sentence for a certain period before doing so.
However, it’s unclear how the palace or the current Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, might respond to a pardon application.
Those aware of the political scene in Malaysia would know that this is not the first time the issue of a royal pardon has come up.
Back in 2018, the king granted former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim a pardon for his 2014 sodomy conviction.
The Guardian reports that Anwar was the strongest opposition leader back in 2015, constantly butting heads with the ruling government then.
After Malaysia’s highest court upheld a five-year prison sentence on a sodomy charge, he spent the next three years in prison, according to Al Jazeera.
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Featured image adapted from CGTN.
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