[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 29



EGYPT:

UN urged Egypt to halt rights violations in Ibrahim Halawa case


The United Nations urged the Egyptian government to take "all necessary interim 
measures" to halt alleged violations of the human rights of Irish citizen 
Ibrahim Halawa.

Mr Halawa, 20, is being prosecuted alongside 493 co-defendants in mass trial 
for allegedly participating in a political protest in 2013.

He is the only Irish citizen among the group. Belfast firm KRW Law, 
representing Mr Halawa, says he and hundreds of others were seeking refuge in a 
Cairo mosque from violent clashes between security forces and protesters.

Mr Halawa, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, has been charged with serious 
offences, all of which he strongly denies. His lawyers believe that, if 
convicted, he may face the death penalty.

The UN intervention took place last year, but details have only just emerged in 
a report published ahead of the 31st Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The UN communication to Egypt states: "While awaiting a reply, we urge that all 
necessary interim measures, including Mr Halawa's Bail or unconditional 
release, be taken to halt the alleged violations, prevent their re-occurrence, 
and in the event that the investigations support or suggest the allegations to 
be correct, to ensure accountability of any person responsible for such 
violations."

Solicitor Darragh Mackin of KRW Law said: "We warmly welcome the communication 
by the UN to the Egyptian Government on behalf of Ibrahim Halawa.

"The communication in many ways exonerates the family's position, and the UN 
should be commended in tackling the alleged breaches of human rights and 
international law in Ibrahim's case.

"We now urgently call upon the Egyptian Government to take the interim measures 
as stipulated by the UN, and release Ibrahim immediately."

Solicitor Gavin Booth of KRW Law added: "We welcome the representations by the 
United Nations in this case. It is clear Ibrahim is being failed, as he is 
subject to an unfair system of law and immediate steps need to be taken to 
secure his release."

Mr Halawa will next appear in court on 29 June 2016.

(source: irishlegal.com)






INDIA:

Kundapur: In rare instance, man gets death penalty for killing girl in 2010


In a historic judgement, the Kundapur additional district and sessions court on 
Thursday April 28 awarded death penalty to a man for murdering a girl 6 years 
ago.

Satish Poojary, a resident of Hemmady, has been found guilty of murdering 
Akkayya alias Latha Poojary in June 2010.

Latha hailed from a poor family and earned her livelihood by tying beedis. In 
June 2010, she joined a private educational institution in Kundapur as an ayah. 
At the time, Satish, who was 34, was running a fancy store in Hemmady. He had 
also contested the gram panchayat elections twice and lost both times.

Latha and Satish were friends, but over a period of time, Satish misused her 
friendship for his own benefits. Their friendship grew into an affair and 
Satish took advantage of her to gratify himself. When Latha felt that the 
situation was going out of hand, she began pressuring him to marry her. But 
Satish used to evade the topic, and angered at his behaviour, she began 
blackmailing him. Feeling mentally harassed by Latha, Satish decided to put an 
end to the matter.

One day, when she was returning from work by school bus, she asked the driver 
to drop her at Tallur, saying that she had to visit a friend. It was Satish 
that she had come to meet. Satish came to the spot in a friend's Omni and took 
her Maravante beach. He then used her churidar shawl to strangle her in the 
Omni itself. By then, the time was past 3 pm. To avoid suspicion, Satish parked 
the Omni, with Latha's body in it, in front of his shop till 7 pm. Thereafter, 
he drove to Kolur cross at Kundabaradandi in Halkady and threw the body. Before 
leaving the spot, he took away the gold ornaments she was wearing and flung 
away her footwear and umbrella nearby.

The body was soon discovered and a sense of anxiety gripped the locals. A team 
led by the then DySP Vishwanath Pandith, comprising Madan Gaonkar who was 
serving in Kundapur police station, Gangolli inspector Gopal Naik and Sathish 
Kumar carried out the investigation. The most important lead in the case was 
the series of phone calls. Latha had 2 mobile phones, and the call records 
showed that she was in constant touch with Satish. Moreover, on the day of the 
murder, Satish received calls after 7 pm, which were traced to a mobile tower 
in Aloor. During interrogation on these points, Satish admitted his guilt and 
narrated the whole story. About 5 or 6 of his friends were also questioned. 
Satish was then jailed, but was soon out on conditional bail. Confident that 
the case would be closed, he attended the hearing on Thursday.

After the hearing ended, judge Rajshekar V Patil convicted Satish and sentenced 
him to death. As soon as the verdict was pronounced, Satish broke down.

There were 28 witnesses in the case. Advocate Srinivas Hegde was the public 
prosecutor.

(source: daijiworld.com)






KENYA:

Abolish death penalty charge, former CIC commissioner Kamotho Waiganjo urges


A former commissioner at the defunct CIC Kamotho Waiganjo has called for the 
abolishing of the death penalty charge for crimes.

"Death penalty has not been practised since 1987. This shows that it only 
exists in the Kenyan Constitution on paper.

Therefore it does not apply," the former constitution implementation 
commissioner said.

Waiganjo asserts that the death penalty charge is ineffective and irrelevant.

He spoke at a time 2 Somalis in Mandera were sentenced to death by hanging 
after being found guilty of robbery with violence and murder.

According to the Commissioner for Prisons, the number of inmates who are on 
death row in Kenya stands at 1,582.

Kenya national Commission of Human Rights holds a strong position that death 
penalty amounts to "cruel, inhumane and degrading.

The rights lobby also contends that enhancement of human dignity and protection 
of human entitlements will be reinforced if the death penalty is abolished.

In the pre-colonial Kenya, death penalty was applied on serious crimes such as 
witchcraft, sorcery and murder especially among the Kisii, Turkana and Luo 
communities.

(source: The Star)






PHILIPPINES/INDONESIA:

Mary Jane Veloso: what happened to the woman who escaped execution in 
Indonesia? ---- Filipina who was temporarily spared at 11th hour, as the Bali 9 
pair and 6 others were killed, remains on death row amid uncertain future


A woman who was temporarily spared death by firing squad last year remains on 
death row in Indonesia with her life precariously wagered on an slow-moving 
court case.

Mary Jane Veloso won sympathy in her home country of the Philippines, as well 
as within Indonesia, after she said she was duped into smuggling drugs. And in 
a shock turnaround, Indonesian president Joko Widodo - known as Jokowi - 
delayed her killing with a temporary reprieve just hours before she was due to 
be executed in April 2015.

Indonesia shot dead 8 others that night, including 2 Australians, Andrew Chan 
and Myuran Sukumaran, who fought a years-long campaign for clemency and were 
part of the Bali 9 heroin-smuggling ring. 4 Nigerians, a Brazilian and an 
Indonesian were also killed.

Sparing the domestic worker and mother-of-2 was unexpected and several Filipino 
newspapers wrongly reported on their front pages the next day that she had been 
killed. The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran the headline: "Death came before 
Dawn."

But in the year that has passed, the outburst of joy and relief has given way 
to a lengthy human trafficking trial in the Philippines and no guarantees that 
Veloso will be taken off death row even if she can prove she was tricked.

Migrante International, a group that promotes the rights of overseas Filipino 
workers, says Veloso's life depends of the speedy trial and conviction of her 
accused traffickers, Maria Kristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.

But the group complains that the defence has employed delaying tactics by 
filing motion after motion to keep the case in the early stages of legal 
proceedings.

"Mary Jane is still facing the threat of execution," Migrante International 
vice-chair Rina Anastacio told the Guardian. "Unfortunately the trial is going 
very slowly."

Hours before Veloso was due to be killed last year, Sergio handed herself in to 
police in Manila, and the Philippines president, Benigno Aquino, made an appeal 
to his Indonesian counterpart on the basis that Veloso would be needed as a 
witness in the case against her alleged recruiter.

Key to the last-minute reprieve was that the Philippines invoked a regional 
treaty (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations mutual legal assistance 
treaty, or Asean MLAT) signed to fight transnational crimes in south-east Asia, 
which obliges Indonesia to help provide Veloso as a witness to the human 
trafficking court case.

Filipino officials have travelled to Indonesia to discuss the case that they 
hope can save her life.

Activists fear that Veloso, who has already been convicted in an Indonesian 
court, could yet be executed if the trial is overly delayed, as she is being 
kept alive only to give testimony. Her supporters want the Indonesian 
government to allow Veloso to fly home so she can testify in person in court.

They hope a swift conviction in the Philippines will show that Veloso was a 
pawn and might persuade Indonesia to spare her life.

The plan is far from certain. Indonesian officials suggest executions could 
restart again this year after a short hiatus, and the attorney general said in 
January the country was "ready" to execute Veloso.

Attorney general Prasetyo told Rappler: "We will look at the verdict, perhaps 
the verdict can be new evidence to appeal for clemency from the president. But 
surely Mary Jane will not be free from punishment. The fact is that she 
smuggled drugs to Indonesia."

Veloso's lawyer Edre Olalia lamented the slow pace of the human trafficking 
case. "After 1 year, we have unfortunately only presented her sister as 
prosecution witness so far. This week, we are calling her mother to the witness 
stand," he said.

Olalia said Veloso was given a reprieve following what he described as bold 
legal tactics and an overwhelming local and international campaign - "and her 
peculiar circumstance of being a credible victim of human trafficking plus the 
human side of her being a young, poor mother of little boys forced by poverty 
to work abroad".

Veloso, who fled Dubai after an attempted rape and moved to Indonesia via 
Malaysia to find work, says she was tricked by a trafficking gang to smuggle 
2.6kg (5.7lb) of heroin 6 years ago. The drugs were found in the lining of her 
suitcase at Yogyakarta airport.

Olalia joined Veloso';s parents and children during a prison visit in January 
to celebrate her 31st birthday. He said: "Her family communicates with her by 
phone from time to time."

Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer and political analyst at Indonesia's Universitas 
Jenderal Achmad Yan, said Veloso's story resonated with Indonesians who, like 
Filipinos, have a large emigrant population, some of whom are exploited. "Lots 
of people here in Indonesia were against her execution because her story was so 
close to home ... it's not unlike Indonesians in the Middle East."

With the potential for public anger following her still-planned execution, 
Sulaiman said: "The Indonesian government had to be really sure that Mary Jane 
is what they consider as a big dealer. Not just a mule."

He suggested that if a new date was set for her death by firing squad, there 
might be "uproar again", but added: "The wheels of justice grind very slowly 
here in Indonesia, so people tend to get distracted. It is hard to maintain 
pressure over Mary Jane."

Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world and the 
president says the nation is facing a "drug emergency", calling for a stronger 
fight, including rejecting clemency.

Since Widodo took office, 14 drug convicts have been executed. Most of them 
were foreigners. Close to 90 convicted drug traffickers are currently on death 
row in Indonesia.

Capital punishment was outlawed in the Philippines in 2006.

(source: The Guardian)

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

Death by firing squad is barbaric. I know, I saw it.----An Australian pastor 
was the last person to see Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran alive. Here, she 
reveals what really happened in the last few minutes of their lives.


On the 12th of January this year, Christie Buckingham crawled into a ball on 
the sofa and sobbed.

It should have been the 32nd birthday of her friend, convicted drug trafficker 
Andrew Chan, but he was dead.

She didn't want to speak with anyone, she didn't want any consolation.

It was the 1st time she'd allowed herself a moment to cry since witnessing the 
brutal execution of Andrew and fellow "Bali 9 ringleader" Myuran Sukumaran last 
April, and she hoped this outpouring of tears would wash away some of the 
grief.

"I wept for the waste," she says. "I wept for the total senselessness of it and 
the overwhelming feeling of injustice. It's just too awful."

Christie was the last person to see the young Australians alive.

The mother of 3, a minister at Melbourne's Bayside Church, had been one of the 
pastoral carers to the convicted drug traffickers while they were on death row 
at Bali's notorious Kerobokan Prison.

When their final appeal for clemency was rejected in January last year, Myuran 
asked her to be his official witness at the execution.

As the first anniversary of their deaths approaches, Christie has agreed to 
share intensely painful memories of that night to fulfil a pledge she made to 
Andrew and Myuran that she'd never give up fighting against the death penalty.

"Every day, Myu made me promise I would speak up and even in his final minutes, 
when he was chained to the pole waiting to be shot, he made me reiterate my 
vow. Death by firing squad is so utterly barbaric and it achieves absolutely 
nothing.

"I was told on the night that if Myu didn't die instantly, I would have to 
witness them shooting him in the head. I didn't know this beforehand; it was my 
worst nightmare. As a mother, it was so important to me how the family received 
him back. I couldn't let them see their son with a bullet in his head and I 
didn't want him to have any pain."

There are 2 distinct memories that will haunt the petite Irish-born cleric 
forever: the sound of the shackles rattling as the guards chained the prisoners 
onto makeshift wooden crucifixes to be shot and the thunderous noise of the 
200-strong firing squad leaving the killing fields after the execution (4 
Nigerians, an Indonesian and a Brazilian were also executed at the time).

"The shooters had 60 seconds to leave the area after firing and I hadn't given 
any thought to what that sound would be like, it was terrifying," she says. 
"The total silence after they'd gone was something of a strange relief because 
I knew then that Myu had died instantly."

How she became involved with the Bali 9

Christie Buckingham had no intention of becoming involved with the so-called 
Bali 9.

In fact, she had zero sympathy for the 9 young Australians who were arrested in 
Bali in April 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from 
Indonesia into Australia.

She even wrote in her journal at the time, "how dumb can you get and still 
breathe, nevertheless God, still show your mercy".

One of Christie's closest friends from Bible college, Gayle Bonnet-Dwjie had 
established a church in Bali helping prisoners and the poor.

They had cut their missionary teeth together helping drug addicts on the 
streets of St Kilda in Melbourne.

Gayle's church was supporting Australian Schapelle Corby, who was arrested in 
2004 for bringing cannabis into Bali, and she asked Christie's congregation to 
pray for her, too.

When Christie and her husband, fellow minister Rob, visited Bali for a 
conference, Gayle invited them to Kerobokan to meet the young Australian 
prisoners.

"I was reluctant because there was such a media circus around Schapelle," 
Christie says, "but niggling me in the back of my mind was the scripture, 'I 
was in prison and you visited me'."

Christie says she instantly knew the boys were rehabilitated.

By that stage, Andrew had established a church inside Kerobokan and Myuran had 
found his calling teaching English, computer skills and art to others on death 
row.

As she was leaving, Christie invited them to contact her if there was anything 
they needed and within two weeks of returning to Australia, a letter arrived 
from Andrew asking for first-aid supplies, books, pens, pencils and computer 
equipment, so they could teach the other prisoners English.

"I've worked with people in this field for 30 years and I can spot a fake a 
mile off, and I could see that these 2 boys were totally reformed and not only 
did they want to rehabilitate themselves, but others, too," she says.

Never did Christie imagine, though, that she would be with them the moment they 
died.

Each of the 8 prisoners executed was allowed a spiritual advisor to accompany 
them, administer last rites, witness their death and sign their death 
certificates.

When the boys' final legal appeal was rejected and their death warrant signed, 
Andrew asked his long-time friend, Salvation Army chaplain, David Soper, to be 
his witness and Myuran asked Christie to take on that role.

"I could not leave him in his darkest hour," she says. "I constantly thought 
about how I would want my son or daughter to be treated and I fixed my mind on 
that. I had a steely determination that no matter what happened, they were 
going to be treated with dignity, despite the horrendous situation around 
them."

The final farewell

At dusk on the evening of April 29, 2015, Christie and the other witnesses 
farewelled the prisoner's families and legal teams at the port of Cilacap, 
Indonesia, and boarded a small boat to Nusa Kambangan or "execution island" as 
it is known.

The island of the damned houses 1500 death-row inmates in medieval concrete 
cells dotted among dense rainforest, rubber plantations and fields of the 
graves of those who???d already faced their fate.

It is at best inhospitable, at worst utterly gruesome.

Greeted by intense humidity and a haze of mosquitoes, Christie was taken to 
Myuran's cell, where she faced the daunting task of calming his mind and soul, 
while the minutes cruelly ticked down on his life.

The 1st thing he did was offer her the last of the chocolate he had been given 
as a final treat.

They prayed, sang, joked and talked until just after midnight, when the guards 
arrived to take them to the killing field.

As they were marched out of their cells, Andrew led the prisoners in a chorus 
of Amazing Grace.

It was pitch black, but armed guards held a lantern at her feet so Christie 
could see where she was going.

"We were down to the last few minutes and with every step I thought to myself, 
'I'm still standing, I'm still breathing, keep going ... God, let me be what I 
need to be for these boys'. Then I heard Andrew in his very ocker Australian 
accent belt out, "Saviour he can move mountains, my God is mighty to save", and 
we all sang back with him and the atmosphere changed instantly."

Christie was the last chaplain to leave the field.

She refused to go even though she could hear the marksmen lining up their 
rifles behind her.

She placed her hand on Myuran's heart and asked if he felt any unforgiveness.

When he said, "No", she asked if he had any final words. He said, "I want to 
forgive the people who have to do this."

The guards tapped Christie on the shoulder, but she refused to go. Behind her 
the firing squad was lining up the prisoners' hearts with target lasers.

"I was aware of what was happening behind me, but I hadn't got Myuran into the 
spiritual place where I'd promised I'd let him go. I put my hand up and said, 
'1 more minute'." He was chained to the pole on an angle slightly higher than 
her, so she stood on tippy toes and raised her arm high to block the line of 
sight so he could not see the lasers dotting his chest.

"We started singing Bless the Lord and I said, 'Is there anything else you want 
to say?' He said, 'I trust you, Jesus', and we kept on singing. The guard took 
me by the arm then, so I said to My very calmly, 'I'm just going to take one 
step back, My. Can you still hear me?' and he said, 'Yeah, I can hear you'. 
Then I said, 'I'm going to take a few steps to the side, My. Can you still hear 
me?' and he said, 'Yeah I can hear you', and we kept singing. Then I said, 'I 
love you. I'll see you on the other side'."

As she was walking off, Andrew called to her.

"I rushed to Andrew and put my hand on his heart, and I said, 'Bless you, 
Andrew, I love you and I'll see you on the other side', and he said, 'I love 
you, too, Mrs B. Keep being God's woman', which is what he'd always said to me. 
That moment will stay with me forever.

"I said to them, 'Keep singing', so Andrew started to sing again and as I 
walked off to the side of the field where the other witnesses were, the guard 
put up a plastic sheet to block our view and they fired. It was an ethereal 
experience. I felt like I was watching it from the outside, but I was in it. 
Whilst there was nothing right about their dying, they did everything with such 
courage.

"I'm reluctant to talk about my grief because mine was not the biggest grief. 
Their families were so incredibly courageous, under such duress, but equally, 
they also carried so many people with their courage and spirit."

The executions that made headlines

The executions and the intense last-minute fight to stave them made headlines 
around the word.

Thousands rallied against the death penalty and candlelight vigils were held in 
Australia and overseas. Yet Christie says she was shocked by the level of 
vitriol pitched towards Andrew and Myuran, and those wanting them to be freed.

"People I've never met wrote letters to me, rang me, tweeted me, dropped 
horrible parcels at my door, like pictures of drug-addicted kids. That stupid 
line 'They've done the crime, they should do the time' drives me crazy because 
that's exactly what we wanted, that they pay time, not with their life."

Last May, A few days after returning from Nusa Kambangan, Christie stood at her 
kitchen bench to light the candles on her youngest daughter's birthday cake.

She was struck by the surreality of the 2 worlds she'd been navigating. She 
paused and stared at the 3 girls standing in front of her, aged 17, 14 and 7.

Her eldest, Gigi, is nearly the same age as the 2 youngest Bali Nine drug 
mules, Scott Rush and Matthew Norman, were when they were arrested.

"It really hit me when I saw my own girls that, at that age, you make good 
decisions and bad, that comes with being a teenager.

It shouldn't cost you your life. People deserve 2nd chances. Without 2nd 
chances, there is no hope. In the words of Andrew Chan, we must keep hope 
alive."

(source: The Australian Women's Weekly)

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

Police have 30 days to make case against Jessica


The Jakarta Police have extended the detention of Jessica Kumala Wongso for 
another 30 days. As the final extension of her detention period, the police 
must present sufficient evidence against her in that time, or set her free.

Jessica, 27, who is suspected of murdering her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, has 
been in detention since Jan. 31. The Jakarta Police have extended her detention 
until May 28, Jakarta Police general crimes division head Sr. Cmr. Krishna 
Murti said on Thursday as reported by kompas.com.

Investigators have asked for the district court's permission for the detention 
extension, he said.

Jessica was detained after the Jakarta Police named her as the sole suspect for 
the murder of Mirna, who died after drinking a cyanide-tainted coffee at a cafe 
in the Grand Indonesia mall in early January.

Police investigators are allowed to detain a suspect for a maximum 120 days 
under the Criminal Law Procedures Code ( KUHAP ). However, if the police cannot 
complete the dossiers before her detention period ends, then Jessica must be 
released from detention, according to the KUHAP.

For the 90 days that Jessica has been in detention, the police's case dossier 
has 2 times been rejected by the prosecutor's office as incomplete. The police 
submitted the dossier to the prosecutor's office for the 3rd time on Friday.

The police seek to charge Jessica with pre-meditated murder. If she is found 
guilty, she could face the death penalty.

Hidayat Bostam, one of Jessica's lawyers, said he came to the Jakarta Police 
headquarters on Thursday to sign the detention extension and check on his 
client's condition.

Jessica was unwell, and had complained of difficulty breathing, Bostam said, 
adding that he would ask permission from the police to have a doctor check her 
lungs.

(source: Jakarta Post)

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

Fight goes on after Myuran and Andrew


When Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan faced their certain death last year, 
pastor Christie Buckingham remembers how they sang Bless the Lord until the 
end.

"(I remember) their kindness, their courage ... the way that they smiled at 
those about to take their lives."

She also recalls the promise she made to continue their fight against the death 
penalty.

Friday marks 1 year since the 2 men were executed by firing squad just after 
midnight or 3.25am (AEST) on the island of Nusakambangan - 10 years after being 
found guilty of smuggling 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia.

Sukumaran and Chan were among 14 drug traffickers executed in Indonesia last 
year, amid intensifying condemnation from human rights activists and 
international governments.

The pressure continues with German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressing her 
country's wish for Indonesia to put an end to capital punishment, during 
Indonesian President Joko Widodo's recent visit to Europe.

Despite this, Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan and Attorney General Muhammad 
Prasetyo have flagged executions are likely to resume this year.

Head of Central Java's Corrections Division Molyanto said they were currently 
building more isolation cells - where those awaiting execution are kept - at 
Nusakambangan prison.

But he denied reports that the "execution field" is being extended.

Sukumaran and Chan's Australian barrister Julian McMahon said it was 
"surprising" further executions were back on Indonesia's agenda.

"The fact is after the international dismay in April 2015 executions have now 
stopped for 12 months. The reason has not been publicly identified, except by 
reference to economic priorities. But most commentators think that 
international reaction would be very relevant," he told AAP.

Indonesian lawyer Dr Todung Mulya Lubis - who tweeted "I failed. I lost" after 
his clients' executions last year - has been campaigning against capital 
punishment in the country since 1979.

Since then he feels they have made "small progress".

"We have made people aware of the death penalty ... I believe over time we will 
be able to score some wins."

While he cannot see the abolition of the death penalty happening in Indonesia 
"any time soon", he hopes a bill tabled before parliament last year might prove 
a "middle way".

Under the proposed changes, if people show they have rehabilitated themselves, 
they could see their execution commuted to a life sentence.

He also noted "the international campaign must also be more tactful not to 
embarrass Indonesia".

According to the Commission for Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) 
in Indonesia, more than 100 people are on death row in the country. Just over 
half of these are for murder while two face capital punishment for terrorism 
offences.

The rest are due to be executed for drug offences.

Mr McMahon said "this week was proving very difficult for the families as they 
come to grips with their own grief and the loss of Andrew and Myuran."

In their last few years, he said the pair had "uplifted, educated and improved 
many prisoners."

"If they had lived that example would have so easily multiplied out for the 
benefit of more and more prisoners."

(source: The Mercury)