[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 24




ST. KITTS and NEVIS:

Cannonier Found Guilty in Slain Officers Murder Prosecution Seeks Death
Penalty


Romeo Cannonier, of Parsons Village was found guilty at 4:45 p.m. today,
Tues. Oct. 23 for murdering 32-year-old no. 454 Police Constable Delvin
Nisbett on Sunday, July 25, 2004 at Dieppe Bay.

In a verdict handed down about 3 hours after the jury went into
deliberation, the jury was not unanimous in their findings with an 11 to 1
in favor of guilty.

SKNVibes was the only media that spoke to Cannonier briefly as the police
escorted him to the Police vehicle and in an angry voice said that he will
appeal the matter.

"How do I feel? I feel set up!" he said. "The trial was not fair and Im
going to appeal."

Director of Public Prosecution Paulina Hendrickson told His Lordship
Francis Belle in court when asked about the type of sentencing, requested
the death penalty.

The trial began last Monday, Oct. 15 with over 20 witnesses including
important witnesses Makenya Lawrence, an ex-girlfriend, Gavin Gilbert
(deceased) and Lionel Warner who were both friends of Cannonier.

Those witnesses were said to have confessions and messages from the
accused concerning the "murder weapon" according to their testimony.

Lawrence testified and said that on the morning after the murder,
Cannonier came to her home and told her that he had killed the police. She
said he was acting nervous and in an unusual behavior.

Gilbert's testimony said that Cannonier told him where to locate the "gun"
and who to give it to and also to be careful with the gun as it was he
used to kill the police with.

Warner was describe by the Prosecution as the messenger of death as he
told the court Cannonier told him to give messages to two people about
getting rid of Lawrence and Gilbert.

Serologists Caroline Zerbos, Rhonda Craig Forensic Examiner of the FBI Lab
in Washington and Forensic Pathologist Dr. Stephen Jones were the
witnesses that supported the Prosecution's theories of scientific evidence
in the case.

Sir Richard Cheltenham of Barbados assisted the Director of Public
Prosecution in the case and acted as lead counsel for the prosecution.

Cannonier was represented by Lawyer Hesketh Benjamin whose defense was not
enough to have the jury deliver a verdict of 'not guilty.'

Benjamin in his summation stressed on 2 points.

"No one said they saw his client committing the murder" and a 5 dollar
note after forensic examining was found with the deceased's blood on it.
The said five dollar was said to have been taken from the accused by the
Police on the day he was arrested and Benjamin sought to plant in the
jurys mind that the note did not belong to his client.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 12.

(source: SKNVibes.com)






INDONESIA:

Execution of Bali bombers not final


Justice and Human Right Minister Andi Mattalata said he was still waiting
for the time and location of the execution for three of the 2002 Bali
bombers.

Andi on Tuesday told Detik.com he was waiting for the Attorney General's
Office (AGO) to decide on the execution.

"Once the AGO has decided on the execution, we can then talk about
location, time and other technicalities," Andi said.

The 3 Bali bombers on death row include Amrozi, Muklas and Imam Samudra.

They are currently being held at the Nusakambangan super maximum security
prison in Central Java.

The bombers have exhausted all legal efforts at the court and have refused
to request a presidential pardon as their last avenue.

(source: The Jakarta Post)






CANADA:

Canada set to back world moratorium on executions


Canada is expected to sign on to a world moratorium on the death penalty
that the European Community plans to put before the UN General Assembly
next month.

In the 1990s, 2 attempts to have the General Assembly endorse a full ban
on executions failed in the face of fierce lobbying by the United States,
Singapore and other countries where capital punishment is still practised.

The 27-member EU has now revived the issue with a draft moratorium and is
seeking the support of Canada and all other UN members. Portugal, as EU
president, is spearheading the drive.

The EU declared in May it would renew the push for a world ban.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister and European Council
president at the time, argued: "The time is right ... to have another
stab."

Unlike Security Council resolutions, those of the General Assembly are
non-binding, but abolitionists say a moratorium would send a strong
message that abolition is the trend.

"We believe people in countries where the death penalty still exists will
see this is the norm, and that will encourage their governments to make
the change," said Aubrey Harris, an Amnesty International official in
Canada.

To pass, the draft moratorium requires the support of a simple majority of
97 of the UN's 192 member states. The numbers appear to be moving in the
abolitionists' favour.

But while 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in practice, only
93 have abolished it in law, suggesting success for the abolitionists is
far from certain.

According to Amnesty International, only 6 countries accounted for about
90 % of the known executions last year: China, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan
and the United States.

As with many contentious issues that come to the United Nations, the
moratorium campaign also fell victim to wheeling and dealing. One concern
was that the initiative would appear too "western."

Portugal, therefore, asked 2 countries from each of the UN's 5 regional
blocs to back the draft.

"We needed a cross-regional initiative," said an official with Portugal's
UN mission. Portugal filled one of the slots for western countries, and
chose New Zealand to fill the second, shutting Canada out.

"We thought Canada was important, but we thought it's maybe better to have
a small country that could bring also the Pacific islands," the official
said. "This was more or less to ... see what the other groups were
thinking."

Pro-abolitionist countries from the other blocs were Angola and Gabon;
Brazil and Mexico; Croatia and Albania, and Philippines and Timor-Leste.

"There is a lot of opposition in Asia, but now that it is cross-regional,
the risk is diminished they would see it as purely western," said Yvonne
Terlingen, Amnesty International's representative at the UN.

(source: The National Post)


INDIA:

Scrap death penalty: eminent citizens ---- Urge the Prime Minister to
support the resolution in the U.N General Assembly


As part of Amnesty International India's (AII) campaign for abolition of
death penalty, a group of citizens, led by the former Supreme Court judge,
Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, has urged the government to support the
resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that seeks a global
moratorium on executions.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the signatories said:
"We, the concerned citizens, urge your government to support the
resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions at the 62nd
session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Supported by
countries from all regions of the world, such a resolution would be an
important milestone towards abolition of the death penalty in all
countries."

Signature collection

AII said, "As a part of the campaign, AI India, through its members and
supporters, collected more than 42,000 signatures, on a memorandum to the
Prime Minister. This was done through a wide range of public actions in
small towns and cities in 16 States. The signatures will be handed over to
the Prime Minister in the coming days."

The letter said:

"We oppose the death penalty believing it to be a violation of the right
to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment. The death penalty legitimises an irreversible act of violence
by the State and will inevitably claim innocent victims, as has been
persistently demonstrated. A momentum is gathering to end capital
punishment in all countries: 133 countries, from all regions of the world,
have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice and only 25
countries carried out executions in 2006.

"By adopting a resolution on a moratorium on executions, the UNGA will
take a further, important step towards the fulfilment of the established
U.N. goal of abolition of the death penalty, set out by the UNGA in 1977
(resolution 31/61 of December 8, 1977.) The vote on this resolution
affords India the opportunity to support the eventual abolition of the
death penalty at the international level and strengthen world opinion
against capital punishment. A step towards abolishing death penalty would
go well with the principles of Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, of which
the whole country is proud."

It requested the Prime Minister to take note of this growing trend and not
to lose this opportunity.

The other signatories are: Justice Leila Seth, former Chief Justice of
Himachal Pradesh; Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice, Delhi
High Court; Justice S.M. Daud, former judge, Mumbai High Court; Admiral L.
Ramdas, former Navy Chief; Mohini Giri, former Chairperson, National
Commission for Women; Upendra Baxi, former Vice- Chancellor, Delhi
University; Shyam Benegal, film-maker and Member of Parliament; Medha
Patkar, social activist; Mahasweta Devi, litterateur; Asghar Ali Engineer,
Muslim scholar; Aruna Roy, social activist; Lalita Ramdas, president,
Greenpeace India; Indra Sinha, litterateur; Ashis Nandy, former Director,
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; Rahul Bose, actor; Harsh
Mander, former civil servant; Jean Dreze, development Economist; S.
Parasuraman, director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Anand
Patwardhan, documentary filmmaker; and Naresh Dadhich, director, IUCAA,
Pune University.

(source: The HIndu)

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

RPF claims hand for death penalty


Claiming responsibility, the proscribed outfit Revolutionary People's
Front (RPF) has stated that Prashad (35) who worked as an agent of
Mithamana, Zarda and Kheini at Ningthoukhong was awarded capital
punishment yesterday at around 6.30 pm for failing to heed to the repeated
warnings of the outfit.

In a statement, assistant secretary, communication and publicity of the
outfit Lily Leima said that Prashad had been working as an agent of Zarda,
Kheini and Mithamana in the State for the last 15 years.

Inspite of the ban imposed on Zarda and Kheini by the outfit long ago and
the subsequent ban on Mithamana since October 15 this year, Prashad
continued to supply these harmful substances with complete disregard to
the warnings given to him, the statement said, while explaining that he
was punished out of necessity.

While acknowledging the co-operation of the people in the ongoing drive
against consumption and selling of harmful tobacco products, RPF
categorically stated that the agents of Zarda, Kheini and Mithamana should
give up their trades before they met with similar fate like that of
Prashad as no more warning would be given in this regard.

Meanwhile, the outfit intercepted a truck load of Mithamana brought in
through the Indian Airlines from near the Imphal market at around 4 pm
today and later destroyed the same in front of mediapersons somewhere in
Imphal West district.

According to a spokesperson of the department of CNP of the outfit, the
said consignment of Mithamana belongs to one Gupta and the monetary value
of the destroyed Mithamana is estimated to be around Rs 15 lakhs.

Asking him to surrender to the outfit within 5 days from today, the
spokesperson that Gupta would be given capital punishment if he fails to
do so.

The outfit has also given last warning to Indian Airlines as well as to
other transport agencies against helping in bringing in such banned
substances into the State in future.

The outfit has also taken serious note of the alleged indulges of the
State Police Commandos in helping the agents to lift the banned substances
from the airport to the market.

On the other hand, Kakching Bazar Business Welfare Association has
informed that a large quantity of tobacco products handed over voluntarily
by the shopkeepers during a drive at Kakching Bazar has been set flame and
destroyed at Kakching Bazar Naohallai ground this afternoon.

(source: The Sangai Express)