[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 3




MALAWI:

Malawian president drafts new law to deal with Albino killers----Malawi 
President, Peter Mutharika, Friday announced that he will introduce a new law 
to deal with "evil-minded" people involved in the killings of persons with 
albinism in the country.


Muntharika announced this at a development rally held in the former Malawi 
capital, Zomba.

The president's announcement follows a series of abductions and killings of 
people with albinism in the country for ritual practices.

The Malawi leader denounced the trend and described as "total nonsense" the 
notion of hoping to get rich by killing persons with albinism for their body 
parts.

"Next week I'm introducing a new law amending the Penal Code," said Mutharika.

"You'll see what is waiting for them. There's going to be stiff sentences for 
anyone found with body parts or bones of human beings," the president added.

Malawi's laws stipulate death sentence as a maximum penalty to those convicted 
of murder but no president has ever endorsed one before.

In the wake of the albino killings in Malawi, some sectors of the society have 
been pushing the authorities to put the death penalty into effect.

Recently, parliamentarian for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), 
Bon Kalindo conducted demonstration urging Malawi parliament currently sitting 
in the capital Lilongwe to bring into effect the death penalty to any albino 
killer in the country.

Calls for death penalty to anyone convicted of murder have been watered down by 
Malawi government and Amnesty International.

Amnesty International Media Manager, Robert Shivambu, told journalists at a 
press briefing held in Lilongwe prior to the meeting with Mutharika that the 
organization believed that there were other ways of dealing with the matter 
than death sentence.

Malawi Government Spokesperson, Patricia Kaliati, also told state radio MBC, 
recently that the maximum sentence for murder convicts remained life 
imprisonment and that Mutharika would not commit himself to be the 1st leader 
of the country to endorse death sentence.

With President Mutharika's announcement of the introduction of a new stiffer 
law on the matter, it remains to be seen what the Malawi leader has in store 
for the perpetrators of the infamous killings of people with albinism.

Meanwhile, close to 20 cases of cold-blood killings of people with albinism 
have been reported since 2015 and over 65 cases of abuse and exhumation of 
graves keeping remains of the body have been reported during the same period.

(source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh)






INDIA:

UP minister seeks death penalty for corrupt engineers


Senior Uttar Pradesh Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Azam 
Khan courted controversy after he demanded "death penalty" for "corrupt" 
engineers.

Azam Khan, who had, a few days ago, slapped a senior engineer in his Assembly 
constituency of Rampur, said that engineers, who indulged in corrupt practices 
and compromised with the quality should be prosecuted under the National 
Security Act (NSA) and given death penalty.

The minister, while referring to the construction of a flyover in his Assembly 
constituency, charged that the slabs of the structure had collapsed several 
times and at least 2 labourers had died and many injured in 1 such incident.

He also charged that the UP Bridge Corporation, the nodal agency for the 
construction of the flyover, tried to bury the incidents under the carpet and 
shielded "corrupt" engineers.

On the threat of the engineers that they would proceed on strike if he did not 
tender an apology, Azam said that they (engineers) would lose their commission 
if they carried out their threat.

Azam, known to be a temperamental person, had caught an executive engineer by 
his collar, during an inspection in Rampur a few days ago and then slapped him.

The aggrieved engineer lodged a written complaint with the engineers' 
association in the regard. Ashok Tewari, a leader of the association here, had 
threatened that engineers would go on strike if the minister did not tender an 
apology.

Azam Khan had once publicly used derogatory words for the cops and had also 
abused an IAS officer. He had then referred to them as "dogs".

(source: Deccan Herald)






PHILIPPINES:

Zero judicial executions under Duterte? Pro-life lawmaker says lawmaking 
process may take 5 years


Despite President Rodrigo Duterte's wish to hang hardened convicts by the neck 
until they are dead, it is very unlikely that any judicial executions would 
actually be carried out during his term, simply due to lack of material time, 
Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said in a news release Sunday.

"Since it is very doubtful that the President would actually see any judicial 
killings while he is in office, we should just concentrate on effectively 
suppressing rampant crime by stamping out endemic corruption in law 
enforcement, the prosecution service, the courts, and in prisons," Atienza 
said.

"Instead of reviving the death penalty, it would be better for the new Congress 
to push for criminal justice system reforms - to ensure that every felon is 
instantly nabbed, successfully prosecuted, convicted, and caged forever. This 
is our best strategy to fight crime -- to dissuade other would-be offenders," 
Atienza said.

No place in civilized society

The death penalty has absolutely no place in a civilized and modern nation 
wholly devoted to the value and dignity of human life, the lawmaker said.

"Let us forget about reinstating capital punishment. The best criminologists 
around the world have long established that the death penalty does not serve 
any purpose that is not already being served by lifelong imprisonment," 
Atienza, former 3-term mayor of Manila, said.

Duterte has said he wants Congress to restore the death penalty inside six 
months not necessarily to help deter crime, but as "retribution."

But Atienza said even the desire for "payback" is precisely already being 
served by the permanent incarceration of convicts.

Even assuming Congress passes a new law reintroducing the death penalty by 
yearend, Atienza said it would take another 5 years for new death penalty cases 
to go through "due process" - from the time a felony is committed until final 
judgment and execution.

"If we look at the cases of the seven convicts put to death by lethal injection 
during President (Joseph) Estrada's term, they were all executed around 5 years 
after they committed their crimes," the lawmaker said.

He said the Bureau of Corrections killed convicts Leo Echegaray, Eduardo 
Agbayani, Dante Piandiong, Archie Bulan, Jesus Morallos, Pablito Andan, and 
Alex Bartolome an average of 61 months after they did the crimes for which they 
were convicted.

Except for Bartolome who was executed in 2000 for a felony committed in 1995, 
the rest of the convicts were put to death in 1999 for offenses done in 1994.

'Reality check'

Atienza said Estrada was able to carry out judicial executions in 1999 because 
by then the 1993 law that imposed capital punishment for 13 heinous crimes had 
been in force for 5 years, and death row inmates with final judgments had 
already started to arrive.

Congress formally abolished the death penalty in 2006 after a 6-year halt to 
judicial executions.

"Based on our reckoning, even assuming Congress railroads the revival of the 
death penalty so that it would take effect by early 2017, the initial convicts 
with final verdicts would start coming in only by the 1st half of 2022, or 
toward the last 6 months of the President's term," Atienza said.

"5 years of waiting is actually a best case scenario that does not include such 
factors as potential lawsuits questioning before the Supreme Court the 
constitutionality of judicial executions by hanging," he said.

While the 1987 Constitution gives Congress some leeway to reimpose the death 
penalty, Atienza said the charter also forbids "cruel, degrading, or inhuman 
punishment."

Section 19 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, 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."

(source: interaksyon.com)