KUALA LUMPUR: Former Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Mokhtar Hashim died at the Ampang Hospital here earlier today. He was 78.
Mokhtar's nephew Ahmad Hafiz Abdul Raffar confirmed his death in a Facebook posting, stating that his uncle passed away at 3.10am.
He informed that the details on the funeral rites and prayers as well as the burial would be announced in due time.
"Let us pray for his soul to be showered with His grace and for him to be placed among His pious servants," he said.
Back in the 80s, Mokhtar was charged with the murder of former Negri Sembilan Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohamed Taha Talib and was sentenced to death by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in March 1983.
The high-profile murder, which took place in Kampung Seri Asahan in Gemencheh, Negri Sembilan on April 14, 1982, had occured after a period of an intense political tussle in Negri Sembilan at that time.
Mokhtar's sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Pardons Board in 1984.
He was eventually released in 1991 after receiving a royal pardon.