[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 13


CHINA:

China to review murder case 19 years after execution


China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) has decided to review a rape-murder case 
19 years after the convict was executed, as another man insisted that he is 
guilty.

The Shandong Higher People's Court will review the case of Nie Shubin and Wang 
Shujin, Xinhua reported Friday. Nie was executed in 1995 at the age of 21 for 
the 1994 rape and murder of a woman in Hebei's provincial capital, 
Shijiazhuang.

Wang Shujin, 47, was apprehended by police in 2005 for three unconnected rapes 
and murders, and confessed to the rape and murder of the same woman in Nie's 
case.

Wang, sentenced to death in March 2007, claimed that he raped and murdered a 
woman in a cornfield on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang in 1994 and Nie was 
innocent. The Hebei Higher People's Court, which approved the death penalty on 
Nie in 1995, did not believe his claim in a retrial last year and Nie's verdict 
still stands.

Wang's claims have raised public questions of judicial impartiality.

The review of Nie's case is aimed at "ensuring judicial fairness and responding 
to public concerns", according to the SPC's announcement.

(source: Business Standard)






TRINIDAD:

Enforce death penalty to deal with runaway crime


It would appear that local criminals have found a new way to get what they want 
by threats of personal intimidation followed by murder if necessary.

We also now have a group of people going around killing citizens for fun.

These are in addition to those who kill during robberies or out of malice.

There is only one way out of this mess, and that is to reinstate the death 
penalty immediately and start hanging all who have so far been found guilty.

We must take matters in our own hand if we want to halt the galloping frolic of 
murders.

If things continue as they are, we will in the end have prisons full of 
murderers costing the country an arm and a leg to accommodate and look after 
them until they die of old age.

This system only encourages more criminals to commit murder, knowing that if 
found guilty, they would only be confined to prison, which these days offer 
many home comforts.

GA Marques

(source: Letter to the Editor, Trinidad Express)






INDONESIA:

Issue of the day: Jokowi to ban clemency for drug convicts


President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is upholding his plan to enforce the death 
penalty for drug convicts, citing the crime's devastating impact on the 
country's young generations. During a public lecture at Gadjah Mada University 
in Yogyakarta on Tuesday, Jokowi emphasized that the government would not be 
merciful in dealing with narcotics-related crime in the country.

He said that he would reject requests for clemency for 64 drug traffickers who 
are currently on death row. "[The clemency requests] are not on my table yet. 
But I guarantee that there will be no clemency for convicts who committed 
narcotics-related crimes," Jokowi told his audience. Jokowi explained that such 
a firm and harsh approach was necessary to combat the widespread use of 
narcotics.

Your comments:

Cigarettes cause 10,000s deaths in Indonesia every year. Will this dangerous 
drug be banned? Of course not, they are welcome to advertise to kids too.

JLC

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Roichatul Aswidah 
should realize that a supplier is able to distribute drugs to thousands of 
users, most of whom are youngsters.

Drugs exist not only in prisons but also in schools, including boarding 
schools.

Resi Adiyasa

Concentrate on the sellers, distributors, manufacturers inside the country. 
Catch them and wind up their operations. That would be a good start!

Drug dealers, smugglers, street-sellers etc. all had the choice - deal drugs, 
or find an honest job. They've only got themselves to blame. Good decision 
Jokowi! Keep up the good work!

Terry McAsee

Oplosan (bootleg alcohol) is also a drug that kills many Indonesians, Mr. 
President. Corruption has also a very devastating impact on the country's 
well-being.

The Indonesian government thinks the country will be drug free in 2015-keep on 
dreaming! There???s no country in the whole world that can achieve that, even 
if they hang all drug perpetrators.

Azwar Barena

When we convict prison bosses and police chiefs whose staff distribute drugs 
and give them a serious sentence, we will believe that the war on drugs has 
started. Till then, we are just pretending.

Deedee S.

Human rights activists, just because Jokowi didn't do what you told him, it 
doesn't mean that he wasn't listening!

Fussion B.

I too support tough punishment coupled with national educational efforts.

The consequences of breaking the law should be the same for both nationals and 
non-citizens, with one condition - there is adequate notice and information for 
travelers. One critical weak link in the fight against illegal drug use is the 
generally easy complicity and participation of law enforcement personnel for 
the right price.

Jamse Waworoendeng

(source: Letters to the Editor, Jakarta Post)

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

Prison island secure for execution, says AG


Attorney General HM Prasetyo says Nusakambangan Island in Cilacap, Central 
Java, is a secure facility where convicts on death row can be executed, and 
hinted the island would be used for the execution of 5 inmates this year.

Prasetyo gave the indications during his visit to the prison island on Friday 
with Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly.

"We're looking for a secure place and Nusakambangan seems to be secure," 
Prasetyo said on the sidelines of the visit on Friday.

The attorney general previously announced that 5 people on death row would be 
executed by the end of this year. Of the 5, 1 was in Tangerang, 2 were in Batam 
in Riau Islands and the rest were in Nusakambangan.

Prasetyo said that although the decision on the execution was already there, 
his office needed to coordinate with different parties, including the police, 
with regard to the time, place and technical matter of the execution.

Yasonna, who had arrived in Nusakambangan a day earlier and had also visited a 
number of penitentiaries on the island, said the executions of the 5 people on 
death row were just a matter of time.

"We're coordinating with the attorney general for the executions with regard to 
the time and place. The decision on the executions has already been made," 
Yasonna said on Thursday.

During a public lecture at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta on 
Tuesday, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he planned to enforce the death 
penalty for the drug convicts and said the crime had a devastating impact on 
the country's youth.

Nusakambangan is a prison island for high profile inmates. It is located off 
Penyu Bay, Cilacap, some 2-kilometers from the mainland.

The island can be accessed via a number of points, including the Wijaya Pura 
pier used by employees of the prisons on the island to enter and exit, Teluk 
Penyu beach and Kampung Laut village. Only Wijaya Pura pier is guarded.

Yasonna expressed his concern for security measures on the prison island, which 
he considered were too lax.

"I ask the prison management teams to coordinate with different parties here to 
keep Nusakambangan secure as a prison island," he said.

Nusakambangan accommodates about 1,500 high profile inmates serving over 5 year 
sentences, including terror convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is serving 15 years 
in the prison.

Ba'asyir recently openly expressed his support for the Islamic State (IS) 
organization and he has been visited by 7 people from West Java who are 
believed to be IS supporters.

Among the inmates in the prison island, some 50 prisoners are on death row.

Convicts executed on Nusakambangan include the 3 Bali bombers of Amrozi, Ali 
Gufron (Mukhlas) and Imam Samudra, who faced a firing squad on Nov. 9, 2008.

(source: Jakarta Post)


SINGAPORE:

103 drug offenders arrested, $85,000 worth of drugs seized in island-wide drug 
bust


Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers arrested a total of 103 suspected drug 
offenders in an island-wide operation from Dec 8 to Dec 12.

They also seized drugs worth more than $85,000, which included about 1kg of 
heroin, 18 grams of 'Ice', 9 Erimin-5 tablets, 25 Ecstasy tablets, 290 grams of 
cannabis and a small amount of ketamine.

The operation was conducted in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Balestier, Boon Lay, Bukit 
Batok, Changi, Choa Chu Kang, Jalan Bukit Merah, Jurong West, Punggol and 
Woodlands.

Officers from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore Police 
Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) supported the operation.

CNB, SPF and ICA officers also conducted a joint nightspot operation in Geylang 
targeting illicit activities on Dec 11. Investigations into the illicit 
activities of those arrested are on-going.

On Dec 8, in one of the operations at Jalan Bukit Merah, CNB officers arrested 
six drug offenders and seized drugs including about 290 grams of cannabis, 6 
Ecstasy tablets and small amounts of 'Ice' and heroin. Drug paraphernalia was 
also seized.

In another operation on Dec 11, a 26-year-old motorcyclist and his 37-year-old 
pillion rider were stopped for checks at the Woodlands Checkpoint while 
travelling into Singapore. CNB officers found 2 bundles of heroin weighing 
about 950 grams hidden in the rear seat cavity of the Malaysian-registered 
motorcycle and arrested both men.

Investigations are on-going.

If found guilty of trafficking more than 15g of diamorphine (or pure heroin), 
the suspects will face the death penalty.

CNB added that the amount of heroin seized in this operation is enough to 
sustain the addiction of around 480 drug abusers for a week.

(source: asiaone.com)






ZIMBABWE:

A look at "the crocodile" -- Zimbabwe's next leader in the making?


He escaped death from the hangman's noose at the age of 19. Half a century 
later, the man who fought and was imprisoned for fighting for the nation's 
birth, is poised to take over from his prison time mentor to become Zimbabwe's 
next generation of leader.

Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, 68, took his oath of office Friday as 1st vice 
president of Zimbabwe, a position that is designated for the 90-year-old 
President Robert Mugabe's heir apparent.

Since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, Mnangagwa has served in every term of 
Mugabe's cabinet as minister of state security, minister of justice, speaker of 
Parliament, minister of rural housing, and minister of defense.

Nicknamed "Ngwena" (local vernacular for crocodile), he has for long been 
touted as Mugabe's choice for successor, but his most prominent ascendency only 
came this week when the veteran president sacked former vice president Joice 
Mujuru over an assassination plot. Mujuru has denied the accusation.

But it remains not so sure if Mnangagwa, as heir apparent, will finally emerge 
as Zimbabwe's next generation of leader.

"THE CROCODILE"

Mugabe purged the government of seven ministers on Tuesday. Asked by 
journalists on his take on the purge, Mnangagwa replied tersely and 
diplomatically: "The revolution has a way of strengthening itself, it goes into 
circles, and this is another circle where it rids itself of elements that have 
become inconsistent with the correct line."

Reserved, cautious, patient and ruthless when the time comes, Mnangagwa 
developed his trait over the years in serving 5 decades in the cabinet.

He gained "the Crocodile" nickname most likely from his involvement during the 
liberation struggle in a group of freedom fighters known as the Crocodile Gang 
which carried out acts against the white minority-rulers.

A dent in Mnangagwa's political career, however, is his alleged involvement -- 
as Minister of State for National Security -- in the violence in the 
Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the early 1980s which Mugabe has 
described as "a moment of madness".

His ascendancy to the vice presidency is not without hiccup. In his bid to run 
for vice presidency in 2004, he successfully lobbied the majority of the ruling 
party's 10 provincial chairpersons to support his nomination. But the president 
had his own idea, following a lobby by the Women's League pushing Joice Mujuru, 
wife of the former army chief Solomon Mujuru, to the post.

A subsequent meeting between Mnangagwa and provincial chairpersons to push for 
his endorsement led to fallout with Mugabe who relegated Mnangagwa to a less 
influential ministerial post.

However, his star began to shine once again when he became Mugabe's election 
agent in 2008 and he was duly rewarded with a more distinguished portfolio as 
minister of defense while leading a faction opposed to Mujuru.

An analyst said it was in Mugabe's best interests to appoint Mnangagwa as one 
of his deputies because he knew him well.

"Mugabe is now in his old age, turning 91 in February. So he needs to appoint 
someone he trusts to look after his interests when he finally retires," said 
the analyst who declined to be named.

HARDLINER

Some investors are afraid that Mnangagwa might take a hardline approach to 
pushing the country's controversial indigenization law, which requires foreign 
investors to cede majority share-holding to black Zimbabweans.

In amending the party constitution recently, Mnangagwa emphasized the party's 
adherence to the total ownership and control of Zimbabwe's natural resources, 
declaring "we will remain masters of our own destiny."

A businessman close to Mnangagwa said there was need for clarity on the 
implementation of the indigenization law to attract badly-needed foreign 
investment.

Earlier, the government flip-flopped on whether to amend the law as the 
economic growth slowed. But the in-fighting of 2 camps inside the ruling party, 
led by Mujuru and Mnangagwa, rendered any change on the law hard to come by.

Political analyst Nhamo Mhiripiri said the new cabinet is now likely to work in 
a more coordinated manner than before as ministers from Mujuru's camp like the 
former indigenization minister Francis Nhema have been removed from the 
cabinet.

"The new cabinet is bound to work as a team and come up with better results as 
compared to the past when it appeared to be uncoordinated," he said, adding 
that investors crave more for certainty on major policies like indigenization.

DEATH ROW EXPERIENCE

While it remains unknown Mnangagwa's stance on the way forward for implementing 
the indigenization law, his dislike for death penalty is obvious.

When commemorating the International Day against the Death Penalty last year, 
he gave an account of how he escaped death while his elder colleagues in the 
Crocodile Gang were executed.

He recalled how he had been due to be hanged on a Tuesday in June 1965 and had 
already endured the trauma of sewing the garments in which he was to meet his 
fate, the mental torture he endured, the dejection, hopelessness and 
realization that "it was all over."

However, luck was to be on his side and the death sentence was commuted to a 
prison sentence.

Mnangagwa said he would forever speak against the death penalty. "It doesn't 
matter where I am, I will always speak against the death penalty," he said.

Zimbabwe has not yet abolished the death penalty, but for a decade the country 
did not carry out an execution. The number of inmates on death row now stands 
at a few scores.

But analyst Takura Zhangazha said it was difficult to argue that Mnangagwa and 
his co-Vice President Mphoko would improve government policy.

"I think the major challenge the new deputy presidents face is that they will 
operate at the pleasure of the President and cannot differ or bring in policy 
propositions that he (Mugabe) may not like. So it's difficult to argue that 
they will improve government policy," he said.

Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader, appears to remain fit. A unanimous vote in the 
ruling party last week endorsed him as the party's sole candidate for the 2018 
presidential election.

In announcing the two's appointments, Mugabe also said the two vice presidents 
did not really have a big function to play.

"The 2 VPs have no real big function except that they are my deputies. I can 
give them work to do," he said.

But analysts say in appointing Mnangagwa vice president, Mugabe is most likely 
to keep him as visible as possible while working on his national image -- a way 
of grooming his successor once he decides to retire.

(source: Global Post)



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Arabia beheads Filipino for murder


Saudi Arabia on Friday beheaded a Filipino convicted of killing one of its 
nationals, the interior ministry said.

Carletto Lana shot dead Saudi national Nasser al-Gahtani before running him 
over with a car, the SPA news agency said.

His execution was carried out in Riyadh.

According to an AFP tally, 80 foreigners and Saudis have now been executed in 
the country this year, despite international concerns over the number and 
judicial process.

More than 2/3 of this year's executions have been carried out over the past 
four months.

(source: Agence France-Presse






MADAGASCAR:

Madagascar's Parliament Votes to End Death Penalty


Lawmakers in Madagascar have voted to abolish the death penalty, a move hailed 
as "historic" by the European Union.

The law, which must still officially be announced by President Hery 
Rajaonarimampianina, received unanimous backing from the 82 deputies on 
Wednesday in the island nation's capital Antananarivo.

While the EU hailed the "historic step" taken by lawmakers, prisoners in 
Madagascar given capital punishment have since 1958 in practice served life 
sentences.

Under the new law, which states "no one can be executed," the death penalty 
will be replaced by forced labour for life.

The vote was the culmination of efforts begun in 2012 when the then-transition 
president Andry Rajoelina signed a UN agreement that aimed to end capital 
punishment.

Madagascar's abolition of the death penalty is "the result of an intense plea 
from Madagascan and international civil society," the EU's representative in 
Madagascar said in a statement.

(source: NDTV.com)