[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 31




INDONESIA:

Indonesia's struggling economy cannot afford another execution, Bali 9 lawyer 
warns


Indonesia's struggling economy could be one reason why there has been little 
word of the country's next round of executions, according to the lead lawyer 
for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Australians Chan and Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called Bali 9, were 
among several foreigners shot dead in April.

According to high-profile Indonesian lawyer and professor Todung Mulya Lubis, 
who has been in Australia to talk about an ongoing campaign against the death 
penalty, it is too early to say if the economic slowdown was contributing to a 
de facto moratorium.

"But I believe that Jokowi now realises that he has to pay the price for those 
two executions," Professor Lubis said.

Late last year Indonesian president Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, said 
there would be no clemency for more than 60 people convicted of drugs offences, 
and 2 rounds of executions were carried out in the early part of 2015.

Indonesia's economic growth has now dipped below 5 % for 2 consecutive quarters 
this year, and much needed foreign investment is yet to pour in to help build 
up the nation's depleted infrastructure.

"The economy is not good at the moment," Professor Lubis said.

"We have a problem with our debt, you know, the balance. We have a problem with 
the weakening of the Indonesian currency.

"We have a problem with declining exports to other countries. And we cannot 
afford to have another execution, as simple as that."

The shooting of Chan and Sukumaran and several others, including a Brazilian 
man with mental health issues, saw substantial international pressure, 
including from the United Nations, put on the president.

The 1st round of executions in February resulted in a diplomatic stoush with 
Brazil, with some Indonesian politicians raising the idea of trade 
recriminations.

Mr Widodo was also supported domestically for pushing back against what was 
seen to be international meddling and for taking a strong stance against the 
drug trade.

Widodo 'knows new investment is not coming'

In the lead-up to the execution Mr Widodo was quietly advised by some prominent 
Indonesians of the damage using the death penalty could cause to relations with 
other countries including Australia, Holland, France and Brazil.

Now, with Indonesia recording its lowest economic growth rate for 6 years, 
investors are generally staying on the sidelines, waiting to see if the new 
government can deliver reforms, including dealing with regulatory certainty.

Professor Lubis is also known for his work with large corporate entities, and 
said he was seeing first-hand the nervousness in the business community about 
government policies.

"Jokowi realises, he understands, new investment is not coming to Indonesia," 
he said.

"Even the existing investment cannot be maintained. They may go any time.

"And I as a lawyer come across that. I know some of the companies ... are 
considering leaving, so that is not very good."

Professor Lubis said Mr Widodo would like to be able to offer more, but lacked 
the support of his own party and key politicians.

"The rent-seekers are really pushing their agenda for their own benefit, their 
own interest," he said.

"I know some of the companies we work with are considering leaving."

A Frenchman and a Filipino woman escaped the firing squad in late April, and 
Indonesia's attorney-general has signalled a 3rd round of executions has not 
yet been scheduled.

A 59-year-old British woman is among those facing the death penalty as part of 
the president's hardline stance.

(source: ABC news)






INDIA:

Law Commission Backs Phased Abolition of Death Penalty


The Law Commission on Monday recommended abolition of death penalty in a 
phased-manner, except for terrorism-related offences.

In a draft report, the commission has said that the death penalty is 
constitutionally unsustainable and pointed out that only 59 countries including 
India award death penalty in courts.

Chaired by Justice (Retd) AP Shah, the Law Commission comprises retired judges 
Justice SN Kapoor and Justice Usha Mehra as well as Mool Chand Sharma as the 
other members.

The draft report comes after the Supreme Court had asked the commission to 
submit a report on death penalty.

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

Do the right thing----Nation after nation has abolished the death penalty. 
India must summon the moral courage to follow them.

"It can never be right to do injustice or return it", said Socrates, as he 
awaited execution in 399 BCE, "or to ward off the suffering of evil by doing it 
in return". Today, the Law Commission of India is scheduled to submit a 
pathbreaking report to the Supreme Court calling for the abolition of the death 
penalty, with a possible caveat for terrorism-related crimes. In the interim, 
it seeks a moratorium on judicial execution. It is time for all Indians to 
reflect on the great philosopher's proposition. Not one study supports the 
claim that the death penalty deters violent criminals. The largest meta-study 
to date, by the United States National Academy of Sciences, shows that the 
death penalty had no effect at all on crime rates. Indeed, homicide rates in 
Canada peaked before it abolished the death penalty, and then declined for 10 
years running. In the US, homicide rates in non-death penalty states are, on 
average, lower than in states that execute murderers. Even though the death 
penalty does not deter killers, it claims the lives of innocents. Since the US 
reintroduced the death penalty in 1976, new forensic science has cleared at 
least 87 people awaiting execution. In many cases, innocents were executed.

The facts show that the death penalty is unjust, and unlike all other forms of 
injustice, it allows for no correction. Yet, in a climate suffused with outrage 
over violence targeting society, the Law Commission report could set off a 
charged debate. Indeed, its draft version suggested exempting terrorism-related 
crimes during the moratorium, hoping to head off one objection. This ought not 
to surprise us. Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, and many other nations beset by 
terrorism are executing ever-more people. Tunisia's parliament overturned a 
25-year-old moratorium, passing a law allowing the execution of terrorists. 
There is no evidence to show, though, that killing has made these countries any 
safer. Indeed, as Tunisian MP Sana Mersni pithily pointed out, execution will 
not "deter terrorists seeking death in order to go to paradise".

It isn't hard to understand why many leaders love the hangman. Fixing a noose 
around someone's neck is much easier, after all, than repairing India's 
dysfunctional criminal justice and policing system - the real cause of the 
impunity killers enjoy in this country. For the Indian people, in turn, 
execution offers at least a simulacrum of justice, no small thing where the 
real thing is conspicuous by its absence.

To continue to embrace this deceit, though, corrodes the ethical pillars of the 
polity. Nation after nation has struck the death penalty off its statute book. 
It is time for India to find the moral courage it needs to follow them.

(source: Editorial, Indian Express)

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

Death penalty deters criminals: Ujjwal Nikam strongly opposes abolishing 
capital punishment


While the Law Commission's draft report recommends abolishing the death penalty 
and keeping it only for terror cases, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, 
said that the death penalty must be retained as that is the only deterrent to 
send out a strong message to criminals. Nikam is known for having secured 38 
death penalties for convicts in various cases.

The draft report calls for the speedy abolition of the death penalty, with an 
exception for cases where the accused is convicted for terrorism. In its 
report, the commission said that application of death penalty is arbitrary, 
judge centric and prone to error stating that there is no method to remove such 
arbitrariness. The Law panel is likely to submit its report to the Supreme 
Court in next week on whether India should continue with death penalty or 
abolish it.

"If the application of death penalty is arbitrary, judge centric and prone to 
error, the same rule can be applied in terror cases also. I am of the opinion 
that death penalty must be retained. It is not to punish the criminal but that 
is the only deterrent to send out a strong message to the like-minded people," 
Nikam told Firstpost.

Nikam has appeared in several high profile cases in his 3 decade-long career. 
The cases include from the 26/11 terror attack trial in which Ajmal Kasab was 
handed the death sentence to earlier cases including the 1993 serial blasts, 
the murder of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan and 2013 Mumbai gang rape with others. 
In all, apart from 38 death penalties, he has also secured over 630 life 
imprisonments as well.

He further added that the death penalty is given only in 'rarest of rare cases' 
as per the Supreme Court guidelines and considering the accused's criminal 
background, the way he committed crime and the brutality involved in it.

"The implementation of death penalty must be expedited after the president 
rejects the mercy petition. Otherwise, its impact goes away. Such unscrupulous 
criminals, who are a blot on society, have no right to live in this world. 
After the rejection of mercy petition, the accused must not lie in jail and 
should be sent out of the world at the earliest," he said.

The report assumes significance as it comes days after a debate was generated 
over the hanging of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon.

(source: firstpost.com)






SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi executes Pakistani for drug trafficking


Saudi authorities executed a Pakistani man on Sunday for attempting to smuggle 
drugs into the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Up to 129 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, including 
the latest execution, compared with 87 for the whole of 2014, according to AFP 
tallies.

Mohammed Sharif was arrested while attempting to smuggle heroin into the 
country hidden in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement published on 
the SPA state news agency.

He was executed in the Quwaiya district, near Riyadh.

Most people sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded, but sometimes 
executions are carried out by firing squad.

Amnesty International on Tuesday appealed for a moratorium on executions in 
Saudi Arabia, criticising the kingdom's "deeply flawed judicial system".

Under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic legal code, drug trafficking, murder, armed 
robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Amnesty says Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most prolific executioners, 
along with China, Iran, Iraq and the United States.

(source: Agence France-Presse)






PAKISTAN:

Steinmeier calls on Pakistan to restore moratorium on the death penalty


German Foreign Minster Frank-Walter Steinmeier is in Pakistan where he is to 
meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other officials. Ahead of his visit, 
he called on Pakistan to end its use of the death penalty.

A statement posted on the website of the German Foreign Office on Monday 
confirmed that Steinmeier had arrived in Islamabad for talks with Prime 
Minister Sharif, his foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Azis, as well as 
representatives of human rights groups.

Prior to his arrival in Pakistan, Steinmeier used an interview with the 
newspaper "The Nation" to call on Islamabad to refrain from the use of the 
death penalty, which it reinstated following a massacre in the city of Peshawar 
late last year.

Steinmeier said he was "calling for a return to the moratorium on the death 
penalty" because "a death penalty is an inhumane form of punishment, and what 
is more, not an effective deterrent."

Steinmeier noted that Pakistan had been the target of terror attacks, and he 
praised Islamabad's efforts aimed at "cleansing militant groups and their safe 
havens."

At the same time, though, he also stressed the need for the fight against 
extremists to be conducted in line with the rule of law and human rights.

Steinmeier said cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan was crucial to the 
fight against terror, and he called on the 2 countries to keep the channels of 
communication open despite the tensions that exist between them.

The German foreign minister's visit to Islamabad comes a day after his 1-day 
trip to Kabul, where he also called on the 2 countries to work to improve 
bilateral ties. He also called on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to push on with 
faltering peace talks with Islamist Taliban militants, describing the launch of 
the negotiations last month as "courageous."

(source: Deutsche Welle)






IRAN----executions

1 Prisoner Executed and One Prisoner Pardoned for Murder Charges----Southern 
Iran: One Prisoner Executed and One Prisoner Pardoned for Murder Charges


Over the weekend at Bandar Abbas Central Prison, 1 prisoner was hanged to death 
and 1 prisoner was pardoned for 2 separate murders.

On the morning of Saturday August 29 a prisoner charged with murder was hanged 
to death at Bandar Abbas Central Prison, according to the website of 
Hormozgan's Judicial Department. The report identifies the prisoner as "A.Z.", 
allegedly involved in a fatal knife fight in Minab County, Homorzgan.

On Sunday August 30 in the same prison a prisoner charged with murder was 
pardoned from death by the murder victim's family, according to Iran state 
media website Seda Sima. The prisoner had reportedly been involved in a fatal 
argument 3 years ago over a very small amount of money. The report did not 
identify the prisoner by name or initials.

The murder victim's dad was quoted saying: "Losing a son is extremely painful, 
I did not want the parent's of the murderer to experience the same, [I also 
wanted to save him] for the sake of God."

According to Seda Sima's report, in the past 2 years 17 prisoners from Bandar 
Abbas Prison have been saved from death after being pardoned by the victim's 
family (the plaintiff).

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

16 executions in 3 days


The inhuman mullahs' regime in Iran hanged 16 prisoners in various cities on 
August 26, 27 and 29.

On August 26, in addition to the criminal execution of political prisoner Mr. 
Behrouz Alkhani in Urumia Prison, 12 other prisoners were collectively hanged 
in prisons in Kermanshah and Urumia. The Iranian regime has so far refrained 
from publishing information on those executed.

On August 27, Jamal Ja'afari, from the city of Sanadaj, was hanged after 
suffering 4 years imprisonment in this city. Similarly, on August 29, 2 
prisoners were hanged in prisons in Bandar Abbas and Khorramabad. Abdollah 
Zarei, 25, who was hanged in Bandar Abbas was from Minab County, Hormozgan 
Province. A 23-year-old prisoner was also transferred to solitary confinement 
along with Zarei in preparation for execution, but there is no news about his 
fate.

These executions that demonstrate the regime's fear of growing social protests 
are merely a minute section of the nationwide suppression of the Iranian people 
that is being implemented in an escalating manner during Rouhani's tenure, the 
so-called "moderate" president of the Iranian regime. The number of these 
executions has now surpassed 2000 during Rouhani's presidency.

The silence and inaction of the international community in the face of the 
collective executions by the mullahs, concurrent with visits by senior European 
officials to Iran to pave the way for trade contracts with the mullahs' inhuman 
and anti-Iranian regime is tantamount to encouraging this regime to continue 
with its crimes and collaboration with this regime.

(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)