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

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 2


INDIA:

2 Indians awarded death sentence


A Doha court sentenced three persons, including 2 Indians, to death and
gave one year jail term to another for forcing an Indonesian maid into
prostitution and murdering her.

2 Indians and a Nepalese were sentenced to gallows by a criminal court on
November 30, while a 4th accused, a Nepalese man was given a year in jail
in the same case.

The Qatari criminal law allows the convicts the right to appeal within 15
days of the verdict.

The 4 accused had forced the maid into prostitution and had turned a
garage, where one of the Nepalese was a security guard into a brothel, the
Peninsula daily reported today.

According to the report the maid was murdered by one of them in a fit of
rage and her body dumped first at a garbage heap and later taken to the Al
Wakra beach.

The mutliated body was discovered by a child and authorities identified
the victim after some difficulty.

(source: Hindustan Times)






QATAR:

3 Asians get death sentence in murder case


3 Asian men  2 Indians and a Nepali  were on Thursday sentenced to death
by firing squad or hanging, after the Qatar criminal court found them
guilty of killing an unidentified Asian woman in October 2003.

While the condemned Indians were identified as Sreedharan Moni Kandan (29)
and Unni Krishna Mahadevan (30), the Nepalis name was given as Chandera
Sheker Yadav (42).

The fourth accused in the case, Buddhiman Gurung, a 30-year-old Nepali,
was sentenced to 2 years in jail and a fine of QR2,000, followed by
deportation.

He has already been in jail, along with his co-accused, for more than 2
1/2 years, which means he will be deported soon, unless he wants to
appeal.

In a death penalty verdict, the convict is granted an automatic appeal to
a higher court.

Soon after hearing the verdict, the convicts started protesting, saying
that they were innocent. They were handcuffed and removed from the
courtroom by security personnel.

The delivery of the verdict was adjourned four times during the last 6
months and it was given by a panel different from the one which heard the
case.

The police could not establish the exact identity of the victim but the
Public Prosecution said in the charge-sheet that she was an absconding
Indonesian housemaid in her 30s, who worked as a prostitute under the
supervision of the accused.

However, the Indonesian embassy said it had not received any complaint or
information about a missing housemaid, "surely not during this period".

A court source said the woman might have been a visitor working in Qatar
illegally, which would explain why her embassy had no record of her.

An officer of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, who testified during the
trial in May told the court that the forensic report showed that the woman
had sexual contact with many men which led to bleeding, before she was
murdered.

He said that investigations led police to the Nepali watchmans house,
where some of the womans clothes were found.

"When they realised that her condition was serious, the two Indians and
the Nepali took the bleeding woman in a rented white Honda Civic to a
remote area. After the woman refused to hand over the money she had with
her, the second accused stabbed her many times while his accomplice banged
her head against the car until she died.

"The three men then threw her body into a nearby garbage dump but
recovered it a few hours later and took it to the Wakrah Corniche where
they buried it in a shallow pit," the charge-sheet said.

The officer said that stray dogs had eaten most of the body, which made it
difficult to identify the victim or check her fingerprints.

The knife used in the crime was found in the house of one of the suspects.

As for the evidence, the Public Prosecution told Gulf Times that each of
the 4 accused had given exactly the same description of the house on
Street No 3 in the Industrial Area, where the woman "used to receive
customers".

The officer said the womans identity was yet to be established. He said he
did not remember whether there were bloodstains in the car. However, the
public prosecutor said that some of the victims hair was found on a pillow
in the Nepalis house.

The four accused told the judge they were forced to confess by the police.

The fourth accused was spared the death penalty as he did not have a
direct part in the murder.

The Public Prosecution said he failed to inform the authorities of the
murder despite knowing about it.

Defending the accused, their court-appointed lawyer argued that the fact
that the murdered woman had not yet been identified proved that his
clients were innocent.

"It is sad that the real culprits are still roaming free," he said.

(source: Gulf Times)