Identical twin escapes hanging in Malaysia after judge fails to tell brothers apart

An identical twin has escaped execution in Malaysia after a judge ruled it was impossible to determine which brother was the drug trafficker.

The twins wept and embraced after judge Zaharah Ibrahim dismissed the case. "Although one of them must be called to enter a defence, I can't be calling the wrong twin to enter his defence. I also can't be sending the wrong person to the gallows," she told the court.
According to the judge there was no doubt that either Sathis Raj or Sabarish Raj, both 27 years old, was guilty of trafficking 166 kilograms of cannabis and 1.7 kilograms of opium, but because they looked the same and had the same DNA it was impossible to determine which one.
"This is a very unique case," she said.

The police arrested one of the twins when he parked his car outside a house in Kuala Lumpur and found bags of drugs in the car boot and inside the building. The second twin later arrived at the scene and was also arrested - but crucially only the first brother had house keys.

"It is clear that the first twin who was caught was the only one who had access to the house. Therefore, it is impossible for him not to know what was inside the bags," said the judge.
Luckily for the first brother, the police were later unable to say which one they had arrested first.
The case neatly created a version of the famous "prisoner's dilemma" in which each suspect can save himself by implicating the other, but only by mutual trust can they both walk free.

Execution is mandatory for drug trafficking in Malaysia and over 200 people have been executed since the law was introduced in 1975.