[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 1



BURKINA FASO----death penalty abolished

Burkina Faso abolishes death penalty in new penal code



Burkina Faso's parliament has abolished the death penalty by adopting a new 
penal code that strikes it as a possible sentence.

Justice Minister Rene Bagoro said Thursday that the revised document paves the 
way for "more credible, equitable, accessible and effective justice in the 
application of criminal law."

The death penalty was kept in the version of the criminal code adopted in 1996, 
but Burkina Faso has not imposed capital punishment recently.

Many rights movements, including Amnesty International and Catholic Church 
activists have pressed the government for a decade to remove it from criminal 
statutes.

The decision to abolish the death penalty comes amid a landmark trial this year 
over a failed 2015 coup. 2 former presidential aides are among more than 80 
people facing the military tribunal.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Abolition of death penalty a hard-won victory



Reacting to the news that Burkina Faso's parliament has adopted a new penal 
code that effectively abolishes the death penalty, Yves Traor???, Director of 
Amnesty International Burkina Faso said:

"The adoption of a new penal code effectively strikes off the death penalty 
from the list of possible punishments in Burkina Faso. While the country has 
been abolitionist in practice for many years, this parliamentary decision is a 
welcome move. Once the new code comes into force, Burkina Faso will join a 
group of nations that have consigned this cruel punishment to history.

"Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without 
exception, regardless of the nature of the crime. There is no credible evidence 
that the death penalty deters crime, and Amnesty International calls on other 
countries to follow Burkina Faso's steps and outlaw this punishment 
immediately."

Background

The last known execution in Burkina Faso was in 1988. Over the course of the 
last 20 years, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal and Togo in West Africa, 
alongside the Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Gabon, Rwanda and Madagascar have 
all abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

The death penalty violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights; it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading 
punishment. There is no credible evidence that the death penalty has a greater 
deterrent effect than prison terms. This has been confirmed in many United 
Nations studies across different countries and regions.

(source: Amnesty International)








SOUTH AFRICA:

Durban hijacking: Thousands petition for death penalty after Sadia's murder



The death of 9-year-old Sadia Sukhraj in a botched hijacking in KwaZulu-Natal 
has seen the birth of a petition to bring back the death penalty.

It has attracted more than 19,000 signatures since it was launched on Monday.

The call has become as automatic response to violent crime in the country with 
hundreds of South Africans signing online petitions in favour of the death 
sentence every year.

"19,000 is an impressive number of signatures for a petition, and statistics 
and other similar petitions seem to suggest that, if a nationwide consensus was 
taken, the majority of South Africans would call for the reinstatement of the 
death penalty," said University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Law senior lecturer 
Suhayfa Bhamjee.

(source: timeslive.co.za)








INDIA:

New name for anti-death penalty body



The Centre on the Death Penalty, an organisation that has been fighting against 
death penalty, on Thursday announced it had rechristened itself "Project 39A" 
to expand its activities.

The group said it would take up causes of victims of torture and carry out 
research on multiple aspects of criminal justice systems, such as forensics, 
forensic science and legal aid.

The centre had been founded in August 2014 by the National Law University, 
Delhi, mainly to build public opinion against capital punishment, undertake 
research on the administration of the death penalty and ensure free legal 
assistance to indigent death-row prisoners in the country.

The organisation now espouses the cause of 65 death-row convicts.

Anup Surendranath, the director of the centre and an assistant law professor 
with the National Law University, announced the decision to rechristen the 
organisation.

"Project 39A draws inspiration from Article 39-A in the Indian Constitution on 
equal justice and signals the broadening of our engagement with the criminal 
justice system in India," he said.

"While retaining the intensity of our engagement with the death penalty, 
Project 39A will also see us explore issues of forensics, torture, forensic 
psychiatry and legal aid. This broader approach reflects our belief that 
multiple aspects of the criminal justice system need research and intervention 
to address the barriers that impede the effective access to justice."

Article 39 says: "The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system 
promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, 
provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, 
to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen 
by reason of economic or other disabilities."

Recalling the decision in August 2014 to form the organisation, Surendranath 
said the centre had devoted itself to research, litigation and public outreach.

"We are now also involved with the pro bono legal representation of nearly 65 
death-row prisoners across India through our litigation efforts. Our public 
outreach efforts, on the death penalty, have seen us publish annual death 
penalty statistics, develop creative strategies using literary and cultural 
resources and engage with a wide range of audiences.

"The decision by the National Law University, Delhi, to back such an endeavour 
is in the highest traditions of the role of universities in societies such as 
ours. Given the polarising nature of the death penalty, it hasn't been easy for 
the university to support our work," he added.

"It speaks volumes of the leadership at the university that, apart from the 
unwavering support we have received, there has been constant encouragement to 
broaden and deepen our engagement with the criminal justice system."

(source: telegraphindia.com)

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

President rejects mercy plea of man who burnt 7 of a family to death----Rai had 
burnt alive all family members of his rival, who filed a case of buffalo theft 
against him



Authorities in Bihar began preparations for hanging a man after President Ram 
Nath Kovind rejected the mercy plea of a death row convict.

The convict faces death for burning alive 7 members of a family by locking them 
inside their home and setting it afire a decade ago.

The man identified as Jagat Rai, is currently lodged in the Shaheed Jubba Sahni 
Central Jail in Bhagalpur, an eastern Bihar town where the last hanging had 
taken place in 1996.

Now that the mercy plea has been turned down by the President, the court which 
handed down the death penalty will sign the death warrant, also known as "Black 
Warrant" mentioning the date and time of hanging, as per procedures.

Rai, a resident of Rampur-Shyampur village in Vaishali district, had burnt all 
the family members of his rival Bijendra Mahato to death just when the latter 
had registered a case against the former for stealing his buffalo. Rai 
threatened Mahato with dire consequences if he didn't withdraw the case but the 
latter failed to pay heed to this threat.

On the fateful night of December 31, 2006 while Mahato along with his family 
members were sleeping in their thatched house, Rai along with others sprinkled 
inflammable liquid over the roof, locked the house from outside and set it on 
fire.

As the house went up in flames, Rai and his accomplices stood guard outside the 
house and didn't allow the members to flee, resulting in the death of Mahato's 
wife Baby Devi and their 5 children while Mahato succumbed to injuries after 
recording his statement before the police. Reports said although villagers 
watched the ghastly crime from their homes, none dared to come to the family's 
rescue.

Soon after the incident, a local court sentenced the main accused to death 
after which he moved the Patna High Court but got no relief. Subsequently, Rai 
approached the Supreme Court in appeal but the top court too upheld the death 
sentence, terming it as a "rare of rare" case.

With all options running out, Rai later moved a mercy petition before the 
President but this too got finally rejected. This was the 1st mercy petition 
decided by Kovind after he took over as Indian President.

(source: Gulf News)

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

Death penalty ordinance has 'nothing to do' with Kathua rape-murder case: 
Official



The ordinance imposing the death penalty for raping a child was in the pipeline 
for long and was not brought because of the outrage over the rape and murder of 
a minor in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, a top official in the Women and Child 
Development (WCD) ministry has said.

"It was a criminal law amendment bill piloted by the Ministry of Home Affairs 
(MHA). And we (WCD ministry) extended our full support to it. The introduction 
of the new amendment has nothing to do with the Kathua rape incident," WCD 
Secretary Rakesh Srivastava told IANS.

"Our minister (Maneka Gandhi) had pitched about it earlier much before the 
ordinance came into action. We had already moved the suggestion to the law 
ministry and it was announced on due time," Srivastava added. The ordinance, 
which amended the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Posco), 
brought down the age of the victims from 18 to 12 years.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a statutory 
body under the WCD ministry, has been mandated to monitor Pocso. However, the 
government's move has not been welcomed by lawyers, NGO workers and human 
rights activists. According to them, the existing act was strong enough and the 
new law will have a negative impact on the minds of both the victim and the 
accused.

"Different viewpoints have emerged when the new amendment came into limelight 
but we haven't examined all the opinions. I agree we didn't consult with the 
NGOs or human rights activists before enforcing the act which we should have 
done, but we always go through all the ideas which are suggested to us," he 
pointed out.

Asked whether the death penalty is the ultimate solution to curb rape cases and 
reduce incidents of sexual harassment, the secretary insisted that the new act 
will serve as a deterrent both for criminals and the judiciary with a timeframe 
now being laid down for trying cases under the act.

"The stringent act will force the criminals to think before committing the 
heinous crime; there will be a fear of facing the death penalty. This will 
reduce the rate of crimes against children in the country," he maintained. 
Recently a court in Madhya Pradesh sentenced to death a man found guilty of 
raping a minor.

Pointing to this, the Secretary said that the district courts have started to 
act quickly on such cases and they are serious about the issue. However, 
currently over 112,000 cases under the Pocso are pending before various 
district courts and High Courts. As per the NCRB data, the pendency rate of 
Pocso act cases was 89 % whereas conviction rate was only 29.6 %.

According to activists and lawyers, lack of professionals for Pocso cases at 
the district level often leads to delays in proceedings. When asked whether the 
ministry is working on bringing a quick solution to the large number of pending 
cases, Srivastava said that the WCD is also pitching for fast track courts so 
that day-to-day hearings can be conducted.

"Also the time limit for hearing a case has been decided at 2 months," he 
noted. The secretary also added that the ministry is equally concerned about 
the sexual abuse that boys below the age of 12 face and are therefore working 
towards bringing another amendment in the Pocso.

"It (Pocso) has always been gender neutral. Sexual harassment during childhood 
is faced equally by boys and girls. Under Section 5 of the Pocso act, Criminal 
Law Act 2013 will undergo the change and it will be introduced by WCD only," he 
stated.

(source: kashmirdispatch.com)