[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 28




VIETNAM:

6 arrested in drug smuggling busts over the weekend


About 100 kilograms of heroin and 60 kilograms of marijuana were seized on 
Saturday.

6 Vietnamese and Laotian people were arrested for smuggling heroin and 
marijuana on Saturday as Vietnamese authorities increased their crackdown on 
criminals.

Police in the northern province of Phu Tho arrested 4 men at 11 p.m. on 
Saturday who were carrying about 100kg of heroin in 2 cars in Viet Tri.

Vang A Cang (42), Mua A La (43), Mua A Sau (30) and Vang A Du (28) all come 
from the Moc Chau District in the mountainous province of Son La, which borders 
Laos.

Cang, the gang leader, had promised to pay La and Sau VND100 million ($4,327) 
each, and Du VND200 million ($8,654).

Also on Saturday, border guards and police in Vietnam's central province of Ha 
Tinh detained 2 Laotian men for smuggling about 60kg of marijuana across the 
border.

The men, 31 and 17, were arrested near Vietnam's Can Treo International Border 
Gate in Ha Tinh Province at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

The Laotians said they intended to carry the drugs from Laos to sell in 
Vietnam.

On October 24, 2 other Laotian men were also arrested in Vietnam's central 
province of Thanh Hoa for smuggling nearly 23kg of heroin across the border.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Those convicted of 
possessing or smuggling more than 75 kilograms of marijuana, more than 600 
grams of heroin, more than 5 kilograms of hashish, 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.

Although the laws are strictly enforced with capital punishment handed down 
regularly, drug running continues in border areas. Several drug raids are 
reported at the Vietnam-Laos border every month.

(source: vnexpress.net)






TURKEY:

AKP deputy head Turkes says he is against reintroduction of death penalty


Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chair Tugrul Turkes has said 
he is against the reintroduction of the death penalty, a hotly-debated issue 
since Turkey's failed July 15 military coup attempt.

"I think the reintroduction will bring more harm than benefits. It's also 
difficult to bring it back," Turkes told daily Hurryet, adding that he had 
voiced his opinion on many platforms.

"We've been talking about this with our lawmaker friends and they all know that 
I'm against it," he said.

Turkes also stated thatconstitutional changes were not possible under the state 
of emergency in Turkey, commenting on recent debates on a charter change.

"The charter cannot be changed under the state of emergency," Tugrul Turkes 
told daily Hurriyet, adding that charter changes were absolute agreement texts.

"Charter changes are absolute agreement texts. The Republican People's Party is 
the main opposition and carries responsibilities," he also said.

Saying the "CHP cannot solve the constitutional change issue on the street," 
Turkes said the decision to lengthen the state of emergency had not yet been 
given.

"We'll see if the state of emergency will be extended, but a country in a state 
of emergency cannot change its constitution," he added.

Turkey declared a 3-month long state of emergency after the July 15 failed coup 
attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the followers of the 
U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. It was later extended for another 
3 months.

During his interview, Turkes also said his ideas on the timing of the 
constitutional change may cause debates inside the party.

"If it creates a debate it's fine because this needs to be discussed inside the 
party," he also said.

(source: Hurriyet Daily News)






INDIA:

HC acquits 3 death convicts in murder case


Citing severe discrepancies in the prosecution's case, the Hyderabad high court 
on Friday acquitted 3 convicts, who were sentenced to death in a murder for 
gain case.The bench, comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice M Seetharama 
Murti, acquitted Yekkaluri Siva Krishna alias Yogi, Akkinapalli Muralikrishna 
alias Murali, and Pappula Amar Nageswara Rao, who were accused of murdering 
Banawath Badya Naik, an engineer at Nagarjunasagar project in 2011.

Earlier, a special sessions judge-cum-IV additional district judge of Guntur 
had sentenced them, natives of Dachepalli of Guntur district, to death. On 
February 26, 2011, the 3 picked up Daravath Badya Naik, while he was returning 
from Vijayawada after meeting his son in a college hostel. They killed the 
engineer when he resisted them and dumped the body in a canal, before escaping 
with some gold and Rs 3,500 in cash.

. AP's public prosecutor Posani Venkateswarlu justified the death penalty for 
the accused on the ground that they were notorious decoits who would not 
hesitate to kill their victims even for smaller gains. He said the state would 
appeal against the HC's acquittal order.

(source: The Times of India)






PAKISTAN:

Travesty of justice


It is better that 10 guilty men go free than one man be wrongly convicted - the 
words of the English jurist William Blackstone in the 18th century encapsulated 
a basic precept of criminal justice. That precept was found desperately wanting 
in the case of Mazhar Farooq, a death-row prisoner convicted for a murder that 
took place 24 years ago in a village in Punjab's Kasur district. On Friday, 
after hearing his appeal against his sentence that had been upheld by the 
Lahore High Court in 2009, a Supreme Court bench found him not guilty and 
ordered his immediate release. By this time, the prisoner had spent two decades 
of his life on death row for no fault of his own, but because an appallingly 
flawed criminal justice system let him down every step of the way.

It may be cold comfort, but Mr Farooq can at least take solace in the fact that 
he can finally breathe the air of freedom. In October, the apex court acquitted 
2 brothers in a 2002 murder case, only to find that the men had already been 
hanged 1 year back. Miscarriage of justice is not exclusive to Pakistan, but in 
countries like ours, where the criminal justice system is riddled with 
shockingly fundamental problems, the chances are that much greater - which is 
one of the reasons why this paper has consistently opposed the death penalty. 
People without means or connections are disproportionately impacted. Convenient 
scapegoats for corrupt law-enforcement officials wanting to demonstrate 
'results', once they are ensnared in the slow and torturous legal process, 
there is no telling what the outcome will be, even if the investigation is 
obviously shoddy and the evidence wholly unconvincing. Indigent accused who 
cannot afford to hire defence lawyers have to make do with state-appointed 
counsel who are already overburdened and unlikely to be the cream of the crop. 
Trials take inordinately long because of repeated adjournments; sometimes also 
on account of logistical issues such as shortage of transport to bring 
prisoners to court. Corruption at the trial court level is endemic, with 
witnesses, police and sometimes even judicial officials susceptible to 
financial blandishments to influence the outcome of a case. It bears thinking 
then, that in such a defective system where miscarriage of justice is 
inevitable, how much of it goes undetected? Or to put it another way: how many 
people have we executed for crimes they did not commit?

(source: Editorial, dawn.com)






IRAN:

The Psychological Impacts of the Widespread Executions on the Iranian Society


One of the members of the parliament in Iran admitted that the widespread mass 
executions under the sovereignty of the Mullahs' regime bring wrath and fright 
to people. He called for reconsideration to these executions.

On 23rd November 2016, MP Ezzatollah Yousefian who is the representative of 
Amol City in the parliament had a speech in the parliament and said: "we have 
carried out many executions, every day. The number of executions in drug sector 
is very high. Do we have to carry out execution every day? We need to 
reconsider it eventually, don't we?"

Ezzatollah Yousefian referred to the psychological impacts of the executions in 
the society and said: "when I was the attorney general of Mazandaran Province, 
a report came from the Ministry of education in 1990.It was stated that as 1 
person is executed in a day, nearly 20 to 30 students do not attend school 
anymore. I asked them about the reason and they told me that those who are 
being executed have a kind of family relationship with the students.

A woman in the court said to the Judge:"Your honor, I said to my son not to 
marry this girl because his father is sentenced to death penalty."

At the end, the Iranian MP stressed the significance of the fact that it is not 
only the matter of death penalty when one person is executed. The psychological 
impacts will remain in his family for years. In other words, this condemnation 
is not only for the victim but also for his family. The families, relatives and 
generation also suffer about the execution in Iran."

Ezzatollah Yousefian also discussed the increasing number of executions in 
Iran. He addressed all members of the parliament and said:"are we going to 
continue this way in 20 years? What are the consequences? Take a look at the 
age of addiction among the students. Look closely at the age of addiction in 
our society. In our country, there are people who are waiting to sell their 
kidney due to poverty whereas on the other part of the world the kidney 
receivers are naturally waiting for a kidney transplant. Nevertheless, the 
kidney seller has to wait for his turn since there are many people out there 
who actually want to sell their kidney. Note that I have not yet mentioned 
about selling other body parts. The issues are not trivial, however. The words 
are only spoken but there is no action towards them."

(source: NCR-Iran)