[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

November 29



UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Man knifes boss for withholding salary for sex, gets death penalty in UAE



Municipal workers discovered the victim's body in a parked car and informed the 
police.

A worker accused of killing his boss for refusing a salary increase has been 
sentenced to death.

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance has handed down the execution 
sentence to the man after he was found guilty of premeditated murder and theft.

He had been earning Dh1,000 a month, but attacked his employer after the man 
delayed the Dh500 salary increment which he had promised him for a long time.

Official court documents stated that the defendant had been brought by the 
Pakistani victim to work at his workshop in Musaffah area.

He had promised to pay him a monthly salary of Dh1,500 but when he reached 
here, he instead paid him Dh1,000.

After working for many months, the employer informed the defendant that his 
monthly salary had been increased from Dh1,000 to Dh1,500. But the boss didn't 
fulfil his promise.

Upon seeing that the employer was reluctant to include the salary increment of 
Dh500 to his pay in the months that followed, the man planned his revenge.

He went to a shop with his friend and bought a meat cleaver.

He then phoned his boss for a meeting. He told him that he wanted to go to a 
remote area in the city outskirts to pick something from a friend but needed 
his help because he didn't have transport.

The boss drove him in his car. And while on the way in a quiet area, the worker 
pulled out the meat cleaver and hit him with it on the head and neck.

He then drove the car and parked it on the roadside, leaving the dead man 
inside. The worker also took two mobile phones from the victim and his laptop 
and fled the scene.

The following morning, he went to his workplace as usual, pretending that 
nothing happened.

Municipal workers discovered the victim's body in a parked car and informed the 
police.

Police later arrested the worker after investigations revealed that he carried 
out the murder.

The CCTV cameras at the store from where the victim bought the murder weapon 
(meat cleaver) in the company of his friend had helped the authorities to 
identify the killer.

Upon police questioning regarding the meat cleaver, the worker said he bought 
it for personal safety.

Later, he admitted to using the meat cleaver to murder his boss. He said he did 
it out of anger because the man wanted to have sex with him so that he would 
increase his pay, but he never intended to kill him.

The Abu Dhabi public prosecutors charged the man with premeditated murder and 
theft.

In court, the accused retracted his earlier confession and denied planning to 
kill his boss.

He said the man wanted to have sex with him by force and that he attacked him 
in self-defence.

Prosecutors had demanded that he be given the death penalty.

The death sentence can be appealed within a period of 2 weeks after the 
issuance of the ruling.

(source: Khaleej Times)








IRAN:

Kurd in Iran put on death row as teen has days to live unless more money 
raised: report



An Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) family of a 21-year-old youth on death row for 
the alleged murder of a classmate is struggling to acquire the sum demanded by 
the parents of the victim for a pardon, according to a local report.

In late 2013, Milad Azimi had been in class when he got into an altercation 
with another student, during which he reportedly injured the other boy who 
later passed away in the hospital due to the severity of his wounds, Hamdeli 
Daily reported on Monday.

Shortly after the incident, the local court issued Azimi an arrest warrant and 
eventually handed him a death sentence based on the confession the teen had 
made under interrogation saying he had caused the fatal wounds to his 
classmate.

However, he later told the court that he had only admitted to the crime under 
the pressure of his interrogators. Azimi had added that due to the chaotic and 
crowded fight, he was actually uncertain if he had been the cause of the 
injury.

It is unclear how the wound was inflicted during the fight or if the use of a 
weapon was involved.

After years of work, Azimi's parents only recently convinced the family of the 
victim to pardon their son, but this on the condition of a hefty payment in 
Iranian Tomans, equivalent to nearly USD 130,000.

"By selling all our belongings and the aid of charitable people, we collected a 
sum of 150 million Tomans [USD 36,250]," Fariba Bakhshi, Azimi's mother, was 
quoted as saying in the paper's report. She added they had received about USD 
47,500 more from another charity organization, totaling nearly USD 83,750.

Should Azimi's family fail to deliver the amount in question, the 21-year-old 
will be executed on Tuesday.

Early October, Iran executed a woman who was arrested and put on death row as a 
teen for the murder of her husband.

"Not only was she a child at the time of the crime, she was subjected to a 
grossly unfair legal process," Amnesty International had said days ahead of the 
trial.

(source: kurdistan24.net)








IRAQ:

Iraq to hang man behind 2012 twin car bombings in Karbala market



A local court in the Iraqi province of Karbala sentenced to death on Thursday a 
man convicted of being behind 2 car bombings in a market 6 years ago.

The incident occurred in 2012 in the vegetable market of the Karbala town of 
Al-Hindiya and resulted in the deaths of 7 people, wounding more than 30 
others.

The Supreme Judicial Council in a statement said that the Karbala Criminal 
Court considered the defendant's case, convicted him of having carried out the 
attacks, and sentenced him to be "hung to death."

The statement did not reveal the identity of the alleged terrorist.

"The terrorist admitted to exploding the 2 cars," the statement read, adding 
that the court issued its verdict according to the Iraqi anti-terrorism law.

So far, Iraqi authorities have not released the number of terrorism suspects 
currently in jail, or those facing capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Iraq has accelerated the pace of prosecutions against individuals charged with 
carrying out terrorist acts since Baghdad declaring final victory over the 
Islamic State (IS) after a devastating 3-year-long war.

Various human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have 
repeatedly expressed their concerns with the rising number of death sentences 
in Iraq.

Aside from their condemnation, the organizations warn that Iraqi authorities' 
efforts to hasten the implementation of death sentences could lead to the 
execution of innocent people.

(source: kurdistan24.net)







JAPAN:

Free after 5 decades on death row, a Japanese man may be forced to return



Every day, in any weather, 82-year-old Iwao Hakamada walks around the small 
Japanese city of Hamamatsu for up to 6 hours. A volunteer follows a few steps 
behind to be sure he doesn't get hurt and can find his way home.

Hakamada suffers from a mental condition diagnosed as "prison psychosis," the 
result of spending nearly 5 decades on death row - thought to be the world 
record - for a quadruple murder that evidence suggests he did not commit.

In 1966, he was a 30-year-old former professional boxer working at a miso 
factory, when the manager, along with his wife and 2 children, were found 
stabbed to death in their home, which was then set on fire. Hakamada lived 
on-site and was the only suspect. No one could corroborate his alibi that he'd 
been in his dorm room and rushed to the fire to help put it out.

Police detained him for about 3 weeks and according to records from the 
detention center, interrogated him for up to 14 hours a day. He alleged they 
beat him with nightsticks, pricked him with pins to keep him awake and denied 
him adequate food and water until finally he confessed. He later retracted the 
confession in court.

"It's striking, almost stunning, how long the interrogations went. Day after 
day after day, before finally on day 20, Hakamada confessed,” said David 
Johnson, professor of sociology and an expert on the Japanese justice system at 
the University of Hawaii. He said false confessions are a major source of 
wrongful convictions in Japan.

Overall, Japan's conviction rate is above 99 %, meaning almost every criminal 
case that goes to trial ends in conviction. In part, that’s because prosecutors 
only bring cases they think they can win, said Johnson, and many of those cases 
are built on confessions.

Hakamada was imprisoned for 48 years - 30 of them in solitary confinement. 
Every morning, he awoke at 7 a.m. to find out whether that would be the day he 
would die by hanging. Japan does not give prisoners advance warning of their 
executions.

The US and Japan are the only G7 countries that still have capital punishment. 
The UNHRC has urged Japan to consider abolishing it, pointing to the large 
number of crimes that can carry a death sentence, the lack of pardons and the 
execution of elderly and mentally ill convicts.

For Hakamada, decades of living in existential limbo took a toll on his mental 
health. His decline can be charted in the letters he wrote his family that his 
sister Hideko keeps in a box at her house, where he now lives.

The earliest letters from the 1960s, are written in neat rows of Japanese 
characters and filled with hope.

"The report about the 1st trial showed evidence was faked and the court 
misinterpreted the facts, so I truly believe there will be a retrial and I'll 
be cleared," one reads. "I'm doing OK so don't worry."

Then in 1980, after 12 years of appeals, the Supreme Court upheld his death 
sentence. Hideko says that was a turning point for her brother.

"Not long after that, he told me the man in the cell next to his had been taken 
away and on the way out, he said, 'so long, hope you stay well,' then never 
came back. And that was when the death penalty became real to him, and it was 
very scary."

His letters from that time show his mind starting to unravel; he writes about 
devils tormenting him in the shower.

"I could tell he was getting seriously mentally ill," said Hideko. "So I 
visited every month, but sometimes he refused to see me. I kept going though, 
to tell him his family hadn’t abandoned him."

Then nearly 50 years after he was first imprisoned, Hideko filed for a retrial 
based on new DNA evidence: Hakamada's lawyers said his blood did not match 
blood from the crime scene.

A district court granted the retrial in 2014, writing it was "possible that key 
evidence had been fabricated by investigators" and that it was "unjust to 
detain him because of the clear possibility he was innocent." Hakamada was 
released to his sister.

"I remember that day so clearly. I was 81 and I smiled for the first time since 
I was 33," Hideko said. "It was like I became myself again."

It was also a joyful day for a judge in the original case. Norimichi Kumamoto 
was chief of the 3-judge tribunal that heard Hakamada’s case in 1968. He later 
said he believed Hakamada was innocent but couldn't convince the other two 
judges. Still, as head of the panel, he had to write the death sentence. He 
said the look on Hakamada's face when he heard the sentence haunted him. So he 
quit the bench a few months later, became estranged from his family and 
wandered the country.

When Hakamada was released, Kumamoto met him to apologize. The judge was so 
frail he couldn’t speak but Hideko still thinks the visit meant something to 
her brother.

That is not the end of the story though. Because in Japan, prosecutors can 
appeal rulings and this past June, the Tokyo High Court overturned the decision 
that set Hakamada free.

The case now goes to the Supreme Court. If Hakamada loses his appeal, he could 
be sent back to death row.

"Obviously it's a tragedy for him if he goes back to death row after being 
released," said attorney Kiyomi Tsunogae, a member of Hakamada's defense team. 
"But it’s also a tragedy for this country. I don't know any other nation that 
has done this. They don't want to admit that they fabricated the evidence and 
made a mistake 50 years ago."

Tsunoga said judges are political appointees and can sometimes be more 
concerned with satisfying the government than administering justice.

Still, there were concerns about how the DNA evidence was handled - the expert 
witness failed to keep records, for example. Despite that, Johnson at the 
University of Hawaii said he thinks the court made the wrong decision and 
Hakamada should have been granted a retrial.

"I believe he's actually innocent but I can't be 100 % sure of it," said 
Johnson.

Johnson said it's possible Hakamada could be sent back to death row but then 
granted executive clemency, and that it could actually increase public support 
for the death penalty because the government would be seen as acting 
mercifully. For now, the court has allowed Hakamada to remain free on bail at 
his sister's house and a community group formed to help care for him. Every 
day, a volunteer named Ino drives over an hour from her house to cook lunch and 
make sure there is always someone to accompany him on his walks.

Hakamada himself doesn't seem to fully grasp his situation but remains upbeat.

"I feel good, I'm healthy," he said. "The world is developing and becoming a 
good world - the companies tell you, you can make a lot of money and the 
authorities don’t punish you anymore."

His sister just listens and doesn't push him to talk about his time in prison.

"Even death row inmates, they're not animals. They're still human and they 
should be treated with humanity - so I do think Japan should get rid of the 
death penalty," she said. "As for my brother, of course, I'd like the Supreme 
Court to say he's innocent but if he gets to stay out of prison, that's better 
than nothing."

(source: WUWM news)








INDIA:

The judgement aims to increase the threshold for sentencing someone to 
death.----Justice Kurian Joseph's Last Judgment Sparks Debate on the Death 
Penalty

As Justice Kurian Joseph retires on Thursday, he will be remembered for his 
last judgment, which will further limit the grounds for imposing the death 
penalty. In Chhannu Lal Verma vs the State of Chattisgarh, Justice Joseph, 
while commuting the death sentence of the appellant to life imprisonment, 
observed that the time had come to review the need for the death penalty as a 
punishment, especially its purpose and practice.

The other 2 judges on the bench, Justices Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta, while 
agreeing that the death penalty imposed on the appellant in this case must be 
commuted to life imprisonment, disagreed with Justice Joseph's observation. 
According to them, since the constitution bench in Bachan Singh vs State of 
Punjab had upheld capital punishment, there was no need to re-examine it at 
this stage.

The constitution bench upheld capital punishment in the Bachan Singh case way 
back in 1980. The question which the 2 judges on the bench did not answer is 
this: If the passage of almost 40 years is not reason enough to review the 
judgment, what would be the appropriate stage for such an exercise?

Justice Joseph did not seek the reconsideration of the Bachan Singh judgment, 
but only sought to re-examine the purpose and practice of the death penalty, 
and whether as a punishment, it serves any goal at all. In other words, the 
death penalty can continue to remain constitutionally valid because of the 
Bachan Singh judgment, but its application in substantive cases coming before 
the court must be restricted to only those cases which meet the criteria laid 
down in that case.

It is now trite to say that Supreme Court judges have mostly misapplied the 
rarest of rare doctrine. In Bachan Singh, the court held that the death penalty 
could only be imposed if the alternative of life imprisonment is 
'unquestionably foreclosed'. It's unfortunate that ever since Bachan Singh, 
judges of the Supreme Court who pretended to apply the death penalty based on 
what they determined to be severe crimes, closed their eyes to the word 
'unquestionably' in that judgment.

The alternative of a life sentence in a murder case could only be 
unquestionably foreclosed if it could not be imposed on a convict, for reasons 
such as his lack of potential for reformation, or absence of any mitigating 
factor. The meaning of the word 'any' here also failed to resonate with 
post-Bachan Singh judges for many years. The word 'any', as common sense would 
suggest, cannot be understood in plurality. That is, even if there is a single 
mitigating factor in favour of the accused, it should necessarily be considered 
by a judge as reason enough to suggest that life imprisonment as an optional 
punishment cannot be 'unquestionably foreclosed'.

In other words, contrary to what many would think, the constitution bench, even 
while upholding the constitutionality of the death sentence, had in fact made 
it nearly impossible for future judges to impose it through a strict 
construction of the rarest of rare doctrine.

In Bachan Singh, the bench upheld the constitutionality of the death sentence 
primarily because the 35th report of the Law Commission, submitted in 1967, 
justified its retention, based on responses to its questionnaires sent to 
persons from different walks of life. There has been a tidal change in public 
opinion since then. The 262nd report of the Law Commission, prepared and 
submitted in 2015, following a request made by the Supreme Court itself, took a 
different view, after extensive research and with a slant towards an 
international approach.

Indeed, Justice Joseph relied on this 2015 report to hold that the 
constitutional regulation of capital punishment attempted in Bachan Singh has 
failed to prevent death sentences from being "arbitrarily and freakishly 
imposed" and that capital punishment has failed to achieve any 
constitutionality valid penological goals.

Therefore, the view of the 2 judges on the bench presided by Justice Joseph 
that there is no need to re-examine the constitutionality of capital punishment 
is tantamount to disassociating from the wisdom of the two previous Supreme 
Court benches which commissioned the Law Commission's 2nd project on the 
validity of the death penalty. In both Santosh Kumar Satishbhushan Bariyar vs 
State of Maharashra (2009) and Shankar Kisanrao Khade vs State of Maharashtra 
(2013), the Supreme Court sought the Law Commission’s intervention to resolve 
the issue. Surely, their reasoning was not merely to add to the academic 
literature on the subject, but to make necessary correctives in death penalty 
jurisprudence.

Landmark judgment

Having said that, Justice Joseph deserves to be complimented for laying down a 
few key principles which will be difficult to ignore by any sentencing judge.

1st, if a jail superintendent provides a certificate attesting to a convict's 
good behaviour, it stands reasonable to suggest that the accused possesses the 
potential to reform himself, and therefore life imprisonment would suffice to 
meet the ends of justice.

2nd, the Justice Joseph-led bench held that without certified 
psychological/psychiatric evaluation, it would be improper to preclude the 
possibility or probability of reform. The state must bear this in mind while 
furnishing evidence that a convict is incapable of reform or rehabilitation. In 
other words, the burden rests on the prosecution to establish the lack of 
reformative potential of the criminal.

Unfortunately, as has been witnessed over the years, the prosecution often 
exercises this responsibility with considerable indifference. Without 
questioning the absence of any evidence pertaining to the lack of a convict's 
reformative capacity, the courts too effectively condone this lapse with a 
similar degree of apathy. In many cases, the courts themselves concluded that 
the accused was beyond reformation - based solely on the heinous nature of the 
offence and without seeking supporting forensic and scientific reports. 
Hopefully, this distressing trend will come to an end with this judgement.

3rd, the imposition of the death penalty can be vacated if the accused is able 
to demonstrate being denied procedural fairness and due process during the 
trial. In this case, not having a separate hearing for sentencing after the 
trial and holding it on the same day when the accused was convicted was cited 
as a reason why he could not get sufficient time to furnish evidence relevant 
to sentencing and mitigation.

4th, in this case, the prosecution argued that the accused failed to establish 
emotional instability resulting from being falsely implicated of rape by one of 
the deceased as the reason for committing murder. He was convicted for killing 
three persons. But the Supreme Court rejected this contention by holding that 
the court can independently search for a mitigating factor in favour of the 
accused, even if the latter did not himself come forward to cite one.

The other 2 judges on the bench felt the present was not the appropriate time 
to re-examine Bachan Singh. The question does not arise because it was not an 
issue in this case, as the appellant had not challenged the constitutionality 
of the death sentence itself. Therefore, even if the 2 judges had not expressed 
their disagreement with Justice Kurian on this question, it would not have 
altered the result of their verdict, as the chief justice of India was unlikely 
to constitute a larger bench to reconsider Bachan Singh merely because this 
bench wanted to debate the validity of the death penalty.

To reconsider Bachan Singh, it is important that a Supreme Court bench 
expresses its reservations regarding its rectitude through a reasoned order - 
requesting the CJI to initiate a review, while explaining what substantial 
questions of law require clarification by a larger bench.

(source: thewire.in)

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

SC upholds constitutional validity of death penalty in 2:1 judgment; dissenting 
judge says time has come to review capital punishment



Has death penalty in the statute served as a deterrent for heinous crime? A 
3-judge bench of the Supreme Court in a verdict on Wednesday expressed 
different opinions on this with one saying that the provision of capital 
punishment has failed to become a deterrent and the other two holding that a 
larger bench had already decided its continuance in the rarest of rare cases.

A 3-judge bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph, Deepak Gupta and Hemant 
Gupta commuted the death sentence of a man and gave him life term for murdering 
3 persons, including 2 women.

Though the 3 judges differed on the applicability of death penalty, they were 
unanimous in commuting the death sentence of Chhannu Lal Verma.

Joseph, who is to superannuate on Thursday, while pronouncing the verdict, read 
his views on the applicability of death sentence.

Referring to the 262nd report of the Law Commission, Joseph said, "The 
constitutional regulation of capital punishment attempted in Bachan Singh 
versus State of Punjab in 1980 has failed to prevent death sentences from being 
'arbitrarily and freakishly imposed' and that capital punishment has failed to 
achieve any constitutionally valid penological goals, we are of the view that a 
time has come where we view the need for death penalty as a punishment, 
especially its purpose and practice."

He also said that till the time death penalty exists in the statute books, the 
burden to be satisfied by the judge in awarding this punishment must be high.

According to Justice Joseph, the irrevocable nature of the sentence and the 
fact that the death row convicts are, for that period, hanging between life and 
death are to be duly considered.

"Every death penalty case before the court deals with a human life that enjoys 
certain constitutional protection and if life is to be taken away, then the 
process must adhere to the strictest and highest constitutional standards. Our 
conscience as judges, which is guided by constitutional principles, cannot 
allow anything less than that," Joseph, who wrote judgment for the bench, said.

Justices Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta gave divergent opinion on the views 
expressed by Joseph on applicability of death sentence and said a 5-judge 
Constitution bench in Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab in 1980 had already 
held the constitutional validity of death penalty provided in Indian Penal 
Code.

"In our view, since the Constitution Bench in Bachan Singh versus State of 
Punjab, has upheld capital punishment, there is no need to re-examine the same 
at this stage," Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta said.

Joseph, who wrote the verdict for the bench, also voiced his "anguishing 
concern" with regard to public discourse on crimes which have an impact on the 
trial, conviction and sentence in a case.

"The court's duty to be constitutionally correct even when its view is 
counter-majoritarian is also a factor which should weigh with the court when it 
deals with the collective conscience of the people or public opinion. After 
all, the society's perspective is generally formed by the emotionally charged 
narratives. Such narratives need not necessarily be legally correct, properly 
informed or procedurally proper," he said.

Joseph, while referring to the law commission report said that the court plays 
a counter-majoritarian role in protecting individual rights against 
majoritarian impulses. "In this context, we may also express our concern on the 
legality and propriety of the people engaging in a 'trial' prior to the process 
of trial by the court," he said.

Joseph said that it has almost become a "trend" for the investigating agency to 
present their version and create a cloud in the collective conscience of the 
society regarding the crime and the criminal. "This undoubtedly puts mounting 
pressure on the courts at all the stages of the trial and certainly they have a 
tendency to interfere with the due course of justice," he said.

The 3 judges were unanimous on their view that the Chhattisgarh High Court in 
the case at hand has erroneously confirmed death penalty on the man without 
correctly applying the law laid down in Bachan Singh and other cases.

"The decision to impose the highest punishment of death sentence in this case 
does not fulfil the test of rarest of rare case where the alternative option is 
unquestionably foreclosed," the bench said.

It said that no evidence as to the uncommon nature of the offence or the 
improbability of reformation or rehabilitation of the appellant has been 
adduced.

It noted that the superintendent of the jail has given a certificate that his 
conduct in jail has been good during the pendency of his appeal in apex court 
for past 4 years.

"Thus, there is a clear indication that despite having lost all hope, yet no 
frustration has set on the appellant. On the contrary, there was a conscious 
effort on his part to lead a good life for the remaining period. A convict is 
sent to jail with the hope and expectation that he would make amends and get 
reformed," it said.

(source: firstpost.com)








MALAYSIA:

Federal Court upholds death sentence for 'Tuhan Harun' followers



2 "Tuhan Harun" followers are to hang for the murder of Pahang Islamic 
Religious Department (Jaip) Enforcement Division principal assistant director, 
Ahmad Raffli Abd Malek, in 2013.

This follows a unanimous decision by a 5-man bench of the Federal Court today 
to dismiss Sumustapha Suradi and Shamsinar Abdul Halim’s final appeals and 
upheld their convictions and the death penalty.

Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum who led the bench held that the duo’s 
appeals did not have merit.

The other judges on the bench were Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Ahmad 
Maarop and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed, Datuk Alizatul Khair 
Osman Khairuddin and Datuk Rohana Yusuf.

Sumustapha, 43, and Shamsinar, 41, were sent to the gallows by the Kuantan High 
Court in 2016 after they were found guilty of murdering Ahmad Raffli.

The 49-year-old deceased was shot outside his house in Bandar Indera Mahkota, 
Kuantan, on November 10, 2013.

The duo lost their appeals at the appellate court, which were dismissed on 
February 8, this year.

Cult leader Harun Mat Saat, better known as 'Tuhan Harun' (God Harun), was also 
charged with conspiring in the murder. However, the charge against him was 
dropped on August 26, 2016 after he died at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital, 
Kuantan on August 16, 2016 due to respiratory problems.

Lawyer Iskandar Shah Ibrahim represented the duo while deputy public prosecutor 
Ku Hayati Ku Haron appeared for the prosecution.

The last option left for both men is to file a petition for clemency to the 
Pardons Board.

(source: malaymail.com)

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

Malaysia death penalty abolition opens door to drug policy review----Campaign 
to legalise use of medical cannabis gathers momentum in the country known for 
draconian approach to drugs.



Drugs have long attracted the harshest penalties here.

Under the Dangerous Drugs Act, anyone found with 200 grams of cannabis, 40 
grams of cocaine, and 15 grams of heroin or morphine risks being charged with 
drug trafficking - a crime that carries the death penalty.

The burden of proof doesn't even fall on the prosecution.

It is the accused who must show the drugs are not theirs.

As a result, the majority of people behind bars in Malaysia are there because 
of drugs.

Nearly 3/4 of the 1,281 people on death row at the end of October have been 
convicted of drug crimes. And just over 1/2 of the more than 65,000 prisoners 
in the country's jails.

But with the government now in the process of abolishing the death penalty, the 
country's punitive approach to drugs is also under review.

"The bulk of prisoners are drug-related offenders and this is where we have to 
re-look the definition of drugs - dangerous drugs, especially - with the 
development of certain drugs that can be used for medicinal purposes like 
marijuana or morphine that can be used in cancer treatment," Malaysia's de 
facto Law Minister Liew Vui Kheong told Al Jazeera in an interview.

Around the world, there has been a discernible shift in policies towards drugs, 
particularly in relation to the medicinal use of cannabis.

In October, Canada legalised the recreational use of cannabis arguing it would 
reduce the profits of organised crime and ensure regulation of a drug that 
millions of Canadians were already using. It had allowed the use of the plant 
for medicinal reasons since 2001.

Argentina, meanwhile, provides medical cannabis for free and 30 states in the 
US have also approved the drug for medical reasons.

Even in Asia, where drug policies have long been among the world's most 
draconian, exemplified by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody "war on 
drugs", Thailand is taking steps to legalise the use of cannabis for research 
and medicinal purposes.

In Malaysia, 2 recent cases of men facing the death penalty for selling medical 
cannabis have given the debate renewed urgency.

Muhammad Lukman, 29, was sentenced to death at the end of August, three years 
after he was arrested in possession of 3 litres of cannabis oil, 279 grams of 
compressed cannabis, and 1.4kg of a substance containing tetrahydro cannabidiol 
(THC), the psychoactive element of cannabis.

In court his lawyer argued he was an alternative healer who helped ease the 
pain of those with cancer and other conditions, even giving away the drugs for 
free to those from poor backgrounds.

A petition to free him has more than 70,000 signatures and support from MPs in 
the ruling coalition.

'Prohibition era'

Amiruddin Nadarajan Abdullah, popularly known as Dr Ganja (the local name for 
marijuana), is facing 36 charges including the death penalty on similar 
grounds.

Amiruddin began using cannabis to cope with the pain from kidney problems and a 
tumour in his back.

"The war on drugs has failed," said Intan Mustika, cofounder of the Malaysia 
Society of Awareness, which has been campaigning for the legalisation of 
cannabis for medicinal use since 2011. "We are living in a prohibition era, in 
Asian countries especially. We need a different approach."

The same year that MASA was founded, an audit of Malaysia's criminal justice 
system found that drug crimes dominated the caseload at all levels with few 
alternatives to imprisonment or pre-release schemes.

"People will continue to use drugs, for a variety of reasons, no matter how 
strict the laws are," Ruth Dreifuss, former president of Switzerland and chair 
of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, told Al Jazeera.

"So when a government cracks down harshly not only on drug trafficking but also 
use and possession, this inevitably leads to mass incarceration and prison 
overcrowding."

Fifa Rahman spent 6 years advocating for decriminalisation as a policy officer 
at the Malaysian Aids Council.

She left Malaysia in 2016 thinking her work had gone to waste.

"People didn't see there were rational reasons for decriminalisation," she told 
Al Jazeera on the phone from Leeds where she is now studying for a doctorate. 
"People thought it was a crazy idea."

Despite its generally punitive approach to drugs, Malaysia has run harm 
reduction programmes for drug-users since 2005 as part of its attempt to curb 
the spread of HIV and protect public health.

According to Harm Reduction International, the country is one of only a handful 
of upper-middle-income countries that have made a "sizeable national government 
investment" in harm reduction, spending $5.4m in 2015, according to the Global 
AIDS Response Progress Report.

But May's change in government, as well as a realisation of the costs of 
incarceration, have given additional momentum to non-punitive approaches.

MASA's Intan, who has hypokalemia, a potassium deficiency that causes muscle 
cramps and spasms, said she has been jailed a "few times" for drug use, but 
that cannabis helped ease the pain of her illness when conventional medicines 
couldn't.

"All the time in hospital it looked like there was nothing that would work for 
me," the 40-year-old said. "I would rather be illegally healed than legally 
die."

'Punished for desperation' Crucial for the success of any policy change will be 
support from the police who are concerned about the increasing amount of 
synthetic drugs, like methamphetamines, that are being seized.

The Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department told local media it seized 
drugs worth a record $83.5m between January and November this year, the highest 
since the unit was established 22 years ago.

A data-based review of any decriminalisation within 5 years might help reassure 
police and public security groups, Fifa said. She adds that her research showed 
most of those jailed in Malaysia for drug crimes were poor people.

"I don't think that prison is the best approach," she said. "These are 
generally people who did not get the best opportunities in life and are being 
punished for their desperation."

Malaysia spends about $10 a day on each of the 65,222 inmates in the country's 
jails, according to Liew. That figure includes food, clothing and personal 
items provided to the prisoners, as well as the salaries of the guards and 
other staff.

Changes to the legislation surrounding drugs would mean that some prisoners 
would no longer have to serve a sentence, he added, with the money instead 
being used to develop education programmes for young people around the misuse 
and abuse of drugs.

MASA is working on research designed to show the medical benefits of cannabis, 
and have met senior politicians in their campaign to get the drug legalised for 
medical purposes.

"I think most Malaysians are quite open to the idea that ganja is medicine," 
Intan said. "It's not something people don't recognise. It's been used way back 
by our ancestors."

(source: Al Jazeera)








SINGAPORE:

Singapore should follow Malaysia in abolishing death penalty



Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) is disappointed that 
Singapore, which is just 1 of 4 countries still conducting execution for drug 
offences in 2017, went ahead and hanged 31-year-old Malaysian Prabu 
Pathmanathan on 26 October 2018.

Prabu was sentenced to death for committing several acts preparatory to and for 
the purposes of trafficking 228g of diamorphine or heroin into the island state 
on 31 December 2014 (Malaysiakini, 26 October 2018).

According to a report in The Online Citizen, Prabu was just one of a possible 
four individuals who were executed that week. TOC reported: "Ali Bin Mohamad 
Bahashwan was executed alongside his co-accused Selamat Bin Paki on Wednesday 
afternoon (24 October 2018)... Irwan Ali, a Singaporean, is the other inmate 
who is set to be executed this Friday..." (TOC, 26 October 2018).

The Singapore Prison Service 2017 annual report showed 8 people were executed 
in 2017, up from 4 in 2016. Actual statistics of executions carried out in 2018 
cannot be confirmed, as Singapore continues to be 'secretive' and not 
transparent with such data. It is believed that there may have already been 
about 8 executions to date in 2018.

Many times in Singapore, one becomes aware of upcoming executions only when the 
immediate family is informed days before and takes the trouble to inform 
anti-death penalty advocates and groups.

The death sentence is provided for drug-related crimes in about 15 countries, 
but according to Amnesty International only 4 countries recorded drug offence 
executions in 2017 - Singapore, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China (South China 
Morning Post/SCMP, 26 October 2018).

In reality, the majority of those executed for drug trafficking will not be 
"kingpin" but are just low-level offenders.

Many may have been driven to crime through poverty, which highlights a failure 
of governments in ensuring the wellbeing and livelihood of its people. 
Singapore, Malaysia and other states must really look into the link of poverty 
to crime, and maybe the solution to crime reduction may be a caring government 
policy that will ensure that no one will ever need to resort to crime out of 
desperation for the wellbeing of themselves and their families.

Singapore also needs to strive to become a more caring and civilised nation and 
do away with the archaic death penalty just like neighbouring Malaysia, which 
has already made the decision to totally abolish the death penalty.

In Malaysia, the necessary bills will be tabled at this current parliamentary 
session, which will give effect to the cabinet decision to abolish the death 
penalty.

Madpet calls on Singapore to follow neighbouring Malaysia and abolish the death 
penalty, as we strive forward for a more caring and civilised Asean where there 
is no more death penalty and torture.

Madpet also calls on Malaysia to immediately identify Malaysians on death row 
at risk of being executed in Singapore prisons and proactively act now to save 
them from being executed by Singapore. This is a priority, as knowledge about 
impending executions only comes to light at the 11th hour and that too in only 
certain cases.

Madpet further calls on Singapore to impose a moratorium on executions and 
abolish the death penalty.

(source: Charles Hector issued this statement on behalf of Malaysians Against 
Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet)----aliran.com)




ZIMBABWE:

Supreme Court confirms death sentence for wife beheader



The Supreme Court yesterday confirmed the death sentence on a Binga man who 
axed his wife 11 times and chopped off her head before hiding it in a cardboard 
box following a domestic dispute.

Wonder Munsaka (33) of Zenka Village under Chief Siabuwa was last year 
convicted of murder with actual intent by Bulawayo High Court Justice Nokuthula 
Moyo and sentenced to death by hanging.

Munsaka axed his wife of 10 years, Fortunate Mutale (23) on the forehead, right 
palm and finger before chopping off the head in October 2014.

Supreme Court judge Justice Antonia Guvava sitting with Justices Rita Makarau 
and Francis Bere on circuit in Bulawayo dismissed his appeal, saying the bench 
was satisfied that Justice Moyo could not be faulted for passing a death 
sentence given the circumstances under which the offence was committed.

"The assault upon the deceased was vicious and protracted and the injuries were 
inflicted by the axe and directed at her head. The appellant struck the 
deceased no less than 11 times," said Justice Guvava.

She said Munsaka's version of events was contradictory, an indication that he 
changed his story as the trial progressed Justice Guvava said Justice Moyo's 
exercise of discretion to impose the death penalty in the circumstances could 
not be impugned since the murder was committed in aggravating circumstances.

"The murder was committed in aggravating circumstances. Accordingly, we are of 
the unanimous decision that the appeal both against conviction and sentence 
lacks merit and it is hereby dismissed," she ruled.

Munsaka, through his lawyers Shenje and Company, conceded that the conviction 
was proper. He however, sought an order for a life imprisonment, arguing that 
the sentence imposed by the High Court induced a sense of shock.

"Wherefore, the appellant seeks to impugn his sentence and pray that it be set 
aside and substituted with a sentence of life imprisonment," said Munsaka's 
lawyers.

Chief Public Prosecutor Mrs Tariro Rosa Takuva, in her head of argument, said 
the death sentence was proper since the murder was committed under aggravating 
circumstances. "It is common cause that the murder was accompanied by 
mutilation when the appellant relentlessly struck the deceased with an axe to 
the point of decapitating her head. The murder was committed in aggravating 
circumstances and the death sentence is therefore appropriate in the 
circumstances," she argued. According to State papers, on October 7 in 2014 at 
around 9PM, Munsaka and his wife had a domestic dispute at their matrimonial 
homestead. He got angry and struck his wife using an axe once on the forehead, 
right palm and finger and behind the right ear. Munsaka also struck her on the 
upper lip and nose. During the scuffle, Mutale bolted out of the kitchen 
screaming for help with her husband in hot pursuit.

She fell down and Munsaka chopped off her head with the axe. He put the head in 
a large cardboard box and hid it under their bed. After committing the crime, 
he went to Nabusenga Dam where he washed his blood-stained clothes and the axe.

Ms Agnes Mutale, a neighbour who heard the deceased screaming for help went to 
Munsaka's grandmother, Ms Mavu Mwinde's homestead and notified her. Ms Mwinde 
went to her grandson's place and found the deceased's body lying in a pool of 
blood in an open space in the yard and the head was missing.

A report was made to the police who combed the house and found the head hidden 
under the bed. According to post mortem results, the cause of death was spinal 
cord injury, decapitation, chop wound and homicide.

Munsaka took his 2 minor children to his parents' home where he intended to 
leave them before he could proceed to Zambia. However, when he returned he 
found neighbours and the police officers gathered at his homestead. He tried to 
flee but was apprehended by the police officers.

Prior to the trial, Munsaka in 2014 claimed that he was mentally unstable 
prompting the courts to send him to psychiatrists for examinations. Dr Nemache 
Mawere, a psychiatrist who examined Munsaka concluded that he was mentally 
stable.

(source: bulawayo24.com)








NIGERIA:

Aregbesola pardons prisoners on death penalty, reduces sentences



Immediate past governor of Osun State Rauf Aregbesola has pardoned 4 prisoners 
on death penalties.

The former governor also reduced the sentences of 2 others prisoners on death 
penalties to 10 years, as 1 of his last duties in the office.

Osun state Head of Service, Dr Oyebade Olowogboyega, disclosed the governor's 
pardon in a statement.

The beneficiaries are Kazeem Adiamo, who was sentenced to death in 2012, and 
Adesina Bolaji, sentenced to death in 2006, both now pardoned.

Also on the list also was Kayode Dada, sentenced to death in 2006, but had the 
death sentence commuted to a life sentence in 2006, and Adewale Owolabi 
sentenced to death, but now freed.

The affected inmates were being kept at the Federal Prison, Ibara, Ogun state.

Others with a reduced sentencing are Lateefat Jimoh, who was sentenced to death 
but her sentence has now been commuted to 10 years imprisonment and Fatai 
Jimoh, also sentenced to death but his sentence has now been commuted to 10 
years in prison.

(source: guardian.ng)








ZAMBIA:

Zambia to maintain moratorium on death penalty: official



The Zambian government has voted in the affirmative on the maintenance of a 
moratorium oo the death penalty at the United Nations (UN), a senior government 
official said on Wednesday.

Minister of Justice Given Lubinda said President Edgar Lungu directed the 
country's embassy in the United States (US) to vote in the affirmative after 
having abstained from voting on the moratorium for years.

The Zambian minister, in remarks delivered ahead of a conference on the 10th 
anniversary of the campaign against the death penalty in Rome, said the 
decision to vote in the affirmative was made in 2016 but has just been 
actualized, according to a press release.

According to him, despite the death penalty still being upheld in the country's 
constitution, no Zambian leader has signed it since 1998 when late President 
Frederick Chiluba appended the execution of a prisoner.

The decision not to sign death penalties has earned Zambia the reputation as an 
abolitionist in implementing the death penalty, he added.

However, he said unlike other laws that could easily be amended, the death 
penalty was part of the bill of rights that could only be amended through a 
referendum.

Lubinda said incumbent President Lungu has commuted more death penalties to 
life imprisonment than any other leader in the country.

(source: xinhuanet.com)








ITALY:

Capital punishment neither useful nor necessary, says Italy's minister



There can be no justification for the death penalty, which is "neither useful 
nor necessary" Italy's foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on 
Wednesday, recalling that Italy has always been at the forefront of a global 
campaign to abolish capital punishment.

"The death penalty is neither useful nor necessary," Moavero told the 
international conference 'For a World Without the Death Penalty' taking place 
at the Italian lower house of parliament.

"Italy was one of the first countries to abolish capital punishment and has a 
clear position: we oppose the death penalty and want it removed from nations' 
statute books," he said.

"We favour a moratorium on its application wherever it exists."

(source: business-standard.com)