[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 31



JAPAN:

Print-friendly version ---- Ex-gang boss on death row for 3 murders
receives 20 million yen for 3 other slayings


A former gang boss appealing the death sentence handed down on him for 3
murders has told acquaintances that he received nearly 20 million yen for
his role in 3 other murders, police sources said Monday.

Ibaraki Prefectural Police is set to dispatch investigators to the Tokyo
Detention Center where the suspect, 47-year-old Ryoji Goto is being
detained, to question him over the allegations.

The mastermind, a 56-year-old real estate broker, strangled a man to death
in November 1999 after getting into an argument over money. Goto helped
the broker incinerate the victim's body and received 2 million yen for the
job, according to the sources. Moreover, the mastermind promised not to
demand that Goto repay 4.8 million yen in debts to him.

Goto received 12 million yen from the broker for helping him bury alive a
wealthy man in his 70s in Ibaraki Prefecture in the same month, and for
selling land owned by the victim for about 70 million yen, according to
the sources.

In August 2000, the former gang leader was paid 1 million yen from the
broker for forcing an elderly curtain shop owner suffering diabetes to
fatally drink a massive amount of liquor to receive 80 million yen in
benefits from a life insurance policy taken out on him, the sources said.

In addition, the broker remitted about 130,000 yen into Goto's account
after he was arrested, bringing the total amount paid to the former gang
boss to 19.93 million yen.

Goto, who is appealing the death sentence handed down on him for murdering
three people, has recently submitted a report to the prefectural police
admitting that he was involved in these three additional cases.

(source: Mainichi Daily News)

*****************

Newly appointed justice minister refuses to sign execution orders


Seiken Sugiura was named to the post just hours earlier in a Cabinet
shuffle by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. His comments reopen debate
about the death penalty in Japan. Sugiura told reporters after the new
Cabinet's first meeting he would not sign death penalty orders because of
his personal philosophy, Kyodo News agency reported. Justice Ministry
officials were unavailable for comment late Monday night.

The government lifted a 4-year moratorium on capital punishment in 1993.
But until 1998, it refused to publicly acknowledge executions, which are
done by hanging. Since 1993, all justice ministers, except one, have
signed executions orders, Kyodo said.

Executions are rare in Japan. A former policeman convicted of raping,
killing and robbing 2 women in the 1980s was executed last month in
Japan's 1st hanging of the year, and only 2 inmates were executed in 2004,
the AP reports.

The government is extremely secretive about its death penalty and tends to
carry out hangings when parliament is not in session.

Amnesty International Japan routinely protests Japanese hangings. The
human rights group maintains that the executions are conducted abruptly,
with no prior notice to the inmate or families, and with little public
transparency.

(source: PRAVDA)






INDIA:

Retain death penalty, says outgoing chief justice


Outgoing chief justice of India RC Lahoti on Monday vehemently advocated
the retention of the death penalty, which rights groups have been urging
the government to abolish.

Condemning the serial bomb blasts in the capital that killed 59 people on
Saturday, Lahoti said the culprits behind the attack should get the death
penalty.

"Which other penalty is required other than this (capital punishment) for
this dastardly act? What other punishment is called for? Ask the man who
has masterminded this blast," Lahoti told reporters shortly before
retiring on Monday.

President APJ Abdul Kalam last week said he favoured the framing of a
policy on procedures to accept mercy petitions from prisoners on death
row, following which Law Minister HR Bhardwaj said the government favoured
a debate on the issue.

Kalam has reportedly suggested that the government consider the nature of
the crime and a convict's age, health and family ties apart from his or
her behaviour in prison while reviewing death row cases.

Lahoti admitted that there was a global campaign against capital
punishment, but said he personally favoured that the death penalty should
continue under the Indian Penal Code.

"Speaking for myself, I think that the death penalty must continue to
exist. We cannot go by what is happening in Western countries," he said.

Pointing out that many innocent people had lost their lives in terrorist
attacks, Lahoti asked: "How many innocent people have been killed and
injured? Now if police investigates and are able to lay their hands on the
persons and mastermind behind the blasts, please tell me what other
penalty is required except the death penalty?"

An emotional Lahoti added: "What happens is that we forget the past. Human
memory fails. We forget the victims and we only see the accused before us,
we look at his family.

"We forget the family of those killed, injured and totally uprooted and I
am told of a family whose only surviving member is a small child," he
said, referring to Saturday's bomb attacks.

Interestingly, judge Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal, who takes over as the chief
justice of India, had said last week that he personally wanted capital
punishment to be removed from the penal code.

(source: Indo-Asian News Service)

********************

Ashfaq gets death penalty in Red Fort attack case


A Delhi court today awarded death sentence to Pakistan-based
Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq convicted in the
December 2000 Red Fort attack case.

Additional Sessions Judge O P Saini awarded life imprisionment to two key
conspirators Nazir Ahmed Qasid and his son Farooq Ahmed Qasid who were
held guilty of waging war against the state along with Ashfaq. Ashfaq's
Indian wife Rehmana Yousuf Farooqui, who was held guilty of harbouring the
main accused, has been given a 7-year jail term.

Accused Bagar Mohsin Baghwala, Sadaqat Ali and Matloob Alam, who were
pronounced guilty by the Special Judge on October 24 along with the other
4 accused, have also been sentenced to 7-year rigorous imprisonment.

Baghwala and Sadaqat Ali were held guilty of providing shelter to main
accused Ashfaq while Matloob Alam was convicted of criminal conspiracy,
cheating and forgery. The court also slapped a fine of Rs one lakh each on
Ashfaq, Nazir and Farooq and Rs 20,000 each on rest of the accused.

Ashfaq and 5 other terrorists had sneaked into the 17th century Mughal
monument around 2100 hours on December 22, 2000 and opened indiscriminate
fire, killing two jawans of Rajputana Rifles and a civilian.

While convicting the accused, the court said "it has been established
beyond doubt" that the conspiracy to attack the Red Fort was hatched at
Farooq and Nazir's house in Srinagar where Ashfaq had arrived in 1999
along with three other LeT militants. The three militants Abu Shaad, Abu
Bilal and Abu Haider who had also entered the monument were earlier killed
in separate encounters.

"These facts speak unmistakably and loudly that these people conspired to
wage war against the Government of India", the judge said.

"The foreign national and his accomplices had entered into the Indian
territory with a view to subvert the functioning of the Government and
destablise the society," the Special Judge said.

Sadaqat had provided shelter to Ashfaq at Gafoor Nagar in South Delhi's
Okhla where they jointly ran a computer centre for a month before the
attack. They were also in touch with the other accused in Jammu and
Kashmir and Pakistan.

It was Baghwala, a resident of Srinagar, who drove Ashfaq around the
capital and showed him the key government and military installations. He
also played a crucial role in the planning to attack the Fort.

Matloob Alam, a ration shop owner was sentenced for helping Ashfaq in
gettng a ration card using forged documents, which he used for
establishing his Indian citizenship.

5 minutes after the attack, Ashfaq informed "his masters in Pakistan" and
some media organisations through his cell phone that the "mission has been
accomplished". Its intercepts had helped the police to close in on him.

Ashfaq and Rehmana were arrested following an encounter in South Delhi's
Jamia Nagar area 4 days later.

(source: Outlook India)






INDONESIA:

"Bali Nine" alleged drug traffickers set up for execution by Australian
police

Prosecution evidence put forward at trials of the "Bali Nine" currently
underway in Bali, Indonesia, establishes that the Australian Federal
Police (AFP) engaged in a calculated operation to set up the young
Australians for execution by firing squad. The police provided Indonesian
authorities with detailed information about the alleged drug smugglers'
activities, and encouraged their arrest in Indonesia, despite knowing that
this would almost certainly lead to the subsequent imposition of the death
penalty.

The AFP has faced mounting scrutiny over its role in the Bali Nine affair.
The agency's cooperation with the Indonesian police has directly
contravened the spirit of the mutual assistance treaty enacted by Canberra
and Jakarta in 1999, which was widely believed to prevent Australian
authorities from facilitating the execution of its own citizens. Capital
punishment is illegal within Australia, and under the 1988 Extradition
Act, the attorney-general cannot authorise the extradition of an
Australian national if the death penalty may be imposed.

The accused were all arrested on April 17, 2005. Four of the group (Renae
Lawrence, Martin Stephens, Michael Czugaj, and Scott Rush) were caught at
Bali's Denpasar airport acting as couriers, or "mules". A total of more
than 8 kilograms of heroin was found strapped to their bodies. Four others
(Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, and Matthew Norman)
allegedly connected to the operation were arrested at a Kuta hotel. The
alleged organiser, Andrew Chan, was arrested without drugs after boarding
a plane bound for Sydney. The accused are aged between 18 and 29.

According to a senior Indonesian prosecutor, Australian police made
informal contact with their Indonesian counterparts in late March, almost
a month before the nine arrests. On April 8, Paul Hunniford, the AFPs
liaison officer in Bali wrote a 3-page letter to the Indonesian police,
headed, "Heroin couriers from Bali to Australia, currently in Bali".
Another note was sent on April 12. The letters provided an extraordinary
level of detail of the alleged drug traffickers' movements and plans. The
AFP also provided the Indonesian authorities with the passport numbers and
photographs of 8 of the accused.

"They will be carrying body packs (with white powder) back to Australia,
with packs on both legs and also with back supports," one section of the
initial letter read. "They have already been given the back supports. The
packs will be strapped to their bodies. They will be given money to
exchange for local currency to purchase oversized loose shirts and
sandals." The AFP officer even knew that the alleged couriers would avoid
wearing clothes with any metal attachments so as to avoid tripping airport
metal detectors, and that they had been advised to quit smoking two weeks
prior to the operation in order not to appear anxious after disembarking
from their plane in Australia.

Rather than waiting for the suspects to enter Australia where they could
be arrested and tried by Australian authorities, the AFP encouraged their
arrest in Indonesia. "If you suspect [Andrew] Chan and/or the couriers are
carrying drugs at the time of their departure, please take whatever action
you deem necessary," Hunniford wrote to the Indonesian police. He also
suggested that the Indonesians take surveillance photographs of the
alleged drug smugglers to later assist the prosecution. The AFP officer
subsequently observed the Australians' arrest at Denpasar airport.

Even before the release of the correspondence between the Australian and
Indonesian police, the AFP was facing legal action over its role in the
Bali Nine affair. The families of two of the accused - Scott Rush and
Renae Lawrence - have alleged "denial of procedural fairness", on the
grounds that the father of one of the alleged mules, 19 year-old Rush,
tipped off the AFP as to his sons activities on April 7, two days before
he left Australia for Bali. The Australian police did nothing except pass
the information on to the Indonesians.

The Howard government failed in its application before the Federal Court
to have the families' claim dismissed, and the hearing is due to begin on
November 9. More details of the AFPs collaboration with the Indonesian
police may well emerge in the course of the case.

The families application was spurred by their outrage over the role of
Australian authorities in the prosecution of their children. Bob Lawrence,
father of Renae, expressed his anger against AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty
on October 8: "As far as I'm concerned and excuse the expression, he is an
[expletive deleted].... They should have been either arrested at the
airport here or followed to get the big guys. I dont know how [the
Australian police] sleep at night ... even if [the Bali Nine] were guilty
of doing it willingly, it still doesnt deserve the death penalty."

The AFP's involvement in the Bali Nine case raises fundamental questions
about the role of Australian authorities in aiding death penalty
prosecutions in South-East Asia. Official AFP policy, which has been
endorsed by the Howard government, completely ignores the issue of capital
punishment with regard to international police collaboration. As the
Australian agency explained in a statement: "Under the formal agreements
and guidelines in place, the AFP can provide assistance to foreign
countries on a police to police basis where no charges have been laid,
regardless of whether the foreign country may investigate offences that
attract the death penalty."

This policy exploits what amounts to an extraordinary loophole in the
mutual assistance treaty between Australia and Indonesia, which only
blocks cooperation between authorities at the point where charges are laid
relating to crimes that could involve the death penalty. As Australian Law
Council president John North explained: "In Australia, both arrest and
charge are close to simultaneous, whereas the practice of Indonesian
authorities is not to charge until long after arrest and just prior to
trial." This juridical difference allowed the AFP to provide assistance to
the Indonesian police and prosecution for six months after the Bali Nine's
arrest.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's formal withdrawal of Australian
cooperation following the laying of charges against the 9 will make no
difference to the Indonesian prosecutions case. "No problem," Bali drug
squad chief Colonel Bambang Sugiarto assured the media. "[AFP] statements
are not important according to the law."

Government and Labor back the AFP

The Howard government has consistently defended the AFP's role in the
arrest of the Bali Nine, and has ruled out any review of the mutual
assistance treaty. "We have no intention of reviewing police to police
assistance in relation to the Australian Federal Police and overseas law
enforcement," Justice Minister Chris Ellison declared on October 11. "If
anything, we want to see that cooperation increased. We are certainly very
satisfied with the high level of cooperation.... You've seen the runs on
the boards in relation to counter-terrorism and transnational crime, and
we want that to continue. Police to police assistance will not change."

Labor leader Kim Beazley was asked on October 26 if the AFP had done the
"right thing" in the case. "That issue as to whether or not they
absolutely got it right this time, as I understand it, is going to be
tested in the courts and we will find out once it's appropriately tested
in the courts.... Australians do need to understand this - it is utterly
critical for this nation that there is intimate collaboration between the
AFP and the police forces of this region."

Labor shares the government's utter contempt for the fate of the nine
Australians threatened with state murder. The overriding imperative for
the entire political establishment is maintaining good relations with
Jakarta. The same concern, in relation to Singapore, is evident in the
Howard governments abandonment of 25-year-old Australian Nguyen Van Tuong,
who is due to be hanged within weeks. In the Bali Nine case, the
government is particularly concerned not to jeopardise the rebuilding of
Australias connections with the Indonesian security forces, following
strained relations between the two countries over East Timor in 1999-2000.

Both the Howard government and the AFP have sought to justify the Bali
Nine investigation in terms of the so-called war on drugs. Mick Keelty has
claimed that more than 2,000 heroin overdoses in Australia have been
prevented by international police cooperation of the kind that led to the
arrests of the Bali Nine. "Australia is the only country to have
experienced a reduction in the supply of heroin in the last 3 to 4 years,"
the police chief told ABC Radio.

Right-wing columnist Miranda Devine spelled out the logic of this argument
in the Sydney Morning Herald. "The war on drugs in Australia is working,"
she wrote April 21. "The Bali Nine are just part of the price." In
reality, the "war on drugs" has nothing to do with protecting ordinary
people from the dangers of drug addiction. The Howard government has no
more concern for the welfare of citizens addicted to narcotics than it
does for the fate of the Bali Nine.

Unanswered questions on Bali Nine operation

If the 9 young people are guilty of acting as drug mules, then they made a
serious and tragic mistake, which may well cost their lives. But whatever
the outcome, it will make absolutely no difference to the international
heroin trade. None of the major heroin suppliers connected to the Bali
Nine case has been arrested, and initial AFP claims that the investigation
could result in the break-up of international drug syndicates have been
quietly dropped.

Even with the AFP's specific intelligence, Indonesian police failed to
monitor Andrew Chan when he allegedly purchased the heroin in Bali. This
was despite the fact that all 9 suspects were under constant surveillance.
The transaction was clearly the most important part of the police
operation, and could have led to the prosecution of international heroin
dealers. But the Indonesian police claim they lost Chan on the streets of
Kuta, after he disguised himself by wearing different caps.

Paul Toohey in the Bulletin offered a more plausible explanation: "It
would probably be too indelicate for the AFP to inquire of their
Indonesian colleagues how come they were so stupid as to miss the most
important part of their surveillance job: the buy.... It is a particularly
hard question for the AFP to ask because it raises the possibility that
the Indonesian police did follow Chan, observed the deal, and decided to
help themselves to the heroin cash."

Cherry Likit Bannakorn, a Thai prostitute who allegedly sold the drugs to
Chan, has disappeared. On April 27, Man Singh Ghale, an alleged
international heroin "kingpin" who, according to some reports, supplied
the heroin to Chan via Bannakorn, was shot dead in a Jakarta police raid.
"Witnesses reportedly saw Ghale, a Nepalese, being led away by police with
a bullet wound to the leg," Toohey reported. "He somehow took another
fatal shot while in police custody.... Ghale no longer has anything to say
for himself but it begins to look as though he was a patsy."

The Indonesian autopsy report has never been released, despite requests
from at least one foreign embassy. According to an August 1 report in the
Age: "Doctors who carried out the autopsy are too frightened to say how
many times he was shot or where the bullets entered his body, and Senior
Superintendent Indradi Tanos, of the narcotics division at police
headquarters, refused to disclose the contents of the report.">{? Toohey's
suggestion that Ghale was used as a patsy is just one possible explanation
of his death. It could also be the case that the trafficker was killed in
accordance with the mafia principle that dead men tell no tales. Had Ghale
been put on trial, he could have revealed details of connections he may
have had with senior security, political and business figures in Indonesia
and internationally.

The Nepalese national had previously been arrested by Indonesian police in
October last year. International police agencies, including the US Drug
Enforcement Agency, suspected that he was directing major trafficking
operations in America and Europe. Despite this, Ghale somehow escaped from
custody two days after his arrest.

"Even more unusual is the fact that several weeks after he fled custody,
he returned to Bekasi, where police say a local man agreed to rent a house
on his behalf," the Age reported. "Why a fugitive would go straight back
to the area he had been living in when arrested remains unanswered. Then
there is the fact that 10 days after the nine Australians were arrested in
Bali, Ghale had still made no effort to flee his house, and carried on
living as normal [despite being under AFP surveillance]."

No-one in the Howard government or the AFP has ever addressed the question
as to whether senior Indonesian police and security officials - not to
speak of politicians and businesspeople throughout the region, including
Australia - are involved in the heroin trade. Such is the real face of the
{war on drugs". The major players with powerful connections go unmolested,
while those arrested and executed are almost always young people, caught
up in the lowest rungs of the drug trafficking ladder.

The effective abandonment by the Howard government of any pretence of
opposition to the death penalty is indicative of its wholesale repudiation
of fundamental civil liberties. Moreover, the bipartisan defence of the
AFP's setup of the Bali Nine is a stark indicator of just how far the
political establishment as a whole has gone in abandoning basic legal and
democratic rights, including opposition to capital punishment.

(source: World Socialist News)