[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 28


BOTSWANA:

Death row inmates make one last plea


2 convicted hit men on death row have made one last plea to the Court of Appeal 
(CoA) bench in an attempt to have their lives spared. On Monday the duo, Daniel 
Semi and Gaolatlhe Thusang, made a brief final appearance before the bench for 
mitigation, which the bench shall address only if it finds no extenuating 
circumstances.

The duo, who hail from Ntlhantlhe in the Southern District, were condemned to 
death in 2010 by Justice Michael Leburu of Lobatse High Court following a 
controversial remark by Justice Tshepo Motswagole that the death penalty was 
unconstitutional. The 2 were said to have been hired by Agisanyang Motukwa to 
kill his father after believing he was bewitching him. They had pleaded not 
guilty to the charge of murder.

In his submissions, Semi's lawyer Dumezweni Mthimkhulu said his client was a 
first offender and nursing a chronic illness.

He said the court should be lenient on account that Semi also had a small child 
and had recently lost his mother in a car accident on her way to check her son 
in prison.

"All these factors should be taken into account and especially the 1st that as 
a death row inmate he was sharing a cell with Patrick Gabaakanye who was 
recently hanged. That on its own has been very traumatic for him. It has had a 
toll on him and the effects will stay with him for long," he said. Thusang's 
lawyer, Moses Kadye also made a passionate plea for his client even though he 
has a string of convictions.

Kadye expressed hope that the court would take into account the fact that 
despite Thusang's previous convictions, none of them involved violence against 
human beings.

"He is not a new comer in crime circles. They were not against any person but 
just property and in this case he also killed for material benefit," he 
submitted.

Earlier on the State lawyer outlined Thusang's offences, which he all 
confirmed. In 2006 he was convicted of theft; 2007 for escaping from lawful 
custody and 2009 for 2 counts of house breaking, 2 counts of stealing from a 
dwelling house, he served jail time for all the offences.

Meanwhile the duo's appearance follows last week's court appearance where they 
appealed their sentence on grounds that they were never the masterminds behind 
the murder.

In an emotionally charged court appearance, they called on the bench to 
consider their circumstances leading to the killing of one Motlhanka Motukwa in 
what was described as a motive for financial stimulus.

(source: mmegi.bw)






BANGLADESH:

HC upholds death penalty for 6 JMB men


The High Court on Thursday upheld death penalty for 6 members of banned 
Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for their involvement in 
the Gazipur Bar Association office bomb blast in 2005.

The court also sentenced 2 others for life in jail while 2 were acquitted in 
the case.

A joint bench of Justice Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan passed the order 
after completion of the appeal hearing on death reference of 10 militants.

Earlier, a lower court had awarded death penalty to all these 10 people.

9 people, including a suicide bomber, was killed in the blast on 29 November in 
2005.

(source: prothom-alo.com)






QATAR:

Indian government to ask Qatar for leniency in murder case


The family of a man facing the death penalty in Qatar for murder has appealed 
to the Indian government for help with his defense.

He and 2 other men were sentenced to death by firing squad in December 2014 
after they were found guilty of killing an 81-year-old Qatari woman in her home 
4 years ago.

After several rounds of appeals, Qatar's courts upheld death penalty 
convictions for Subramanian Alagappa and Chilladurai Perumal, and commuted 
Shivkumar Achunan's sentence to life in prison.

Speaking to Indian media, the family of Perumal said he is innocent, and 
pleaded for his release due to their financial difficulties.

"Somehow he has to be brought home. I'm struggling with my children. We are all 
in pain thinking about him. I'm unable to settle the debts," his wife told 
NDTV.

The men's final chance to appeal to Qatar's highest court is at the end of this 
month, and local lawyer Nizar Kochery confirmed to Doha News he will submit 
this tomorrow.

Meanwhile, responding to community pressure, India's Ministry of External 
Affairs said it will file a petition for leniency this week with Qatar's Court 
of Cassation.

Notably, the death penalty has not been carried out in Qatar for more than a 
decade, according to rights groups.

Retribution sought

Qatar's courts will close shortly for the summer break, so are not likely to 
revisit this issue until after Eid Al Adha in September.

And how they rule remains to be seen.

The family of the Qatari woman has previously sought retribution instead of 
blood money payment in court, and lamented the lengthy legal process.

Last year, after an appeal verdict was postponed for several months, the nephew 
of the deceased told Doha News, "My aunt was killed in 2012. It's 2015 now and 
it's still not over."

One factor that will likely be considered by the court is that the crime was 
especially violent.

According to court documents, the woman was stabbed to death after the men 
broke into her Al Salata villa to rob it.

What happened

The victim lived alone next door a construction site where the defendants 
worked, and used to interact with them during Ramadan by inviting them over for 
meals, even though they were not Muslim and did not observe the fast.

According to the official court verdict, once the men entered the home, the 2 
older defendants knocked on the woman's ground-floor bedroom door. The victim 
opened it and was pulled outside.

While one man pinned her arms behind her back, the other covered her mouth and 
stabbed her in the right side of her chest with a knife.

Forensic examiners later determined that wound to be fatal. As she fell, the 
victim was apparently stabbed in the back by the other man, kicked in the face 
and dragged into the bathroom.

"They killed the victim for fear of her identifying them," the court ruling 
concluded.

The men were later tracked down by police after being identified by a domestic 
worker in the home, and apparently confessed to the crime.

In court, defense attorneys argued that the confessions were coerced. 
Additionally, the defendants did not have legal representation during at least 
part of the appeal process.

Currently, all 3 are suffering from health problems, Indian media reports. 
According to the Hindu, Perumal's kidneys are failing and he needs dialysis.

Meanwhile, Achunan and Alagappa are in "deep depression," the News Minute 
reports.

(source: Doha News)



PHILIPPINES:

Death penalty restoration expected within 1 year

The restoration of the death penalty and the lowering of the age of criminal 
liability from 14 to nine years old may take effect in a year's time in order 
to sustain the success-bound anti-criminality program of the Duterte 
administration.

Speaker Pantaleon "Bebot" Alvarez said that the House supermajority should be 
expected to act on the two legislative proposals, and added that it will take 
Congress only a year's time to pass them.

Alvarez said Senate's cooperation is vital and urgent in order for Congress to 
pass the bills at the soonest possible time.

There is no constitutional issue that can stop the restoration of the death 
penalty for heinous crimes, the Davao del Norte lawmaker stressed.

He said that since the 1987 Constitution provides for the imposition of the 
death sentence for heinous crimes, all that Congress has to do is to define and 
classify what crimes the capital punishment may be applied to.

Alvarez said defects in the current Juvenile Justice Law will be addressed in 
order to further strengthen the fight against criminality in the country.

According to him, foremost in the provisions of the law is the determination of 
the age of criminal liability and discernment that is currently set at 15 years 
old.

Under the PDP-Laban proposal, criminal liability will be set at 9 years old.

Alvarez explained that the proposed age is 2 years higher than those provided 
under criminal laws of Singapore and many states in the United States.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

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

Lagman's counter-SONA: Death penalty is 'anti-poor'; Albay 1st District 
Representative Edcel Lagman opposes the death penalty, lowering the minimum age 
of criminal responsibility, and the shift to federalism


Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman on Wednesday, July 27, thumbed 
down what he called the "anti-poor" priority measures of President Rodrigo 
Duterte, such as the proposed revival of the death penalty and lowering the age 
of criminal responsibility.

Lagman, who is part of the so-called "authentic and real minority" in the 
House, aired his opposition to some of Duterte's priority measures in a 
privilege speech.

"The death penalty is anti-poor because indigent and marginalized litigants 
could not afford the high cost of top caliber and influential lawyers to secure 
their acquittal," the lawmaker said in his counter-State of the Nation Address 
(SONA).

"During the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty, it was shown that 
73.1% of death row inmates belonged to the lowest and lower income classes, and 
only 0.8% came from the upper socio-economic class," he added.

According to Lagman, the death penalty is not a deterrent to the commission of 
heinous crimes "as validated by worldwide empirical and scientific studies."

"What deters the commission of crimes are certainty of apprehension, speedy 
prosecution, and inevitable conviction once warranted," he said.

"Human justice is fallible....Only God can forfeit life. No human authority has 
the power to kill, even if judicially mandated as a recompense for another lost 
life," Lagman added.

In his 1st SONA, Duterte bared his legislative agenda which includes a shift to 
federalism, tax reform, extending the validity of passport and driver's 
licenses, and emergency powers to address traffic, among others.

Duterte did not mention the reimposition of the death penalty for heinous 
crimes as well as the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility in 
his SONA.

But the 2 measures are among the priorities of Duterte's PDP Laban party mates, 
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III.

No to lowering age for youth offenders

In his speech, Lagman said owering the minimum age of criminal responsibility 
from 15 to 9 years old is a "retrogression" like the death penalty revival.

Alvarez co-authored the bill lowering the age for youth offenders in a bid to 
address the problem of criminal syndicates using children 15 years old and 
below to commit crimes. He clarified that juvenile violators would be 
rehabilitated, not imprisoned with hardened criminals.

Lagman, however, said lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 
not the proper solution.

"The correct response is to make the use of children 15 years old and under in 
criminal activities as an aggravating circumstance which cannot be offset by a 
mitigating circumstance, and charge parents or guardians with culpable default 
in due exercise of parental authority and discipline in the rearing of their 
children," he said.

Lagman added that Alvarez's bill violates the United Nations Convention on the 
Rights of the Child, to which the Philippines is a signatory.

"Lowering the age of culpability to 9 years old is a patent backsliding which 
is inconsistent with our treaty obligations," he said.

(source: rappler.com)