KUALA LUMPUR: Three Mexican brothers were sentenced on Thursday to death by hanging in Malaysia on drug trafficking charges brought following their 2008 arrest at a methamphetamine factory.
The Gonzalez Villarreals Luis Alfonso, 44, Simon, 37 and Jose Regino, 33 were sentenced to death by a Kuala Lumpur High Court along with a Malaysian and a Singaporean.
The suspects were arrested at a factory in southern Malaysia, with police seizing almost 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of methamphetamine and chemicals used to produce the drug.
"The court finds all five accused are guilty of the charge against them," High Court Judge Mohamed Zawawi Salleh said, announcing the verdict.
"All five accused were aware and were involved in the activity of drug making, the offence is serious," he added.
Drug trafficking carries the mandatory death penalty by hanging in Muslim-majority Malaysia, though executions are not made publicly known and activists say few people are thought to have been put to death in recent years.
The lawyers for the five men said they would appeal the verdict, which can take years to go through the Court of Appeal and if necessary the Federal Court.
The three brothers are believed to be the first Mexicans sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Malaysia.
The three, wearing jeans, T-shirts and sandals, handcuffed to each other and each carrying their belongings in a white bag, looked ashen faced and shaken after the verdict was read out.
"We are very sad. We thought we are going to be acquitted," the eldest brother, Luis Alfonso, said in Spanish.
Lawyers for the Mexican brothers had argued that the evidence was tampered with.
The accused also testified they were merely workers taken to the drug factory to clean it and were unaware of any illegal activity there.
The two others sentenced to death were Malaysian Lee Boon Siah, 47, and Singaporean Lim Hung Wang, 55.
Hundreds of Malaysians and foreigners including many from Iran are on death row in Malaysia, mostly for drug trafficking.
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