[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 14



INDONESIA:

Scores on death row to be executed by end of year


As many as 92 convicts currently on deathrow are to be executed by the end
of this year, an official at the Attorney General's Office said Friday.

Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes Abdul Hakim Ritonga told
tempointeraktif.com that an order had been placed for the subdirectorate
to confirm the exact number of deathrow convicts, "so they can be settled
by the end of the year."

According to Ritonga, 14 of the 92 convicts sentenced to capital
punishment have requested for presidential clemency. 38 others have
launched judicial appeals at courts, while the rest have not pursued any
legal processing.

(source: The Jakarta Post)






JAPAN:

Japan must follow Human Rights Committee death penalty recommendations


Maiko Tagusari [researcher on penal system reform, Japan Federation of Bar
Associations]: "In its Concluding Observations, the UN Human Rights
Committee made it clear that Japan is going against the requirements under
the Covenant and is strongly required to end its continuous and expanded
usage of the death penalty.

At the end of the session, Mr. Rivas Posada, President of HRC, stated that
the Committee members felt frustrated during the review of Japan.
Actually, despite the fact that both death sentences and executions are
drastically increasing in recent years, the government just repeated its
official position that since Japan's death penalty system is very
cautiously operated and supported strongly by public opinion, it should
not be abolished. On the other hand, the government never answered the
questions posed by the HRC members such as, "Is the government prepared to
provide the information on problematic aspects of the death penalty or
desirability of its abolition with the public?" or "Does the fact that
many death sentences become finalized without exhausting the right of
appeal show that using this right is actually difficult for the
prisoners?"

On top of the lack of dialogue with the Committee, it is safe to say that
the executions of two death row prisoners which were carried out just
after the session infuriated the Committee. It is true that abolishing the
death penalty is not easy for a retentionist country, however, the
government should and can take any necessary measures to limit its usage,
as seen in practices in the U.S. or even in China, which has already
introduced the system of mandatory review by the Supreme People's Court.
Now it is a responsibility of Japanese civil society, including bar
associations, to disseminate and fully utilize the recommendations made by
HRC, with introduction of a totally new Lay Judge System close at hand."

(source: The Jurist)