A former prison official who presided over 130 hangings across five Malaysian jails has given Daily Mail Australia an extraordinary insight into the final hours of a death row inmate.

In an exclusive interview in Kuala Lumpur, the retired former chief hangman, 61, said the executions always begin at dawn, just after the morning prayers.

Source:- DailyMailUK

‘That is the best time,’ said the officer, who asked his name not to be published for safety reasons.

‘People wake up, their mind is always at peace.’

It’s very quiet, the whole prison is very quiet, especially the Muslims, they pray.’

People in the death knell are praying for the inmate about to be hanged, the Christians, the people in the other blocks are praying for them too and they know that.

The ex-hangman opened up about the country’s secretive execution process after a Malaysian court sentenced Sydney woman Maria Exposto, 54, to death.

Like many before her, in 2014, Ms Exposto was caught at Kuala Lumpur international airport carrying a bag laced with drugs more than a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine.

She claimed she was ‘duped’ into carrying the substance by an online romance scammer.

Drug smuggling carries a mandatory death penalty in Malaysia.

Activists have long criticised the hardline policy as ‘barbaric, cruel and inhumane’, but it has broad public support.

This week, the former prison chief outlined a grim future for Ms Exposto if a final appeal against her death sentence fails.

Exposto was sentenced to death on May 24, more than three years after she was first arrested.

The former executioner explains to journalist Daniel Piotrowski what the final moments of Exposto’s life will be like inside the Malaysian prison.

Source:- Getty Images