Mexican Brothers Get Last Death Penalty Appeal in Malaysia
Three Mexican brothers who were sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking in 2012 will have a final court hearing Thursday in their bid to avoid the hangman's noose.
Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the men have "exhausted all their legal options," except for a last appeal before Malaysia's highest court, which will hear defense arguments.
Luis Alfonso, Simon and Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal were arrested in March 2008 at a factory in southern Malaysia where police found 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of methamphetamine and equipment to make drugs.
The siblings -- two are in their 30s, one in his 40s -- insist that they were merely working as a cleanup crew and that they were unaware that drugs were being made in the factory.
Drug trafficking carries a mandatory sentence of death by hanging upon conviction in Malaysia. They were sentenced in May 2012 and the ruling was ratified a year later.
The Mexican foreign ministry said it has "repeatedly expressed (to Malaysian authorities) Mexico's position against capital punishment."
The brothers are from Culiacan, capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa, which is known as the bastion of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://test.naharnet.com/stories/en/176352 |