[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 5




BANGLADESH:

Dandupalya gang's death penalty commuted to life



The High Court of Karnataka on Monday commuted death penalty to life 
imprisonment to 4 Dandupalya gang members.

A division bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice John Michael 
Cunha passed an order commuting the death sentence issued to gang members 
Venkatesh, Munikrishna, Nalla Thimma and Lakshmi.

The gang members were accused of murdering Sudhamani, a resident of 
Moodalapalya in Vijayanagar and stealing valuables from her house in October 
1999. While the case of theft was proved, the prosecution could not provide 
evidence that it was the same gang which had murdered Sudhamani. Due to lack of 
evidence in the murder case, the bench commuted the sentencing in the matter.

The notorious Dandupalya gang is involved in a series of thefts and murders.

(source: Deccan Herald)








SINGAPORE:

Activist investigated for illegal assembly after vigil for hanged Malaysian



An activist is being investigated by Singapore police over her participation in 
a candlelight vigil outside Changi Prison for Malaysian S. Prabagaran, who was 
hanged almost 2 months ago.

Anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han, who attended the vigil on July 13, 
said that 2 police officers showed up at her house on Sunday and handed her a 
letter saying that they are investigating an offence of "taking part in a 
public assembly without a permit".

She said that the letter also summoned her and "some of the participants" to 
present themselves for questioning.

Han said that the July 13 vigil for Prabagaran was to show support for the 
family, who were present at the vigil, after they realised that Prabagaran's 
execution would go ahead.

"There weren't that many people and there was no disturbance," Han told The 
Star Online.

"We lit candles and put up his photo, but when the police came and told us to 
take it down we complied," she said.

According to Han, the police showed up at the vigil 15 minutes after the 
candles were lit.

Police confiscated the candles and photos, and filmed the people present at the 
vigil.

"We were then told that we would be allowed to stay as long as we didn't light 
any more candles, which we didn't," said Han.

Han said that she is aware of the "very restrictive laws" on public assembly in 
Singapore.

"I'm not completely surprised that a peaceful candlelight vigil is now being 
seen as an illegal assembly," she said.

However, Han said that the timing of the investigation is "a little odd" 
considering that the vigil was held almost 2 months ago.

Han said that she would meet Singapore police on Thursday at 2pm for 
questioning.

Singapore NGO Function 8 condemned the "police harassment" of anti-death 
penalty activists who held the vigil.

"Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore guarantees the 
right of citizens to freedom of speech, expression and assembly," said Function 
8 in a statement on Monday.

"The act of issuing and having the police personally delivering letters which 
require the said activists to appear at police stations to assist in 
investigations, almost two months after the event, goes against the spirit of 
our Constitution and is a waste of police resources," it said.

Function 8 urged the Singapore home affairs minister to rescind the action of 
the police and cease the investigation.

Prabagaran was sentenced to hang for trying to smuggle a form of pure heroin 
into Singapore in April 2012.

The Malaysian, who was working in a petrol station, was arrested at the 
Woodlands checkpoint in April 2012 for possession of 22.24g of heroin, which 
was found in a black bundle in the centre arm-rest console of the car he was 
driving.

Prabagaran maintained his innocence, claiming that he borrowed the car from a 
friend to enter Singapore that day and was not aware of the drugs in the car.

(source: thestar.com.my)








PAKISTAN:

Ignoring Mental Illness is Among Pakistan's Misplaced Priorities



On 21 October 2016, a 3-member bench of the highest court in Pakistan, headed 
by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, ruled that schizophrenia was not a mental 
illness and won't disqualify one from being sent to the gallows. This was 
ostensibly done to ensure that Imdad Ali, a schizophrenic man, would be hanged 
for the 2001 murder of a cleric.

Imdad will be victim number 426 in Pakistan's merciless hanging spree, that 
began after the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty, following the 
Peshawar attacks in December 2014. In the wake of these attacks, 3 branches of 
governments, spearheaded by a 4th military branch, devised a 'National Action 
Plan', the salient points being the establishment of military courts and the 
reinstatement of capital punishment.

Denying Rights to the Disabled and Mentally Ill

The political efficacy of such measures and their role in deterring terrorism 
is a topic for another time, but one thing is certain - by implementing such a 
draconian order, the Pakistani government, courts and military establishment 
have grossly violated the rights of the disabled and the mentally ill.

As human rights lawyer Saroop Ijaz describes it: in its "populist pandering", 
the state has violated the United Nations disability rights treaty that 
Pakistan ratified in 2011. Imdad is the latest in a series of such victims. 
Another such example is that of Kaneezan Bibi, who was convicted for a murder 
in Toba Tek Singh in 1991. Despite the existence of compelling evidence to 
suggest that she suffers from psychosocial disabilities, President Mamnoon 
Hussain rejected her mercy plea - making her the 9th woman to be hanged in 
Pakistan's history.

Khizar Hayat, a paranoid schizophrenic who spent 3 years in the prison 
hospital, wasn't spared either.

Mental Illness Ignored in Pakistan

In Pakistan, conservative estimates say that 13 percent of the population is 
afflicted with mental health problems. Given these figures, the WHO reports 
that:

0nly 400 psychiatrists and 5 psychiatric hospitals exist across the entire 
country for a population exceeding 180 million. Roughly translating to an 
alarming psychiatrist-to-person ratio of 1 to half a million people.

PTSD, depression, anxiety and schizophrenia are generally written off as 
trivial matters by most members of society in Pakistan. Patients are treated as 
having been "erroneously diagnosed" as Arif Mahmood at Dawn contends.

To make matters worse, some are diagnosed as being under the influence of 
supernatural powers or worse, black magic. They are then sent to spiritual 
healers and hakeems. or asked to renew their faith in god.

This discrimination, coupled with petty and blinkered social attitudes and the 
lack of resources and government attention, creates an environment where mental 
health patients are relegated to Sufi shrines or ill-equipped institutions.

Disarray in National Priorities

The psychological exploitation of young boys at the hands of innumerable 
Lashkars, Sippahs and Jaish-like groups is evident. But this cannot be solved 
by secularising the education system, as the liberals demand. Counselling 
services should be increased manifold before anyone can cry foul about Western 
media biases and play the victim card.

In November 2016, Imran Khan's Movement for Justice Party "shut down" 
Islamabad, bringing hospitals, schools, offices and courts to a standstill. 
Mere miles away in the wee hours of the same day, Imdad Ali is unaware of his 
own reality. There is no better allegory for a disarray of national priorities.

(source: Zarnaab Adil Janjua; The writer is a student of PublicPolicy at the 
Wagner School at New York University----thequint.com)