[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 12



VIETNAM:

2 Vietnamese arrested for smuggling meth near China border


Police in the northern province of Cao Bang on Thursday arrested a man and a 
woman for smuggling more than 1 kilogram of methamphetamine in a box of snack 
cakes near the China border.

The 55-year-old man and his wife, 52, from Hanoi, said they planned to sell the 
drug in the capital and nearby provinces.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Those convicted of 
smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of 
methamphetamine face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal 
narcotics is also punishable by death.

(source: Thanh Nien News)






BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh must abolish the death penalty now----Bangladesh's Law Minister 
responded to European condemnation of his country's use of the death penalty. 
But his suggestion that Dhaka may rethink the issue in the future, isn't good 
enough, writes Grahame Lucas.


The Bangladeshi Law Minister Anisul Huq's remarks on the death penalty came 
after a meeting with a European Parliament delegation in Dhaka on Thursday. 
According to reporters present, Huq responded to calls from members of the 
delegation to abolish the death penalty in his country by categorically ruling 
out any changes to the law at the present time. This was a coolly calculated 
slap in the face for his visitors from Europe and a clear sign that Prime 
Minister Sheikh Hasina intends to continue her quest to call Islamist leaders 
to account for the crimes they allegedly committed during Bangladesh's war of 
liberation in 1971.

It reinforces the view that the Dhaka government has no intention of rethinking 
the political impact of the so-called International War Crimes Tribunal. The 
Tribunal has been underway in the country since 2010 and has imposed a series 
of death sentences on high profile Islamist leaders, several of whom have 
already been hanged.

International criticism of the Tribunal's work has been consistently damning. 
Defense lawyers have been prevented from carrying out their work properly, some 
witnesses for the defense have not been allowed to testify and some of the 
testimony by prosecution witnesses has been farcical and based largely on 
hearsay. The latter is not surprising seeing how much time has elapsed by the 
alleged crime and the trial. The Tribunal clearly does not meet international 
judicial standards. Nonetheless, it continues to impose the death penalty 
against the Islamist opponents of the Dhaka government.

The death penalty is irreversible and when used against political opponents it 
creates martyrs and triggers further political instability. While the death 
penalty remains popular with Hasina's Awami League and its supporters, its 
continued use is without doubt creating a fertile breeding ground for Islamist 
terror. Just recently James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence in the 
US, warned that Hasina's continuing efforts to undermine the political 
opposition would foster the rise of Islamist terrorists.

He is right. Moreover, Clapper pointed to the fact that Islamist terrorists had 
claimed responsibility for the slaying of at least 11 progressive writers and 
bloggers since 2013. However, Sheikh Hasina remains in denial of the obvious 
consequences of her policies and claims that the so-called Islamic State does 
not have a foothold in her country, despite evidence to the contrary. At the 
very least she is guilty of sticking her head in the sand, at worst of an 
extreme form of cynicism.

While the desire to finally close the 1971 chapter in the country's past is 
both honorable and understandable, Bangladesh continues to move away from the 
path of reconciliation between those who support secularism in the majority 
Muslim country and those who wish to see Islam play a greater role. With more 
of those convicted by the War Crimes Tribunal now awaiting execution, the need 
for dialogue across the political spectrum is greater than ever, as it the need 
to abolish the death penalty now, rather than after the damage has been done.

(source: Opinion, Deutsche Welle)






INDONESIA:

Coffee Murder Suspect Taken for Psychiatric Observation


Jessica Kumala Wongso, the woman accused of having murdered her friend last 
month by placing cyanide in her coffee, was taken to a Jakarta hospital on 
Thursday (11/02) for psychiatric observation in an effort to establish her 
motive, police said.

The 27-year-old Jessica was examined by Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital 
psychiatrists, who are expected to help explain "why and how" she allegedly 
committed the murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin (27), Jakarta Police general crimes 
director Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti said.

"She has so far denied the allegation, let alone revealing her motive. But it 
does not matter if she doesn't want to. We have our own ways," he told 
reporters on Thursday.

"We are working on this with the experts. They are analyzing her character, and 
the results will be revealed in court," Krishna said. "We are obliged to 
explain her plans and actions in the case."

Police have charged Jessica with the premeditated murder of Mirna, which could 
see her facing the death penalty.

Mirna died at a Jakarta hospital shortly after she started to suffer 
convulsions after taking a sip of her iced coffee at a cafe in Grand Indonesia 
mall on Jan. 6.

Lab tests confirmed traces of cyanide inside her stomach, as well as in her 
coffee drink, which police found was ordered by Jessica, who had arrived at the 
cafe almost an hour earlier.

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

Police: Killer of Bogor Girl (7) to Face Death Penalty


Noval Fajar Bakti, the 31-year-old man suspected of having killed a 7-year-old 
girl in a dispute over a loan with her mother, will face the death penalty, the 
Bogor Police chief has said.

Adj. Sr. Comr . Suyudi Ario Seto, the chief of Bogor Police, said on Friday 
(12/02) that the suspect will face murder charges as he had planned to hurt the 
child and had even bought a knife in preparation.

Noval is believed to have attacked both the girl, Sarah, and her mother, 
Yunida, in their home in the Taman Lestari housing complex in the Citeureup 
subdistrict of Bogor last Saturday.

He allegedly told police he had asked Yunida for a loan as he needed money to 
support his family, but that the woman had asked him to pay her back twice the 
amount.

As the dispute escalated, Yunida started screaming "thief!" which caused Noval 
to panic and launch his assault.

The girl died in a nearby hospital while the mother is still being treated for 
her wounds.

(source for both: Jakarta Globe)






PHILIPPINES:

Duterte favors public executions of criminals


Rodrigo Duterte may have learned a lesson from late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. 
Or maybe he picked up the lesson from former President Joseph Estrada.

Speaking at a political rally on Wednesday, the opposition presidential 
candidate and Davao City mayor reinforced his iron-hand stance against crime - 
he not only wants the death penalty back, he also wants the execution to be in 
public.

"I will work for the restoration of the death penalty," Duterte told a cheering 
crowd here. "I will really bring it back (and make) it public so that the 
people will see for themselves (how criminals are punished)."

The 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty although it does not close 
its door to its restoration.

Section 19 of the Charter's Bill of Rights states: "Excessive fines shall not 
be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall 
the death penalty be imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous 
crimes, the Congress hereafter provides for it. Any death penalty already 
imposed shall be reduced to reclusion perpetua."

Death by musketry

Duterte spoke to a crowd of about 3,000, mostly college students, at University 
of Cagayan Valley gymnasium here.

Marcos ordered the execution by firing squad in public of Chinese drug 
trafficker Lim Seng in January 1973, 4 months after declaring martial law. In 
May 1972, before martial law was declared, the 3 convicted rapists of movie 
star Maggie dela Riva were executed by lethal injection in the presence of the 
media.

Duterte promise

Another convicted rapist, Leo Echegaray, was executed by lethal drugs, also in 
the presence of the media, in February 1999 during the Estrada presidency.

Repeating a promise he made earlier, Duterte asked voters to give him "3 to 6 
months" to stamp out criminality in the country.

He said he would take "full responsibility, legal or otherwise," for any human 
rights violation or administrative charges that may be slapped against lawmen 
accused of killing criminals.

>From the airport, Duterte met with Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg before 
his convoy drove around the city, where people lining up the street chanted, 
"Duterte! Duterte!"

Pressed by Utleg for details on his political platform, Duterte told the 
archbishop: "I will be very drastic. I will order the police and the military 
(to use all measures) as granted to me (by law) should I win the race.

"I assure you, if (you are concerned about stories that I would be killing 
people), that is not something we will do," he said.

During the motorcade around the city, Duterte stood at the back of a pickup 
truck. He waved at cheering women and raised a clenched fist to acknowledge his 
male supporters.

He invited the people of Tuguegarao to visit Davao City and see for themselves 
what he had achieved as mayor for 22 years.

"I will even take care of your hotel expenses. But please, the first batch 
should all be beautiful women," he said.

(source: Philippine Inquirer)

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

Speedy trial sought for death row inmate's 'recruiters' ---- Lawyers' group 
calls on Indonesia to grant clemency to Filipino Mary Jane Veloso


A Philippine bishop has called on authorities to speed up the prosecution of 
the alleged recruiters of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino woman on death row in 
Indonesia for drug trafficking.

"The government should continue to focus with resolve their efforts to go after 
illegal and exploitative recruiters," said Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga, 
head of the Episcopal Commission on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant 
People.

The prelate was speaking Feb. 12 after Veloso's alleged recruiters refused to 
enter a plea during their Feb. 11 arraignment on human-trafficking charges.

Judge Nelso Tribiana of the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court entered a "not 
guilty" plea for Maria Cristina Sergio and her partner, Julius Lacanilao, 
before setting the next hearing for March 9.

Sergio and Lacanilao's refusal to enter a plea was "a legal strategy" that 
should not derail the legal process "that should proceed with haste," Santos 
said.

The prelate urged the government to be more resolute in going after recruiters 
who victimize overseas Filipino workers and "put them to much danger and 
enslavement."

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers also called on the 
Philippine government to ensure that Veloso comes home alive by expediting the 
case against the alleged recruiters.

Veloso is facing the death penalty for attempting to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of 
heroin into Indonesia.

She was scheduled to go before a firing squad last April, but the execution was 
postponed at the last minute, pending an investigation into her claim that she 
was the victim of human trafficking.

In a letter addressed to the Philippine government, the international lawyers' 
group said Veloso's case should "not drown in all the fanfare" for the coming 
national elections in the Philippines.

The group expressed dismay over what they described as the "snail's pace" of 
the case "due mainly to the high-handed dilatory legal tactics that the defense 
lawyers have overzealously resorted to in court."

"We call on the Philippine government to exert all efforts to expedite the 
prosecution of [Veloso]'s traffickers," the group said.

It also appealed to the Indonesian government to keep Veloso's reprieve in 
effect "for as long as the legal proceedings in the Philippines are going on, 
and/or to magnanimously grant her clemency on both legal and humanitarian 
grounds."

In 2015, Indonesia executed 14 people by firing squad, including citizens from 
Brazil, the Netherlands, Australia, and Nigeria.

(source: ucanews.com)