Justice
A Malaysian Court has today sent a teenager behind bars for the death of 23 people in a fire that he ignited at a religious boarding school in 2017.
According to report, it is one of the worst such tragedies in two decades. The defendant was 16 years of age at the time of the fire, which killed 21 teenage boys and two teachers in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The High Court Judge, Azman Abdullah, explained that although the boy was found guilty of the conspiracy to commit murder he would not be subject to the death penalty because he was a minor at the time he committed the crime, adding that the accused would instead be sent to jail for as long as possible.
It was also gathered by newsmen that only the door to the school’s dormitory had caught fire and metal bars on the windows had trapped the boys who are students of “Tahfiz” school, where they learned to memorize the Qur’an.
However, the defendant’s lawyer, Haijan Omar, said his client was sorry for what had happened and would appeal the decision.