Tom Felix: Beatings or Death, Malaysia Tries Frenchman for This Crime
A Frenchman faces the death penalty in Malaysia . Tom Félix, 34, is accused of drug trafficking. As a reminder, he was about to open a restaurant in Langkawi and was arrested on August 9, 2023, on this northwest island. Police found several hundred grams of cannabis in the common areas of the house where he lived, hosted by his Malaysian associate. The two men were arrested. During the investigation, Tom Félix was "exonerated" by his associate, however, the Malaysian police ignored this, according to his family.
This Monday, June 16, 2025, the trial of this 34-year-old Frenchman began. According to his lawyer, Collin Andrew, he faces the death penalty and disputes the charges against him. A former Veolia executive with a degree in aquaculture and marine biology, he now faces trial in the Alor Setar High Criminal Court (northwest), according to AFP. The trial was suspended "because a witness failed to provide certain evidence," and will resume this Tuesday.
Macron will "do everything to ensure Tom is freed"The sentence, or rather the sentences, faced by Tom Félix are chilling. The thirty-year-old faces "the death penalty, or 104 years of cumulative imprisonment, 54 strokes of the cane, and a fine of €27,000," his mother, a teacher at the French high school in Singapore, had indicated. The "terrible" detention conditions he faced were also denounced by his family and his lawyer. Moreover, the seriousness of this requisition led President Emmanuel Macron to speak with the accused's family.
Indeed, the young man's parents were received on May 30 by the head of state during his official visit to Singapore. "He heard us and said that this situation is indeed unacceptable and that he would do everything possible to ensure Tom's release," Ms. Félix said after the meeting with the Elysée Palace resident. "I have no doubt about Tom's innocence, as he is living through hell, caught up in a system that crushes people and for which time is of no account," his French lawyer, François Zimeray, a former ambassador for human rights, responded.
L'Internaute
