[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 30



GHANA:

Rationalising Lucas Agboyie's libido propelled act?


"Therefore, if any man is dangerous to the community and is subverting it by 
some sin, the treatment to be commended is his execution in order to preserve 
the common good ... therefore, to kill a man who retains his natural worthiness 
is intrinsically evil, although it may be justifiable to kill a sinner just as 
it is to kill a beast, for, as Aristotle points out, an evil man is worse than 
a beast and more harmful".

TEARS HAVE WELLED IN MY EYES as I write this piece. The story is weird, 
incredible and obscene; the act is unconscionable, vicious, outrageous, impious 
and sinister. Some of us cannot stand the sight of Lucas Agboyie's ogre-like 
picture in the Daily Graphic of Friday, 23rd September, 2016. It is abominable, 
reading: "I killed girl, 7... and had sex with body; Man, 22, confesses."

He was like Grendel in 'Beowulf', like the Beast in 'Beauty and the Beast', 
like Polyphemus, like the Cyclops in 'Homer's Odyssey', like the Cyclops in 
'Sinbad the Sailor', and like the Giant Despair in John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's 
Progress'.

I may be pardoned for not writing as a sociologist or for not writing as a 
criminologist or for not writing as a lawyer ... but writing as a parent, as 
grand - parent of that little girl whose mother had sent her on an errand only 
to be lured by Agboyie who asked her to bring his towel hanging behind his 
house. What were there on the girl to attract Agboyie - her face, her legs, her 
boobs?

And Agboyie confesses: "On her return I told her I wanted to sleep with her but 
she refused. I held her hand and she began struggling with me. She begged and 
told me to let her go and started screaming. So I strangled her. I then took 
her to my room and slept with the body. Afterwards, I took the GHc20 she had in 
her possession and used it to buy ganja." Haba - apologies to I.K. Gyasi.

The incident which occurred on April 19, 2015 with the accused arraigned before 
the court on April 23, 2015, had the docket sent to the Attorney General's 
Department for advice in June 2015. Naturally, the judge at the Accra Central 
District Magistrate's Court, Worlanyo Kotoku, Esq. could only be alarmed, and 
he expressed this in very few words: "I don't know why the case is still 
delaying.

The accused person's story has been consistent since the first day he was 
brought to court. These are committal proceedings and not the actual trial." 
Kudos to the lawyer who volunteered to follow up to the Attorney-General's 
Department - in the absence of the Prosecutor. Some of us lawyers are, 
likewise, going to follow the case which we hear has been adjourned to October 
4, 2016.

At the trial, we are likely to be told that Section 46 of the Criminal Offences 
Act spells out: "A person who commits murder is liable to suffer death???, and 
Section 47 says: "A person who intentionally causes the death of another person 
by an unlawful harm commits murder ..." Section 304(1) of the Criminal 
Procedure Code states: "Every sentence of death shall direct that the person 
condemned shall suffer death in accordance with the provisions of this section 
... Section 304 (3). The execution may be either by hanging or shooting by 
firing squad.

During the full trial the accused person may have to be represented by a lawyer 
who could plead insanity, intoxication, ignorance of fact or the law. No 
argument here, for the accused has the right to be represented. Even where he 
declares that he has no money to engage a lawyer, the State will have to obtain 
one for him, my friends at 'Legal Aid' may have to prepare themselves for a 
good battle of wits.

Already, Sociologists and Psychologists have jumped into the fray. When Sigmund 
Freud propounded his theory of the 'Id', 'Ego' and 'Superego', he explained 
that the 'id' contains a person's 'libido' - which is the primary source of 
instinctual force that is unresponsive to the demands of reality. The 'id' 
"...knows no judgments of value: no good, no evil, no morality" it is compelled 
by the 'Oedipus Complex' or dictatorial: "Thou Shalt...".

Libido, is colloquially known as 'sex - drive' the overall sexual desire for 
sexual activity. Did the 'ganja' the accused smoked drive him into hyper - 
sexuality? Should we allow lust, sadism or masochism to disturb the social 
order? Social order refers to the way in which a society is organized along 
with certain sets of social structures, practices and institutions that 
maintain and set methods for relating and behaving.

Bruce Fein thinks communities would be plunged into anarchy, if people were 
allowed to go scot - free after committing crimes. The Good Book tells us in 
Exodus 22:18, thus: "Wrongdoers you shall not suffer to live" and the question 
is how many people are we to allow to be murdered while we wait for the 
wrongdoer to repent of his sins?

The accused confesses to smoking 'ganja'. Perhaps he is talking about 'weed', 
'pot' or 'crack'. He may attribute his action to the hallucinating effect of 
the drug. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can cause a ruckus in one's brain's 
orbital frontal cortex - and one can easily be turned into a zombie - mindless, 
unthinking henchman. This is the kind of stuff people are asking to be 
de-criminalised. Of course, free speech should be permitted - we can learn 
vital lessons when people are allowed to speak their minds, but if a 
legislation would harm the social order, we need to re-think the proposal.

The respected Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa thinks: "To take a life 
when a life has been lost is revenge, it is not justice". But there is an 
argument that the social order should be respected, and retribution has a role 
to play here. We should not confuse retribution with revenge. People fear 
nothing more than death. Even a sniff of death can see the living trying to 
live upright lives. Take the death sentence away, remove it from or statute 
books, and you can see the effect. There is a very old saying: "The wages of 
sin is death".

Some people argue against the Death Penalty. They call it barbaric, antiquated, 
regressive, cruel, undemocratic, totalitarian, uncivilized, and inhuman. They 
have their merits, and many countries have abolished or trying to abolish the 
Death Penalty.

Their arguments are bolstered by Amnesty International, which posits: "The 
death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and will 
inevitably claim innocent victims. As long as human justice remains fallible, 
the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated". Thomas Aquinas has 
noted: "To one who has faith no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, 
no explanation is possible". What more does one need to add?

(source: ghanaweb.com)





UNITED KINGDOM/BAHRAIN:

UK trained hundreds of guards working on Bahrain's death row: Report


A report by Reprieve, an anti-death penalty charity, has accused the UK's 
Foreign and Commonwealth Office of funding training for hundreds of prison 
guards working at Bahrain's death row jail.

The group also claims that at least one innocent man faces imminent execution 
after being tortured into making a false confession.

A press release by Reprieve said: "Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas 
(NI-CO), a state-owned Belfast business, received almost a million pounds in UK 
taxpayer money last year for work with Bahrain's interior ministry.

"In 2015 more than a dozen NI-CO experts worked with Bahrain's prison staff at 
jails where systematic torture took place, and trained as many as 400 guards 
who work at Jau, which holds prisoners awaiting execution.

"NI-CO is embedded in Bahrain's internal security apparatus, raising concerns 
about conflicts of interest.

"A victim could be abused by NI-CO trained police, tortured in prison by NI-CO 
trained guards, and then have their torture allegation investigated and 
dismissed by the NI-CO trained ombudsman".

Harriet McCulloch, deputy director of Reprieve's death penalty team, said: "UK 
money is complicit in covering up torture in Bahrain. The Foreign Office needs 
to come clean about what it has paid NI-CO to do with a repressive regime like 
Bahrain".

The report also highlighted NI-CO's work with other repressive regimes, such as 
a 9m euros project in Egypt funded by the EU.

Reprieve has called on NI-CO to stop working with Bahrain's Interior Ministry 
until the Gulf country "ratifies international laws against torture and allows 
independent UN inspections".

(source: Middle East Eye)