Fame, Black Magic, and Murder: The Mona Fandey Story

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She wanted to be famous.

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That was the whole plan.

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Sing a few songs, maybe land a talk show spot, and live like a pop star.

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What actually happened, she ended up trading the stage for something with a whole lot more

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blood and fewer on-course.

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This is the story of Mona Fandy.

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A failed pop star turned spiritual fixer for Malaysia's political elite.

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Her clients were powerful.

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Her promises were bold.

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And one of them didn't live to see the receipt.

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This case is about a crime, obviously.

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But it's also about ambition, ego, black magic, and a woman who smiled through a murder trial

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like it was her album launch.

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Before we dive in, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable, you're in the right

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place.

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Hit follow now for at least two new episodes every week.

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This is 10 Minute Murder.

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Let's get into it.

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[Music]

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Just a quick heads up, I'm probably going to mispronounce some of the names and places

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in this episode.

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Not on purpose.

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I promise I look them up.

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I tried.

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And I probably still got a few wrong.

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Just know that it's not disrespect.

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It's me doing the best I can with a mouth that occasionally forgets how language works.

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Alright, here we go.

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If fame were a currency, Neuromanza, Binti, Ismail was ready to go bankrupt chasing it.

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Born into a modest Malaysian family, she came out of the gate with two things, ambition

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and flair.

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As a kid, she dabbled in singing and water ballet because apparently walking wasn't dramatic

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enough.

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She wanted the spotlight early and she wasn't subtle about it.

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By 1987, she rebranded herself with a kind of confidence, usually reserved for people

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who wear sunglasses at night.

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She picked the stage name, Mona Fandy, and dropped her debut album, Diana.

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Like she was already Malaysia's next big pop icon, her husband, Muhammad Nur Afandir Abdul

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Ramon, was all in.

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Totally supportive, possibly delusional.

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He drained their savings to get Mona airtime on national TV, hoping that the exposure would

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kickstart her music career.

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It didn't.

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She had the style, the hair and the determination, which she didn't have was sales.

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Whatever brief flicker of flame she caught fizzled out fast.

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Malaysia blinked and moved on.

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But Mona didn't.

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With her pop star dreams officially stalled, she pivoted into something less glamorous and

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way more profitable.

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She and Muhammad started calling themselves "Bomos."

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That's the Malaysian version of a shaman or spiritual healer.

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Think ritual magic, folk medicine, and occasional negotiating with the spirit realm.

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Need a boost in your career?

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Need someone else's to implode?

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Call a "Boma."

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And it turned out Mona was much better at conjuring power than performing on stage.

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Malaysian culture has long held a deep belief in magic, and Mona's services were in high

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demand.

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Politicians, celebrities, even the rich and restless all started showing up at her door.

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Some wanted healing.

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Others wanted favors from the beyond.

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Some just wanted a shortcut to power.

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She didn't end up a pop star, but she got everything that came along with being one.

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Through a much darker door.

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Mona Fandys' client list looked like a Forbes gala, with a side of superstition.

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Wealthy business people came to her hoping she could turn their fortunes from big to obscene.

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The sick arrived desperate for healing when hospitals gave up.

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And politicians, they wanted the kind of help that you won't find on a campaign manual.

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They came looking for power, and sometimes to erase a rival or two along the way.

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She'd paid off big time.

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Mona had mansions across Malaysia, a fleet of expensive cars, closets full of designer clothes,

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and a taste for five star hotel living.

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She might not have cracked the pop charts, but she was living like she had.

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She built a life that looked exactly like the fame she'd always wanted.

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Then came 1993.

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A local politician named Maslan Idris showed up.

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He had ambition, connections, and enough belief in Bomo magic to try and cheat the political

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latter.

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He heard Mona was the real deal, and he wanted in.

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At their meeting, Mona and Mohammed offered Maslan, something with serious alleged power.

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A talisman, they claimed, had once belonged to the first president of Indonesia.

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They'd sold things like this before to their other clients, so this wasn't new for them.

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But this talisman came with a premium price tag, 2.5 million ringgits.

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Maslan didn't blink.

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He was a firm believer in the idea that to make money, you have to spend it.

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He offered 500,000 ringgits, with 300,000 up front.

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The rest, he said, would come in the form of property.

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So the next day, Maslan crisscrossed Kuala Lumpur, stomping at banks and pulling out wands

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of cash, like he was planning to fund a heist.

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By that evening, he handed over the money, 300,000 ringgits in cash, which at the time was about

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120,000 US dollars.

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And then, Maslan vanished.

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No good bye, no press conference, just gone.

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The day after Maslan idris vanished, Mona was suddenly everywhere.

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She was seen around town, spending like she just hit the spiritual jackpot.

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She bought luxury clothes, a brand new car, a phone, a TV, and an entire set of furniture,

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right down to custom kitchen cabinets.

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Then because nothing says subtle like cosmetic surgery, she checked herself into a hospital

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for a facelift and a nose job.

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But the shopping spree did not last long.

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Their assistance, Jeremy Hassan, was picked up on unrelated drug charges.

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During questioning, he dropped a confession that spun the whole case sideways.

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He told investigators to check out one of Mona and Mohammed's many properties.

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And there, buried beneath the pit covered in cement, they found what was left of Maslan

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Idris.

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His body had been dismembered into 18 pieces.

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Parts of his skin had been removed.

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Several organs were missing, including his testicles.

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He had died from a sharp blow to the neck.

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Soon after, Mona, Mohammed, and Jeremy were all arrested for Maslan's murder.

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When investigators searched the rest of Mona and Mohammed's properties, they made more

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disturbing discoveries.

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A dead family, another woman, several jars filled with preserved human organs.

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None of it could be conclusively tied to Mona or Mohammed, but the theory was clear.

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These weren't just murders.

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They may have been ritual sacrifices, possibly offered up in exchange for power or protection.

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But proving that in court was another story.

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So authorities focused on the one case they could prove.

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Maslan.

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At trial, Jeremy testified against the couple.

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He said Mona and Mohammed had orchestrated the entire thing.

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According to him, Maslan showed up with the money, expecting a ceremony that would bring

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him wealth beyond imagination.

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Mona told Maslan to lie down on the floor.

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She placed an orchid on his forehead and told him to close his eyes.

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At some points, a voice would ask how much money he wanted.

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If the magic worked, the cash would appear.

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And believed her, he closed his eyes and waited.

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What he didn't know was that behind him, Jeremy stood with an axe.

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He struck three times, severing Maslan's head.

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Mona and Mohammed then told Jeremy to dismember the body while they went off to wash the

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blood off in a shower.

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Mohammed's version of events was, let's say, different.

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First, he claimed Maslan owed him over two million ringgits for a magical cane.

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Not a joke, a literal cane.

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Then he changed direction.

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Now it was all Jeremy.

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According to Mohammed, he and Mona were just doing the ceremony like normal when Jeremy

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suddenly showed up and attacked Maslan out of nowhere.

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They were shocked.

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They were scared.

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So they ran.

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Two traumatized, they called the police.

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Two confused to tell anyone what happened.

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But somehow, not two traumatized to spend the victim's money on luxury goods the very

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next day.

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The serial numbers on the bank notes traced directly back to the cash Maslan had withdrawn.

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And the courtroom started to look a lot less like a mystery and a lot more like a closing

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argument.

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Mohammed stuck to his story.

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According to him, he and Mona had no intention of hurting Maslan.

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The plan, he said, was to perform the ceremony as promised.

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But then, Jeremy snapped, as I said.

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Mona never took the stand.

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She never tried to explain herself.

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But she did make sure people were watching.

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The murder of a high profile politician had finally made her famous.

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And she was soaking it up like stage lights.

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She dressed to be noticed.

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She smiled like she was posing for an album cover.

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And during one court appearance, she turned to reporters and said, looks like I have many

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fans.

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It was bizarre.

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She wasn't just on trial for murder.

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She was performing.

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Through the whole process, Mona stayed silent on the details.

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She denied the charges, but didn't argue the evidence against her.

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Her only complaint was that prison guards had pressed too hard on her facelift stitches

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to force a confession.

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That was it.

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Anything else?

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She reserved for the cameras.

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Smiling, waving, posing like she was on a red carpet, not sitting in the defendant's chair

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at a Capitol murder trial.

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When the guilty verdict came down, Mona didn't flinch.

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Even as the judge handed her a death sentence, she kept smiling.

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Inside the courtroom, she thanked Malaysians.

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She then blew kisses to the crowd while she, Mohammed and Jorami were escorted to death row.

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They appealed the decision, but it didn't work.

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On the morning of November 2, 2001, all three were brought to the gallows.

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Black hoods, tied legs, no last minute theatrics.

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Just a final smile from Mona and the words, I will never die.

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Their bodies were left hanging for an hour, as required, before being taken down and buried.

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder.

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If you're new here, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

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full episode list and show info, you can find at 10minutemurder.com.

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I don't have all those dramatic movies, so thank you for that.

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the podcast with people that you know.

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I appreciate it.

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Talk to you next time.

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XOXO, gossip girl.