[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 4



BANGLADESH:

Nizami's hearing not this week


Condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami's petition seeking review of his 
death penalty has been lined up for hearing at the Appellate Division next week 
following a time petition by the defence.

A 3-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar 
Sinha set the new date yesterday morning.

Defence lawyer SM Shahjahan said they had sought six-week time for the hearing 
due to some personal difficulties of Nizami's principal lawyer Khandaker Mahbub 
Hossain.

But the apex court said it would hold the hearing next week, Shahjahan said.

However, the court did not fix any specific day for the hearing.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami filed the petition on March 29 seeking acquittal 
from all the proven charges.

The death penalty of Nizami was upheld by the apex court on January 6 on 
charges of masterminding the killing of intellectuals and for his involvement 
in two incidents of mass murders of over 500 people in Pabna in 1971.

(source: dhakatribune.com)






SINGAPORE:

Malaysian convicted of murder in Singapore to know his fate Tuesday


The family of Kho Jabing are anxiously waiting to see if the Singapore Court of 
Appeal will decide if he will be executed or have his sentence commuted for a 
murder he committed 8 years ago.

His mother Lenduk Baling and his sister Jumai Kho arrived in Singapore on 
Sunday from Sarawak for the judgement, which is likely to be delivered on 
Tuesday.

"We are very anxious. We can only hope for the best," Jumai told The Star 
Online in a phone interview on Monday.

Kho Jabing, 31, who is from Ulu Baram, Sarawak faces the gallows for killing a 
Chinese construction worker with a tree branch back in 2008 during a robbery 
attempt.

He was scheduled to be executed on Nov 6 last year, but received a stay after 
his lawyer filed a motion raising points of law about the way the case was 
handled.

Jumai said she and her mother had met Jabing earlier on Monday, who also hoped 
for his death sentence to be commuted.

Jabing was sentenced to death in 2010, but following revisions to Singapore's 
mandatory death penalty laws in August 2013, Singpore's high court sentenced 
him to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane instead.

The prosecution challenged the decision before the court of appeal, which 
reinstated Jabing death sentence in a 3-2 majority decision earlier last year.

On Oct 19, Singapore president Tony Tan rejected a clemency petition before a 
stay of execution by the court of appeal.

In 2013, the Singapore government abolished the mandatory death penalty and 
gave judges discretion to choose between a death sentence or life imprisonment 
with caning in murder and certain drug trafficking cases.

(source: The Star)






VIETNAM:

14 face charges in Vietnam for trafficking 280 kg of heroin to China


Vietnamese police are urging charges be filed against 14 people for allegedly 
trafficking 280 kg of heroin to China on 22 different occasions, earning more 
than VND10 billion (US$450,000).

Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security submitted a report to the 
prosecutor's office Sunday, naming the suspects led by Chu Van Vien, 33.

The ring members, aged between 25 and 40, carried the drugs from Son La 
Province on the Laos border.

Police caught 2 members of the gang in Hanoi and the neighboring Hoa Binh 
Province in December 2014 with around 15 kg of heroin.

They told the police they were carrying the drugs for a Chinese woman and Chu 
Dinh Tuyen, Vien's brother who acted as his assistant after quitting his job as 
a vendor selling agriculture produce across the border.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 
100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by 
death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin 
or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty.

(source: Thanh Nien News)






INDIA:

Need political rights, Indira Jaisingh at JNU


The right to hold a political opinion different from that of a ruling party is 
"more endangered" than the right to free speech, said lawyer Indira Jaisingh. 
She was addressing students in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), during their 
'Azadi' lecture series, on Saturday.

The 1st woman Additional Solicitor General of India gave a lecture on the topic 
'What does fidelity to the Constitution mean'.

After the nationalism classes in the university, the JNU Students' Union is 
organising 'Azadi' lecture series where noted lawyers, academicians and 
activists have been addressing students on a range of topics.

"While I believe that the right to free speech is endangered in today's 
context, I feel that the right to hold a political opinion which is different 
from that of the ruling party is even more endangered. I reject the 
interpretation of the Constitution placed by BJP in its (National Executive 
Meeting) resolution. My fidelity to the Constitution does not include the 
vision that BJP has of the Constitution of India," Ms. Jaisingh said.

"I have seen 2 moments in the history of this country which are kind mirror or 
are parallel to each other. One was the Emergency which was declared on June 
26, 1976...Which was both an erosion of the form and substance of the 
Constitution because it was done in the name of internal disturbance. And 
today, we are seeing a parallel moment where we see the subversion of the form 
and content of the Constitution and the abandonment of accountability in the 
name of nationalism and anti-nationalism," she said.

Addressing the students at the administration block, which has been the venue 
of protests ever since JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in a 
sedition case over an event marking the death anniversary of Parliament attack 
convict Afzal Guru, Ms. Jaisingh said that it is time for the citizens to focus 
on "political rights".

"This Constitution has been amended more than a 100 times since it was granted 
and there was nothing subversive in demanding that the Indian Constitution be 
changed to guarantee some of these rights, to include some political rights 
and, for example, abolish death penalty completely as being against Article 21. 
For 67 years, we've been talking about our social and economic rights. I think 
it's time for us to now start focusing on our political rights," she added.

While I believe that the right to free speech is endangered in today's context, 
I feel that the right to hold a political opinion which is different from that 
of the ruling party is even more endangered I think it's time for us to now 
start focusing on our political rights.

Indira Jaisingh, Lawyer

(source: Letter, The Hindu)