World Briefs: Malaysia’s Najib loses bid for house arrest
KUALA LUMPUR—A Malaysian court dismissed jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s legal bid to obtain a document that he said would allow him to serve his remaining prison sentence under house arrest. In a judicial review application filed on April 1, Najib said an “addendum order” issued by the former king had accompanied a pardons board’s decision in February to halve his 12-year jail sentence for graft in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
Najib had sought for the court to compel the government to reply to or confirm the existence of the royal order, which he said would entitle him to serve the remainder of his term under house arrest, and to execute the order if it existed. The Kuala Lumpur High Court found there was no arguable case warranting a full hearing of Najib’s application. Najib planned to appeal the decision, his lawyer said. —REUTERS
Japan court rules sterilization law unconstitutional
TOKYO—Japan’s top court ruled on Wednesday that a defunct eugenics law under which thousands of people were forcibly sterilized between 1948 and 1996 was unconstitutional, local media reported. The Supreme Court also ruled that a 20-year statute of limitations on compensation claims could not be applied, a major victory for victims who have endured decades of suffering.
Japan’s government acknowledges that around 16,500 people were forcibly sterilized under the eugenics law that was in place between 1948 and 1996. The law allowed doctors to sterilize people with inheritable intellectual disabilities to “prevent the generation of poor-quality descendants.”
Another 8,500 people were sterilized with their consent, according to authorities, although lawyers say even those cases were likely “de facto forced” because of the pressure individuals faced. —AFP
