[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 28



NIGERIA:

Ex-Deputy Gov’s daughter: Ondo will execute convicted murderers, says 
Attorney-General



The Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adekola 
Olawoye, has said the state has no plan to abolish death sentence.

There have been calls from some quarters for the abolition of death sentence in 
Ondo State, but Olawoye insisted that the state government has no such plan.

He disclosed that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu would soon sign the death warrant 
of those who have been sentenced to death in the state.

Olawoye stated this on Wednesday on the premises of the state High Court, 
Akure, after the court sentenced one Seidu Adeyemi to death for killing 
Khadijat, the daughter of a former deputy governor of the state, Lasisi 
Oluboyo.

Olawoye argued that it was very imperative for law to take its course, and that 
anybody who kills should also be killed.

He said, “Life is not a property of anybody, nobody has the right to take the 
life of fellow men, except as allowed and permitted by the law.

“Even in advanced countries where they advocate abolition of death penalty, 
they still kill people found guilty of murder.

“Like the judgment we just heard today, somebody killed his girlfriend and 
removed her body parts and buried her in his room.

“How do you expect us to abolish death sentence with that? This is the rule of 
law; no sentiment about it.

“When a case of this nature gets to the Supreme Court and it is confirmed that 
such a person should be killed, then the aspect of the governor, who has the 
constitutional right to confirm and sign the death sentence, will come into 
play.

“We have so many of them that have been convicted, but I want to assure you 
that my ministry will do things proactively to see that these convicts will be 
executed.

“Mr. Governor will sign their death warrant.”

While commending the judgment of the high court, which sentenced the killer to 
death, Olawoye said it was ” a victory for the rule of law”

(source: punchng.com)








FRANCE:

Today in History: Funeral held for the man behind the guillotine----The 
guillotine was intended to show the intellectual and social progress of the 
Revolution; by killing aristocrats and journeymen the same way, equality in 
death was ensured.



On this day in 1814, the funeral of Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the namesake of 
the infamous execution device, takes place outside of Paris, France.

Guillotin had what he felt were the purest motives for inventing the guillotine 
and was deeply distressed at how his reputation had become besmirched in the 
aftermath. Guillotin had bestowed the deadly contraption on the French as a 
‘philanthropic gesture’ for the systematic criminal justice reform that was 
taking place in 1789.

The guillotine was first used on 25 April 1792, when highwayman (someone who 
stole from travellers) Nicolas Pelletier was put to death for armed robbery and 
assault in Place de Greve. The newspapers reported that the guillotine was not 
an immediate sensation. The crowds seemed to miss the gallows at first. 
However, it quickly caught on with the public and many thought it brought 
dignity back to the executioner.

However, the prestige of the guillotine fell precipitously due to its frequent 
use in the French Terror following the Revolution. It became the focal point of 
the awful political executions and was so closely identified with the terrible 
abuses of the time that it was perceived as partially responsible for the 
excesses itself. Still, it was used sporadically until the death penalty was 
abolished in France in 1981.

(source: Roodepoort Northsider)








AUSTRALIA:

Death penalty tackled at law lecture



The legacy left by the execution of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, and the 
fight against the death penalty, were the burning issues discussed as the law 
community honoured one of their finest peers at a lecture in Sydney.

Australian Catholic University’s Thomas More Law School hosted the 5th annual 
Honourable Barry O’Keefe Memorial Lecture at the North Sydney campus.

Law experts, students and academics heard from Australia’s best-known opponent 
of capital punishment Julian McMahon.

A barrister with more than two decades of experience on the Victorian bar, Mr 
McMahon has been at the centre of some of the country’s most notorious overseas 
death penalty cases, including his representation in 2015 of Myuran Sukumaran 
and Andrew Chan.

Introducing the lecture topic ‘Why isn’t the death penalty dying? Or is it?’, 
ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Greg Craven was unapologetic about 
the University’s condemnation of capital punishment.

“Our University’s support of Julian’s campaign was simply born of the 
recognition that we have a duty to do all we can to stop people being killed by 
judicial process,” he said.

“When a government decides to kill citizens — whether they are citizens of 
their own nation, or of another — that government becomes a killer. A legal 
system that views life as sacred simply cannot stand there and allow a 
government to take a life.”

Barry O’Keefe was an Australian judge and lawyer who served as a justice of the 
Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1993 to 2004 and the Commissioner of the 
Independent Commission Against Corruption from 1994 until 1999.

His ethos of service was reflected in his term as an alderman on Mosman Council 
from 1968 to 1991, as president of the Local Government Association of NSW and 
the National Trust of Australia, and as a member of the Sydney Harbour 
Federation Trust.

The Thomas More Law School presented 26 of its bachelor degree students with 
Executive Dean’s Commendations at the lecture.

Commendations were presented to: Gabrielle Agius, Naffy Buritica Toro, Gareth 
Burke, Jacqueline Dagelet, Jennifer Doria, Karlis Draguns, Gabrielle Ellis, 
George El-Mourani, Edwina Foschini, Thomas Frisina, Nadine Holterman, Amber 
Hunt, Danielle Lamborn, Jay Mark, Michael Maure, Sophie Morgan, Kate Mylott, 
Monica Nakhla, Sean Payne, Heidi Pfeiffer, Carolina Reveco Flores, Celeste 
Schreiber, Leanne Sharp, Alexander Shepherd, Rachel Stanton, Kate Young.

(source: miragenews.com)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam arrests Chinese man with 300 kg of heroin



Vietnam police have arrested a Chinese national found with a massive haul of 
heroin in Ho Chi Minh City, the second such bust in a week as the country 
cracks down on the illicit trade.

Though communist Vietnam boasts some of the world's toughest drug laws, it is 
both a consumption hub and a popular thoroughfare for narcotics from the 
lawless "Golden Triangle" region straddling Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Vietnam has clocked several high-profile busts in recent months as it seeks to 
contain rampant drug trafficking.

Police on Wednesday found 313 kilograms of suspected heroin worth an estimated 
$8.6 million after stopping a "suspicious" pick-up truck in the southern 
commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.

"Authorities found many carton boxes with objects that looked like heroin 
blocks," according to Cong An Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of the Ministry 
of Public Security.

"2 suspects were detained, including a Chinese person," it added in its report 
Thursday.

Police launched searches of several properties in Ho Chi Minh City after the 
bust and said the investigation would expand.

A witness at the scene reported seeing "a lot of police... they surrounded a 
large area (and) took many boxes out of the car," according to state controlled 
VNExpress news site.

The bust follows a seizure in the city last week involving 16 Chinese citizens 
and three Vietnamese accused of running a major drug ring under the guise of a 
textile business.

Police found 300 kilograms of methamphetamine in a luxury home in the bust and 
said the ring likely extended to other branches in the country.

Days later, authorities in the Philippines seized more than 270 kilograms of 
meth linked to the Chinese-run Ho Chi Minh City cartel.

Though heroin and opium have long been the drug of choice in Vietnam, the use 
of synthetic party drugs is on the rise, especially among young people.

Drug laws in Vietnam are among the harshest in the world. Anyone caught with 
more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine can 
face the death penalty.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)








PHILIPPINES:

Death penalty never a solution to crime: advocates



On March 11, at the beginning of the Lent season in the Philippines, where more 
than 90% of the population are Catholic Christians, the brutal murder and 
possible sexual assault of Christine Lee Silawan, a 16-year-old girl from Cebu 
City, in Central Visayas region, revived the call for the death penalty. The 
girl’s face was skinned, and the esophagus, tongue, and trachea were missing. A 
17-year-old suspect was under the police custody. He was later released because 
of technicalities. The girl’s gruesome death reminded the nation of President 
Rodrigo Duterte’s promise: reimposition of capital punishment for drug-related 
offenses and heinous crimes.

On March 7, 2017, House Bill 4727 was approved in Congress. If it becomes law, 
the bill will revive the death penalty either by hanging, firing squad, or 
lethal injection. It was lauded by Malacañang Palace as an effective measure on 
Duterte’s war on drugs, but the Senate does not see it as a priority.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Duterte promised to revive the death 
penalty, believing that it would be a deterrent to criminals, specifically the 
drug lords. He believes that the “essence of the country’s penal code is 
retribution.”

In the 2018 Global Peace Index Report conducted by the Australian-based 
Institute for Economics and Peace, the Philippines ranked as the second least 
peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific region, despite the lower crime rate 
recorded by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the same year.

According to the PNP, the crime rate was reduced to 9.13%, or a total of 
473,068 crimes compared with 520,641 crimes posted in 2017. However, the murder 
rate in the capital city Manila was up by 112%. Common crimes in the 
Philippines include crime against a person – murder, rape, domestic violence – 
and crime against property, which includes robbery, theft and fraud. Drug 
trafficking and trade, human trafficking, and corruption are also rampant 
despite the government’s effort to curb criminality.

Crime against women

According to Edna Aquino, convener of the #Babae Ako (Iamawoman) Campaign, 
violence against women and girls, particularly rape, has been invoked in 
arguments to impose the death penalty. However, Aquino instead urges strong 
enforcement of existing laws such as those against rape and child abuse.

“Most women survivors of violence wish to see true and impartial justice 
delivered to them through fair trials and convictions, and through more robust 
enforcement of existing laws,” Aquino said.

According to the Center for Women’s Resources, one woman or child is raped 
every hour in the Philippines.

Duterte is known for his misogynistic comments and encouragement of killings. 
During his speech to soldiers and rebel returnees in Mindanao, he was quoted as 
saying that raping three women is OK, and told them to shoot female rebels in 
their genitals.

Davao City in Mindanao, Duterte’s bailiwick, had the highest number of rape 
cases in 2018, according to the PNP.

Father Flavie Villanueva, a Society of the Divine Word coordinator and the 
founder of Justice-Peace Integrity of Creation and also the executive director 
of AJ Kalinga Inc, believes that Duterte’s words have impact on how men treat 
women.

“Mr Duterte is not an ordinary citizen, he has the highest seat in the 
executive branch. When you say executive, what he says becomes a policy. There 
is no room here for freedom of expression. Because every expression that you 
create is regarded by people as something as executive,” Father Villanueva 
said.

‘Life is sacred’

In his 2nd State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2017, Duterte expressed his 
support for the reimposition of the death penalty, triggering criticisms from 
the Catholic hierarchy, from human-rights activists, and even from senators.

“In the Philippines, it is really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You 
took life, you must pay it with life. That is the only way to [make it] even. 
You cannot place a premium on the human mind that he will go straight,” Duterte 
said during the SONA.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) disagreed.

“We want punishment for the horrendous act committed but we do not call for the 
killing of a suspect nor the perpetrator who will be subjected to the imperfect 
justice system run by imperfect duty bearers,” CHR commissioner Karen 
Gomez-Dumpit said. She stressed that the death penalty is equated to a murder 
perpetrated by state agents because it is deliberate and premeditated and 
purposely kills a person. Father Villanueva agreed that it can never solve 
crimes, but instead creates a culture of fear and violence.

Aquino said the death penalty “threatens the fundamental rights of people, 
capital punishment will dismantle any hopes we have of building a peaceful, 
accountable and equal society which values human life and human rights; it 
further erodes our hopes for a people-centric governance model.”

‘Dancing with death’

In the only country in Asia to first ban the death penalty, then later reimpose 
it and ban it again, the international community as well as the Catholic Church 
and human-rights advocates are focusing again on Duterte’s latest stand on 
reviving capital punishment.

House Bill 4727, authored by former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, was 
approved in Congress. The bill seeks death or life-long imprisonment on 
conviction of drug-related charges, including trafficking, manufacturing, 
importing, maintenance of drug dens and other drug-related crimes. The crime of 
plunder is no longer included. It will not impose the death penalty on 
convicted persons who were below 18 years of age or more than 70 years old 
during the commission of the crime.

Flawed justice

According to the Supreme Court decision on the case of People vs Mateo in 2004, 
after 11 years, it was found that there was a 71.77% error rate in verdicts and 
decisions impacting disproportionately against the poor. Before 2006, 483 
death-penalty cases or 53.25% were reduced to reclusión perpetua or life 
imprisonment, while 65 cases were acquitted.

Blaming the CHR for the rise of crimes or why criminals get away is illogical.

“CHR does not have the mandate of being a law enforcer. We cannot digress from 
the issues that matter and must help, within our respective mandates and 
responsibilities, the police and other law-enforcement agencies’ mission to 
serve and protect the people. The police as a human-rights protector of all 
persons (without exception) need to be put at the front and center of the 
‘solutions to rising criminality’ debate,” Gomez-Dumpit said.

Aquino also said there was an urgent need for reforms in the justice system. 
Court cases can can drags on for several years, in addition to biased and 
prejudicial proceedings and frequent miscarriages of justice.

In a 2018 survey of Social Weather Stations and CHR, it was found out that 7 
out of 10 Filipinos do not support the death penalty.

Dual purpose

Capital punishment in the Philippines has a long history. During the Spanish 
period (1521-1898), American colonization, the Japanese occupation and the 
martial-law era under the Ferdinand Marcos regime, capital punishment was used 
not only to deter crimes but also used to curtail freedom.

After the People Power Revolution the death penalty was abolished by the 1987 
constitution, “unless for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, Congress 
hereafter provides for it.” The Philippines thus became the 1st country in Asia 
to abolish the death penalty.

However, calls for the reimposition of the death penalty did not abate. The 
military lobbied for members of the Communist Party of the Philippines to be 
executed.

But it was only in 1993, during the presidency of Fidel Ramos, a Protestant, 
that the death penalty was restored by virtue of Republic Act 7659 because of 
rising criminality.

Despite the death penalty, however, the crime rate continued to soar. In 1999 
it increased by 15.3%. President Joseph Estrada issued a de facto moratorium on 
executions because of pressure from the Catholic Church and rights groups.

Finally, on June 24, 2006, president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law 
the Republic Act 9346, titled “An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of the Death 
Penalty.” The death penalty was downgraded to life imprisonment. The 
Philippines entered the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of 
the death penalty in November 2007. This act in effective binds the Philippines 
never again to reintroduce the death penalty.

Rule of law

Father Villanueva has seen the worst in his ministry to the orphans and widows 
of Duterte’s drug war. Although he thinks that the Philippines is already 
desensitized to the point of reaching the “threshold of inhumanity,” he still 
believes in restorative justice, where society must provide a chance for 
criminals to reform.

The CHR is always anchored on the universality of human rights and to look at 
violations of human rights, shortcomings, abuses, and failure of government 
institutions to uphold the human rights of all persons. The government (the 
executive) has the primary duty to implement programs that respect, protect and 
fulfill human rights.

“We are a system of laws. We adhere to the rule of law and the right to due 
process for everyone. The deprivation of due process is an injustice that will 
mean more when it is us or family who is affected. The guarantee of due process 
and the rule of law will ensure that when it is our turn, we are assured that 
we will be treated evenly and fairly,” Gomez-Dumpit concluded.

But Duterte has already imposed the death sentence on us Filipinos whether we 
are guilty of heinous crimes or not. His anti-people policies and shoot-to-kill 
orders are enough to wipe out not only the criminals but those who are opposing 
him.

(source: Asia Times)

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

PNP Chief not in favor of restoration of death penalty



The current state of the Philippine justice system is not conducive to a 
restoration of the death penalty law.

No less than Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Oscar Albayalde 
noted that only a flawless justice system could make him fully support the 
proposal to bring back the death penalty law.

“Our justice system is not perfect. If it is already flawless, then I believe 
the death penalty can be restored,” said PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde in 
an interview over dzMM.

The PNP is at the forefront of running after criminals. The PNP is also one of 
the two agencies, aside from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), 
which takes the lead in the anti-illegal drugs operations of the country.

Proponents of the death penalty have been pushing for the revival of death 
penalty for heinous crimes, including drug trafficking.

But for Albayalde, the justice system still has to be improved first in order 
to ensure that those who would be sent to death row are indeed guilty.

“It is hard to convict even 1 person if he turns out to be innocent. It’s 
really painful,” said Albayalde.

But Albayalde was quick to clarify that the improvement must not only cover the 
judicial system but also the law enforcement, which includes the PNP.

The PNP has been aggressively implementing internal cleansing against its 
personnel involved in various criminal activities, including extortion from 
arrested drug suspects and planting evidence.

Just recently, a police colonel and 2 of his men were sacked from their post 
after allegedly setting up a crime scene to make it appear that a son of a 
mayor in Quezon province was killed in a shootout.

More than 100 erring policemen have been arrested by the Counter-Intelligence 
Task Force of the PNP since its creation in February 2017.

“I think we have to improve first on our system even our law enforcement. We 
are not excused from it,” said Albayalde.

(source: Manila Bulletin)


MALAYSIA:

Buhay party-list solon asks Malaysia to commute death penalty of 28 Filipinos



A senior opposition congressman appealed Thursday to the Malaysian government 
to spare the lives of 48 Filipinos who are on death row in the country.

His appeal came following reports that Kuala Lumpur has decided to scrap the 
mandatory hanging for 11 offenses.

Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza called on 
the Malaysian government to grant commutation of the death sentences meted out 
to Filipinos now in the gallows.

“In light of Malaysia’s decision to scrap the mandatory death sentence for 
several offenses, we are appealing for the lives of Filipinos on death row 
there to be spared,” said Atienza.

“The commutation of death sentences does not mean that the convicts are not 
getting punished. They are still getting penalized with harsh prison terms,” 
Atienza, a leading Philippine crusader against capital punishment, said.

He added: “The death penalty is cruel and inhuman punishment that flouts the 
right to life.

A staunch oppositor of the death penalty bill pending in the Senate, Atienza 
noted that Philippine Congress had abolished the capital punishment as majority 
of lawmakers agreed that it does not help address the rising crime statistics, 
especially heinous crimes.

Citing Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) records, Atienza said there are 48 
Filipino citizens awaiting execution in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s Pakatan Harapan or Alliance of Hope coalition government imposed a 
moratorium on all judicial executions in October last year pending the passage 
of new legislation that would remove the mandatory death sentence for 11 
offenses.

Instead, the new legislation would give Malaysian judges the leeway to impose 
either death by hanging or long-term imprisonment.

At present, Malaysian judges have no choice but to send to the gallows those 
convicted of offenses that carry the mandatory death penalty, such as terrorist 
acts, murder, rape resulting in murder, gang-robbery with murder, drug 
trafficking, kidnapping in order to murder, and hostage-taking resulting in 
death.

The Pakatan Harapan government had campaigned on reviewing the death penalty 
and other “unsuitable” laws in the 2018 general election.

The coalition government originally announced in October that it would be 
endorsing a bill to abolish the death penalty in Malaysia.

It has since retreated, moving instead to just give judges the discretion to 
impose either the supreme or lesser punishment, due to pressure from 
anti-abolitionist groups in Malaysia.

Malaysia carried out 13 executions from 2016 to 2017 before it froze executions 
in October.

In the Philippine, Congress revived the death penalty for 13 heinous crimes in 
1993, only to abolish it in 2006 due to mounting flaws.

(source: Manila Bulletin)