The government expects to table the necessary amendments to abolish mandatory death sentences in 11 law provisions during a Parliament session in October.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that if all goes according to plan, the country will no longer have the mandatory death penalty as soon as January next year.

Meanwhile, according to Wan Junaidi, the country would still have the death penalty even with the abolition of the mandatory sentence.

The difference after abolition is that judges would have the discretionary power to sentence a criminal to either death or a substitute punishment that he deems befitting the crime committed.