[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 16



MALAYSIA:

South African engineer faces death


A South African electrical engineer found behaving suspiciously at the airport 
and later allegedly excreted capsules containing cocaine at the Penang 
Hospital, has been charged with drug trafficking.

Brits Shaun, 30, was indicted in a magistrate's court here with trafficking in 
810gm of cocaine at a toilet in the hospital between 3.45pm on Sept 3 and 
3.30pm on Sept 5.

No plea was recorded from Shaun who faces the mandatory death penalty if 
convicted.

Magistrate Mohamad Amin Shahul Hamid fixed Nov 23 for mention pending the 
chemist report.

It was reported recently that a South African gambled with his life when he 
swallowed more than 60 cocaine capsules to avoid getting caught.

He was earlier taken aside to be searched after being spotted behaving 
suspiciously by the airport police at about 9.30am on Sept 3.

An X-ray examination at the Penang Hospital revealed the capsules in his 
stomach and he subsequently passed them out in stages.

(source: The Star)






ZIMBABWE:

Mnangagwa rekindles call for abolition of death penalty


Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday rekindled his call for the 
abolition of the death penalty, saying those insisting that it be maintained 
need divine intervention.

The Constitution bars capital punishment for women, but men aged below 21 and 
70 can be sentenced to death.

Addressing a constitutional advocacy meeting in Bulawayo, Mnangagwa said 
Zimbabweans must continue advocating for capital punishment to be struck off 
the country's statutes.

"We have reduced the age of majority from 21 to 18. What are we saying? We are 
saying anybody below the age of 18 cannot be sentenced to death. Those above 18 
except women, women cannot be sentenced to death. Women cannot be hanged.

"But men, any men above age of 18 up to the age of 70 can be hanged. I am above 
70 so I cannot be hanged again. I have no doubt that we will continue 
advocating for total abolishing of the death penalty, but we still have strong 
views both from men and women who want people to be hanged, but we pray to God 
so that they see the light," he told various stakeholders including 
legislators, residents and service chiefs who attended the meeting.

Mnangagwa has been at the forefront of the campaign against capital punishment 
after he faced the hangman's noose during the liberation struggle under the 
Rhodesian regime.

The push to abolish capital punishment is now at the Constitutional Court where 
Tendai Biti, who is representing death row inmates, seeks the court's 
intervention to drop the death penalty.

The case will be heard at the Constitutional Court on September 28.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa said the ministry had managed to translate the 
Constitution into 8 vernacular languages. The Constitution recognises 16 
official languages and the VP said it will be translated in all languages.

"The government has made great strides towards the production of the 
constitution in vernacular languages. I am glad to report that we now have 
abridged versions of the constitution in Ndebele, Shona, Tonga, Chewa, Sotho, 
Kalanga, Venda and Braille for the blind," he said.

(source: Newsday)






SIERRA LEONE:

Sierra Leone to apply death penalty once again


Sierra Leone's Internal Affairs Minister Paolo Conteh has told a local radio in 
Freetown that the death penalty should be reactivated for people found guilty 
of murder in order to curb gang violence.

Sierra Leone still has the death penalty by hanging for those found guilty of 
murder and treason. But no one has been put to death since 1998.

"I have given instructions to the prison officers to clean and ready the tools 
and machines used to kill people, as reckless killing is on the increase. We 
have lost a lot of people through reckless killing and ended wasting resources 
feeding such prisoners for several years. This is unacceptable," the minister 
told Radio Democracy in the capital Freetown.

The minister's comments come in the midst of an increase in gang and political 
violence in the country.

Last week, 2 Sierra Leoneans were sentenced to death by hanging after they were 
found guilty of murdering a popular radio DJ in Freetown.

Conteh, who is also a retired major in the country's military, said the death 
penalty will scare others who think taking others lives carelessly is 
justifiable.

"It's in the bible, an eye for an eye. Our local people say kill a dog in front 
of another to know that death is real," the Minister said.

This week, the Sierra Leone police issued a public notice to offer a cash 
payment of $400 to anyone providing information leading to the capture of any 
gang leader.

(source: World Bulletin)



PHILIPPINES:

Rep. Veloso says death penalty bill of Speaker Alvarez almost done


Representative Vicente "Ching" Veloso of the 3rd district of Leyte said the 
imposition of death penalty will soon be revived in the country under the 
administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the bill filed by Speaker 
Pantaleon Alvarez is almost done as a law.

Rep.Veloso, senior vice chair of the House committee on justice, said House 
Bill 1 which seeks to impose the death penalty on heinous crimes filed by 
Speaker Alvarez is almost approved and done as a law.

"The bill on the imposition of death penalty filed by Speaker Alvarez is almost 
done and approved by Congress as this will help in the anti-illegal drugs 
campaign of President Duterte," Rep. Veloso told Manila Bulletin.

(source: mb.com.ph)

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

Philippine bishops' head issues strong 'no' on restoring death penalty


The head of the Philippine bishops' conference set "ethical guidelines" against 
proposals to reinstate the death penalty as the country's war on drugs 
continues, with body counts increasing daily.

In a statement released Sept. 14, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of 
Lingayen-Dagupan, conference president, urged Catholic lawmakers not to support 
"any attempt to restore the death penalty" and called on Catholic lawyers to 
"study the issue and to oppose" it by filing legal cases against it. He also 
appealed to Catholic judges to "heed the teaching of the church and to 
appreciate every possible attenuating or mitigating circumstance" so the death 
penalty would not be imposed.

Less than a week after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into 
office, a staunch political ally and the new speaker of the Philippine House, 
Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte, filed a proposal to reinstate the death 
penalty. It was the first bill filed in the new congressional term.

Duterte ran, and won by a large margin, on a platform of ridding the country of 
criminals by having them killed and encouraging the public to kill them. He has 
repeatedly called for the death penalty to be reinstated and, in early 
September, again urged congress to pass the bill.

Since Duterte took office on June 30, more than 3,400 people accused of drug 
dealing or addiction have died at the hands of law enforcement and private 
citizens. In response to critics who have said the death penalty does not deter 
criminal activity, the president has taken the position that the death penalty 
is a means to make criminals pay for heinous crimes, not to keep them from 
committing them again.

In recent months, the church in the Philippines has held firm in its rejection 
of the death penalty. Archbishop Villegas emphasized its stance with the 
ethical guidelines.

"While it is true 'retribution' has been central to many theories of penalty, 
it is at best a nebulous concept that is hardly distinguishable from a stylized 
and sanitized form of vengeance," he said.

Citing a passage in the book of Genesis, Archbishop Villegas said, "In every 
human person is that incomparably precious breath of life from God himself. ... 
It is this divine gift of life, sublime and unsurpassable, that the death 
penalty takes away."

The archbishop also pointed out changing views on the death penalty in the last 
century, with more and more people, including St. Pope John Paul II, opposing 
it and questioning the need for it altogether. He said this was especially true 
with the evolution of more humane forms of punishment.

"You cannot, without contradiction, insist that the person is secure from cruel 
punishment," he said, "and at the same time open the possibility of inflicting 
upon him or her the most cruel punishment possible: the calculated, planned and 
deliberate deprivation of life."

Archbishop Villegas called Pope Francis' declaration in the exhortation "Amoris 
Laetitia" that the church "firmly rejects the death penalty" the "definitive 
teaching of the Catholic Church for the 3rd millennium."

"It is time then to rid ourselves of the obsolescent notion that a person who 
commits a heinous wrong 'forfeits his right to life,'" the archbishop said. "No 
one can forfeit the right to life, because life is at the free disposal of 
none, not even the state."

(source: catholicregister.org)






INDIA:

Jigisha murder: 3rd convict also challenged death penalty, court told


Ravi Kapoor, the 2nd death row convict in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case, 
informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that he too has challenged the death 
penalty awarded to him by the trial court.

Ravi's counsel Amit kumar told the court that he has filed the appeal through 
the jail authorities and therefore, it will take some time to reach the court.

The court was hearing the death reference for confirmation of the death 
sentence awarded to him and co-convict Amit Shukla.

Both Ravi and Amit were produced before the court on Thursday. The High Court 
has fixed the case for hearing on September 25.

It has also directed the registry to prepare electronic form of all records in 
the case and supply the same to the lawyers in the matter.

Convict Amit Shukla had also approached the High Court, saying the trial court 
had awarded him the capital punishment by "wrongly holding that the case falls 
in the category of rarest of rare".

The trial court on July 14 held Kapoor, Shukla and Baljeet Malik guilty of the 
murder of 28-year-old IT executive Jigisha.

The court while sentencing Kapoor and Shukla to death on August 22, had said 
that the girl was killed in a "cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner" and 
"brutally mauled to death".

(source: The Hindu)






BANGLADESH:

15 appeals in war crimes cases pending with court in Bangladesh


Although most of the top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders have been executed, the most 
recent being Mir Quasem Ali, 15 war crimes cases are waiting for appeal hearing 
before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court (SC) has so far disposed of 9 cases of crimes against 
humanity.

It has handed down the death sentence against 6 war criminal - Abdul Quader 
Molla, Kamaruzzaman, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Ali Ahsan Mujahid, Motiur 
Rahman Nizami and Mir Quasem Ali.

They have already been executed after all legal procedures were carried out.

The SC also delivered judgment in the appeal petitions of Gulam Azam, Delwar 
Hossain Sayedee and Abdul Alim.

The SC awarded life in prison to Gulam Azam, Sayedee and Abdul Alim.

Gulam Azam and Alim died while serving their jail terms.

But both the defence and the state have pleaded for review of the SC judgment 
that had commuted the death sentence of Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer Delwar Hossain 
Sayedee to life imprisonment.

The state sought death penalty, while the defence appealed for acquittal of 
Sayedee.

The apex court is yet to hear the review petitions.

Apart from this, at least 15 cases are now pending before the apex court 
relating to war crimes.

Most of the convicted appellants were mid-level or even grassroots-level 
criminals, who terrorised their neighbourhoods.

The cases are against Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer Moulana Abdus Subhan of Pabna, 
fellow Jamaat man ATM Azharul Islam of Rangpur, Mobarak Hossain of 
Brahmanbaria, Syed Kaiser of Habiganj, engineer Abdul Jabbar of Pirojpur, 
Mahidur Rahman and Afsar Hossain of Chapainawabganj, Sheikh Sirajul Haque and 
Khan Akram Hossain of Bagerhat, Forkan Mallik of Patuakhali, Ataur Rahman Noni 
and Obaidul Haque Taher of Netrokona, Shamsuddin Ahmed of Kishoreganj and 
Mohibur Rahman, alias Boro Miah, and his cousin Abdur Razzak of Habiganj.

Of these 15 appeals, the state has pleaded for the death sentence for Jabbar, 
who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Crimes 
Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) considering his age.

The other appeals were lodged by the convicts against their sentences by the 
tribunal.

2 tribunals have so far disposed of 24 cases in 6 years.

The 1st special court was set up on March 25, 2010.

Trials of more than 50 accused in 18 cases are going on at the single tribunal 
after the merger of the 2.

Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla was the 1st war criminal to be sent to the 
gallows on December 12, 2013.

This was followed by Mohamed Kamaruzzaman (April 11, 2015), Salauddin Quader 
Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohamed Mujahid (November 21, 2015) and Jaamaat supremo 
Motiur Rahman Nizami (May 10, 2016).

At least 62 new cases are going to be filed shortly, while hundreds are in the 
process of investigation, sources in the investigation agency of the tribunal 
said.

There are over 2,000 accused in at least 622 cases now being looked into by the 
investigation agency of the ICT.

The second bench (ICT-2), which was formed on March 22, 2012, was dismantled on 
September 15, 2015 and the ICT-1 was reconstituted.

The ICT-1 disposed of 10 cases, and the 2nd tribunal 11.

A Dhaka court yesterday acquitted wife and son of executed war criminal 
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury while it sentenced 5 people to different jail terms 
in a case filed over leaking the draft verdict of the International Crimes 
Tribunal (ICT) that sentenced him to death.

Dhaka cyber crimes tribunal judge KM Samsul Alam passed the order.

The court acquitted Salauddin Quader's wife Farhat Quader and son Humman Quader 
from the charges while sentencing his lawyer AKM Fakhrul Islam to 10 years' 
imprisonment and fined him ten mn taka, in default, to suffer 6 months' more 
rigorous imprisonment.

Besides, the court sentenced his manager Mahbubul Ahsan, Fakhrul's associate 
lawyer Mehedi Hasan, 2 staff of the ICT-1 Nayan Ali and Faruq Hossain to 7 
years' imprisonment and fined them 10,000 taka each, in default, to suffer 6 
months more rigorous imprisonment.

Earlier on August 28, the Dhaka court deferred its judgment until September 15.

On August 4, Judge of the tribunal KM Samsul Alam fixed August 14 for 
delivering the judgment on completion of arguments in the case.

The court also sent 4 accused - Fakhrul, Faruq, Nayan and Mahbubul - to jail 
when they appeared before the court while lawyer Fakhrul's associate Mehedi 
Hasan remains absconding.

On February 15, the court framed charges against 7 people, including wife, a 
son and a counsel for executed Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salauddin 
Quader Chowdhury, in the case.

Detective branch inspector M Shajahan submitted a chargesheet to the Dhaka 
metropolitan magistrate court against the 7 accused on August 28, 2014. On 
October 1, 2013, ICT sentenced BNP standing committee member Salauddin Quader 
Chowdhury to death after finding him guilty of committing crimes against 
humanity and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971.

However, some parts of the draft verdict were found posted on the internet 
several hours before pronouncing the verdict.

Later, showing the copy of the draft verdict, Salauddin's wife and son raised a 
complaint that the verdict originated from the law ministry.

On October 4, a case was filed with Shahbagh police station under sections 57 
and 63 of information and communication technology act.

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was executed in the Dhaka Central Jail on November 
22, 2015.

(source: Gulf Times)




INDONESIA:

Drug agency arrests 2 dealers carrying 18 kg of meth


The National Drug Agency has arrested 2 drug dealers, who are members of a 
cross-provincial syndicate with 18 kilograms (kg) of methamphetamine (meth) in 
their possession in Medan, capital of North Sumatra province.

The Deputy of the Eradication division at the agency, Arman Depari said in 
Medan, on Thursday, that the arrest of both dealers with the initials BB and RP 
was a result of cooperation between the North Sumatra Drug Agency, the North 
Sumatra Police, Customs, and the Medan Police.

Both dealers were arrested during a transaction, which then led to a search of 
one of the suspects residence in the Medan Helvetia sub-district.

The arrest is also a result of a deeper investigation into an earlier arrest of 
a meth dealer in Jakarta in March, from whom 35 kg of meth was seized.

The initial bust also led to the capture of 11 suspected dealers in Medan with 
5 kg of meth taken into custody at the end of March.

The National Drug Agency predicted that the contraband was transported from 
Malaysia into Indonesia through the Aceh province.

The syndicate's network is considerably vast as they take their illegal goods 
through to North Sumatra to be sold in Medan and its surrounding areas.

Some of the drugs are also taken to Jakarta to be sold in the Jabodetabek area, 
as well as a number of major cities in the Java and Bali islands.

>From their working pattern, the syndicate is estimated to have been operating 
for quite some time.

"Although when we arrested him, the suspect admitted that he had only sold 
drugs once," he added.

According to the agencys investigation, the suspect sold 6 kg of drugs to his 
network in Medan.

"He had already sold 6 kg of the contraband, we are trying to track it down," 
said the former Riau Islands Police Chief.

Based on the arrest chronology and the discovery of evidence, Arman thinks the 
suspect does not have any meth stored in his house, rather, it is placed in the 
residence of a family member, which is located a mere 4 houses away from his 
own.

However, 2 family members, whose house was used to store the drugs, escaped 
when they found out about the search at their relatives house.

The Agency then urged both family members to surrender as they have been 
identified by the authorities.

It would also help to solve the case sooner.

"We urge them to hand themselves in, especially given the fact that they left a 
10 year-old child behind," he reiterated.

For the possession of 16 kg worth of methamphetamine, the suspect will be 
charged with Clause 112, 114 and 24 and the State Regulation number 35 of 2009 
related to Narcotics and is looking at a death penalty.

(source: Antara news)

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

Bengkulu Gang Rapists, Murder Convicts Demand Death Sentence


4 of the 5 defendants in the gang rape and murder of 14-year-old Yuyun in 
Bengkulu are now pleading for the death sentence - the same sentence the 
prosecutor demanded for their alleged ringleader, known as Zainal.

"4 of the defendants have requested the death penalty, the same sentence 
demanded for Zainal," Kristian Lesmana, the defense team's spokesman, said in 
Rejanglebong, Bengkulu, on Thursday (15/09).

The 4 convicted rapists and murderers are 19-year-olds Tomi Wijaya, Suket and 
Faisal and 20-year-old Bobby. Prosecutor Arlya Novian Adam had demanded 20-year 
jail terms for all of them.

Kristian said this was an odd request, as the defense team has been pleading 
for leniency. The lawyers suspect the young men had been intimidated and forced 
to ask for the heavier sentence.

"So far we don't know why they [the 4 defendants] have asked for the death 
penalty, whether it's pressure from someone or if they are depressed. It 
doesn't seem logical to ask for a worse sentence than what the prosecutor 
demanded," Kristian said.

The defense team has given the judges the right to decide whether or not to 
meet the demand in the next trial.

Meanwhile, the Rejanglebong district attorney, led by prosecutor Dodi Wira 
Admadja and Arlya, said they will stick with the original sentences they 
demanded.

They will seek the death penalty for Zainal and 20 years imprisonment for the 
rest of the group.

"We will stick with the original sentences, even though these 4 defendants have 
now requested for the death sentence, just like what we demanded for Zainal. 
The judges will deliver their decision at a hearing on Sept. 29," Dodi said.

The 5 men will be sentenced for violating Child Protection laws and for 
premeditated murder.

The Yuyun case shook Indonesia - and the world - with its brutality, exposing 
other child rape and murder cases around the country and highlighting the need 
for more effective child protection laws.

(source: beritasatu.com)






SOUTH SUDAN:

An eye for an eye is the wrong response to attacks on humanitarians ---- I 
survived the attack in which South Sudanese soldiers murdered and gang raped 
aid workers - but executing the perpetrators will not bring justice.


It has been 2 months since I was brutally attacked along with more than 30 
other individuals by armed soldiers at the Terrain compound in Juba, South 
Sudan. The incident resulted in the death of a dedicated and inspiring friend, 
John Gatluak Manguet Nhial, repeated sexual and physical assaults, and the 
lingering pain from the physical and psychological injuries we sustained that 
day.

The international community has made a loud and united call for this incident 
to be properly investigated and for the government of South Sudan to prosecute 
the perpetrators and ensure justice for survivors. In August, Ban Ki Moon 
called for the government to "prosecute those involved in these unspeakable 
acts of violence".

I have spent many years working on the other side of such reports, speaking to 
victims and perpetrators, and making similar calls. But as I find my role 
transformed, I can't help but feel that this "justice" we ask for is as elusive 
as ever.

If the ongoing presidential investigation into the attack is thorough and 
soldiers are indeed found guilty of the crimes committed against us, there is a 
high chance they may be sentenced to death. Recently, 2 soldiers in Wau found 
guilty of committing murder and other crimes were executed by firing squad.

I can only speak about my own reaction to the events that followed the attack 
against us. I know very well that not everyone will agree with what I am about 
to say: but after 2 months of healing, I am wondering what "justice" even looks 
like.

In the decade since the 2003 UN Baghdad bombing, aid worker casualties have 
tripled to more than 100 deaths per year. This question of justice is not only 
asked by the survivors of the Terrain attacks, it is a question asked by 
humanitarians affected by violent war crimes all over the world.

Causing suffering in others does not alleviate my suffering

Yes, I am angry. I am angry because I feel that the UN failed to do anything to 
protect us or to rescue us after the attack. I am angry at a nation that has a 
large armed force but no funds to pay them - soldiers that in many cases joined 
this army as children, trained and initiated into a life of destruction, fear 
and anger. I am angry at those soldiers who during the event clearly coerced 
younger troops, some who could not have been more than 16, to rape foreigners 
while they watched and cheered. The lives of those young soldiers have also 
been changed forever.

Yes, I am angry. Yes, we need justice. But the death penalty does not give life 
to John Gatluak Manguet Nhial. Causing suffering in others does not alleviate 
my suffering. Instead, the death penalty only further erodes society's respect 
for the sanctity of life. It builds scar tissue to coarsen our culture, 
diminish our humanity.

As a humanitarian, I moved to South Sudan to support a population that has 
endured war for generations. As humanitarians, we lived in South Sudan to use 
whatever skills we had to try and save lives. The thought of people being 
killed on my behalf makes me feel sick.

Are we as humanitarians left with the choice to either report crimes against us 
and participate in an unjust system, or simply not report these crimes at all?

It is too soon to say whether this investigation will be taken seriously by the 
government, by its army and their military court, or to say whether any 
investigation will result in the execution of perpetrators. But this discussion 
needs to happen before that call is made, before the trigger is pulled.

We need to work towards better implementation of international humanitarian law 
and accountability for those who violate it. But these efforts must work hand 
in hand with the need to continue work to strengthen judicial systems and 
encourage governments to stop the use of capital punishment immediately.

How can we call for justice when we know the consequences of that justice 
offend our moral code?

South Sudan has continued to use the death penalty despite well-documented 
weaknesses in the country's legal system, which prevent it from ensuring the 
basic legal rights of people accused of crimes. How would we be sure the right 
people were being punished?

This week I will speak to investigators from South Sudan's government who will 
play a role in deciding the fate of these soldiers. I will tell them my story 
in unflinching detail so that the full consequences of these violent actions 
can be understood. And I will call for justice - a justice that encompasses the 
dignity and respect survivors deserve as well as the dignity and respect for 
human life that we, as humanitarians, should demand

(source: anonymous, The Guardian)