[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 13


INDIA:

HC upholds death penalty to LeT terrorist Ashfaq


The Delhi High Court on Thursday upheld the death penalty awarded to
Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohd Ashfaq in the 7-year-old Red Fort attack
case but acquitted 6 others sentenced to varying jail terms.

A Division Bench of Justice RS Sodhi and Justice PK Bhasin dismissed
Ashfaq's appeal against a trial court verdict awarding capital punishment
to him for waging a war against the state and killing 3 persons, including
2 Army jawans, in the Red Fort on the night of December 22, 2000.

Prosecution has proved its case with sufficient evidence against Ashfaq
for his involvement in the attack, the Bench said, adding, so far other
accused are concerned, the prosecution failed to complete the chain of
events.

The trial court's conviction order, based on confessions of the accused,
was reversed by the court since the statements were given to the police,
which are not admissible as evidence.

"We uphold the conviction and death sentence to Ashfaq and the remaining 6
convicts are acquitted," the Bench said.

(source: Press Trust of India)






UGANDA:

Judiciary Praised on Death Penalty


THE chief justice of Belize, found in the Caribbean Islands, has hailed
Uganda's Constitutional Court for declaring mandatory death penalty as
unconstitutional.

"This is a bold, courageous, ground-breaking and forward-looking
decision," said Justice Abdulai Conteh.

Following a 2003 petition by over 400 inmates on the death row at Luzira
Prison, the Constitutional Court ruled that the death penalty was not
mandatory but depended on the discretion of the trial judge and the
circumstances under which the crime was committed.

It refused to totally abolish it, saying it was provided for in the
Constitution.

The inmates appealed to the Supreme Court, which is yet to hear the case.

Conteh who was speaking at a conference for judges at the Imperial Resort
Beach, Entebbe early this week, said the term "mandatory" had turned trial
judges into robots and rubber stamps.

He said the judges could not use their discretion to consider the
circumstance under which the offence was committed.

In most Caribbean countries, Conteh noted, the judges were required to
consider the case, the prisoner and the circumstances of the offence
before determining the sentence to be passed.

(source: New Vision)