[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 17



BANGLADESH:

Hearing on SQ Chy's appeal adjourned till Sunday



The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing until Sunday on the appeal 
filed by condemned convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury challenging the death 
penalty handed down to him for his war crimes.

The 4-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar 
Sinha, passed the order after hearing the appeal for the 2nd day. The court 
began the hearing on Tuesday.

The other judges of the bench are Justice Najmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed 
Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

ASM Shahjahan who stood for the BNP leader said charges brought against 
Salauddin Chowdhury by the state are being read out to the court.

"The 3rd charge was read out on Wednesday."

On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 found the BNP leader 
guilty of crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation and condemned 
him to death.

On October 29 of the same year, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury filed an appeal with 
the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the ICT verdict.

The tribunal indicted Salauddin Quader for his involvement in crimes against 
humanity on 23 counts under different provisions of section 3 (2) of the 
International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.

The tribunal found Salauddin Quader, the son of Pakistan Convention Muslim 
League president Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, guilty of the crimes of genocide at 
Rauzan and murder of minority Hindu community members, including Nutan Chandra 
Singh, the founder of Kundeshwari Owsadhalay of Gohira, Awami League leaders 
and supporters of Bangladesh's war of independence.

The tribunal also found him guilty of the charge of torture on the accused 
carried out on captives at his ancestral house 'Good Hills' in the port city of 
Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War.

(source: Prothom Alo)








INDONESIA:

Prosecutors demand death for drug-smuggling Lithuanian



A state prosecutor in North Sumatra has demanded the death penalty for 
Lithuanian citizen Mindaugas Verikas, who was caught in possession of 3.2 
kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.

Prosecutor Nova on Wednesday asked the panel of judges at the Medan District 
Court to sentence the defendant to death, as the drugs confiscated from him 
exceeded the 5-gram threshold for the death penalty as stipulated in Chapter 
114 of the 2009 Narcotics Law.

Responding to the prosecution, Indra Cahya, presiding over the panel of judges, 
asked the team of state prosecutors to separate the defendant from other 
detainees at Tanjung Gusta Prison in the city.

"Since the defendant could face the death penalty, he should be separated from 
other inmates in the prison," he said.

Mindaugas was arrested attempting to bring in the illegal drugs to Indonesia 
through Kuala Namu International Airport on Dec. 14 last year.

(source: Jakarta Post)