Solved case · 2017
The short answer
Malaysian military cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, 20, was tortured and scalded with a steam iron by fellow students over a stolen laptop he did not steal, dying of his injuries in June 2017; after years of appeals, six main perpetrators' convictions were finally settled as manslaughter with 18-year sentences.
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Suggest coverage for Murder of Zulfarhan Osman ZulkarnainBetween 21 and 22 May 2017, 20-year-old Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, a third-year navy cadet officer at the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur, was held and tortured by fellow students at the university's dormitory over a laptop belonging to one of his abusers, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, that had gone missing. A bomoh (traditional healer), consulted by Muhammad Akmal, had wrongly indicated Zulfarhan as the thief. Zulfarhan consistently denied stealing the laptop. On 22 May 2017, six students used a steam iron to scald him repeatedly across his body, including his private parts, over several hours. He did not report to class in the following days due to his injuries. On 27 and 31 May 2017, he was brought to a clinic by some of the accused, who misrepresented the injuries as resulting from an army training explosion; the treating doctor advised hospitalization each time, but Zulfarhan and his companions declined. On 1 June 2017, he was taken to Serdang Hospital, where he died. A forensic pathologist found 90 burn marks on his body, 29 of them third-degree, which she testified were sufficient to cause death.
Police classified the death as murder and questioned 36 students. Eighteen students were ultimately charged with murder or causing hurt: five men (Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, and Mohamad Shobirin Sabri) were charged with murder, a sixth (Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali) with abetment of murder, and twelve others with causing hurt. A 19th suspect, Muhammad Akmal Akif Alias, was charged with causing hurt but was acquitted in 2019 without his defence being called.
The trial ran at the Kuala Lumpur High Court from January 2018 to November 2021. On 2 November 2021, Justice Azman Abdullah convicted the six main defendants of manslaughter rather than murder, sentencing each to 18 years' imprisonment, and sentenced the twelve others to three years each for causing hurt. Zulfarhan's mother, Hawa Osman, gave a victim impact statement describing the family's reliance on her eldest son and the toll of his death on her health.
The prosecution appealed, and on 23 July 2024 the Court of Appeal overturned the manslaughter verdicts, convicting the six main defendants of murder and sentencing them to death, calling the case among the "rarest of the rare." The twelve causing-hurt sentences were raised to four years each. The convicted men appealed to the Federal Court, which on 28 February 2025 overturned the murder convictions and death sentences, restoring the manslaughter convictions and 18-year sentences, finding that intent to murder had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
The case, alongside the contemporaneous killing of another Malaysian student, T. Nhaveen, prompted national discussion of bullying in schools and universities, with government officials and human rights bodies calling for reforms and greater institutional accountability.
Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain is born.
Zulfarhan is confined and assaulted by fellow students at UPNM dormitory over a missing laptop.
Six students use a steam iron to scald Zulfarhan repeatedly over several hours.
Zulfarhan is brought to a clinic by friends who misrepresent his burn injuries as training-related; doctor advises hospitalization, which is declined.
Zulfarhan returns to the clinic in a weaker, dehydrated state; hospitalization again advised.
Zulfarhan dies at Serdang Hospital; police classify the death as murder.
Six students are charged with murder or abetment of murder; 13 others charged with causing hurt.
The six murder suspects are ordered to stand trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
High Court grants prosecution's request to try all 19 suspects together.
Joint trial of 19 defendants begins at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
18 of 19 accused are ordered to enter their defence; the 19th, Muhammad Akmal Akif Alias, is acquitted.
Defence completes its case after calling over 20 witnesses.
Closing submissions are made by prosecution and defence.
High Court convicts six main defendants of manslaughter (18 years each) and 12 others of causing hurt (3 years each).
Court of Appeal hears prosecution's and defendants' cross-appeals.
Court of Appeal overturns manslaughter verdicts, convicts six main defendants of murder, sentences them to death; raises causing-hurt sentences to four years.
First Federal Court appeal hearing convenes.
Federal Court overturns murder convictions and death sentences, restores manslaughter convictions and 18-year sentences.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
20-year-old navy cadet officer at UPNM who died from torture-related injuries on 1 June 2017.[3]
Charged with abetment of murder; convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment; a Court of Appeal murder conviction and death sentence were later overturned by the Federal Court, restoring the manslaughter conviction.[3]
Convicted of manslaughter (Section 304(a)) and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment; a Court of Appeal murder conviction and death sentence were later overturned by the Federal Court, restoring the manslaughter conviction.[3]
Convicted of manslaughter (Section 304(a)) and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment; a Court of Appeal murder conviction and death sentence were later overturned by the Federal Court, restoring the manslaughter conviction.[3]
Convicted of manslaughter (Section 304(a)) and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment; a Court of Appeal murder conviction and death sentence were later overturned by the Federal Court, restoring the manslaughter conviction.[3]
Convicted of manslaughter (Section 304(a)) and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment; a Court of Appeal murder conviction and death sentence were later overturned by the Federal Court, restoring the manslaughter conviction.[3]
Convicted of manslaughter (Section 304(a)) and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment; a Court of Appeal murder conviction and death sentence were later overturned by the Federal Court, restoring the manslaughter conviction.[3]
19th suspect, charged with causing hurt to Zulfarhan; acquitted in 2019 without his defence being called.[3]
Kuala Lumpur High Court judge who presided over the original trial and delivered the 2021 manslaughter verdict.[3]
Led the three-judge Court of Appeal panel that overturned the manslaughter verdicts and imposed death sentences in 2024.[3]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
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SOLVEDListenKampung Seri Budiman, Jalan Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia · 1990s
In June 1991, 12-year-old child television host Intan Yusniza Mohamad Yunos and her 56-year-old foster mother Haniza Ismail were found bludgeoned to death in a robbery-murder at their Kuala Lumpur home. A jobless neighbour, Zainuzzaman Mohamad Jasadi, was convicted of Intan's murder and hanged in 2001, while a jury acquitted him of Haniza's murder.
SOLVEDListenPudu Prison, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia · 1980s
Singaporean former police officer Jimmy Chua Chap Seng, held at Pudu Prison in Malaysia on murder and firearms charges, masterminded a six-day hostage siege in October 1986 with five fellow inmates before being executed in 1989 for separate firearms offences without ever being tried for the siege.
Credit: The original uploader was Ohconfucius at English Wikipedia.CC BY-SA 2.0SourceUNSOLVEDListenKuala Lumpur, Malaysia · 2010s
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard; Malaysia's government said the flight ended in the Indian Ocean but gave no fuller explanation, and the lack of a definitive account produced a wide range of competing theories about its fate.
Credit: Self-made by subject, or taken by family or friendEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenSan Borja Park, Santiago, Chile · 2012
Daniel Zamudio, a gay Chilean man, was beaten and tortured for hours in a Santiago park in March 2012 by four men linked to a neo-Nazi gang; he died of his injuries 25 days later, prompting Chile to pass a long-stalled anti-discrimination law.
Image recordEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenInterstate 95, West Palm Beach, Florida · 2011
Nubia Barahona, a 10-year-old girl, was beaten to death, allegedly by her adoptive father, in Miami on February 11, 2011; her body was found three days later wrapped in a garbage bag in a truck full of hazardous chemicals on I-95. Her adoptive mother later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder; her adoptive father's case remains pending as of October 2025.
Credit: Salim KhandokerCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenBUET, Sher-e-Bangla Hall, Dhaka, Bangladesh · 2019
Abrar Fahad, a second-year BUET engineering student, was beaten to death inside a university dormitory in October 2019 by activists of the ruling party's student wing, sparking nationwide protests; 25 people were later convicted, with 20 sentenced to death and five to life imprisonment.
