[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 20




PHILIPPINES:

CHR remains steadfast in opposing death penalty revival



Amid the plan of lawmakers to back the restoration of the death penalty in the 
18th Congress, the Commission on Human Rights on Sunday maintained its 
opposition against the proposal.

“The Commission is ready to engage Congress in a frank and factual conversation 
about the death penalty,” Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit said.

“We are ready to present the ineffectiveness of the death penalty and offer 
viable programs that result in crime prevention and lowering crime incidence. 
These include police visibility or increasing police to population ratios and 
community vigilance. We fully support these initiatives that do not diminish 
our principles to uphold the right to life,” she added.

She clarified that while the CHR does not want crime to go unpunished, it 
believes that capital punishment is not the solution to lower crime incidence.

“The apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment of those who have 
committed wrong doings must be in accordance with human rights standards and 
principles. We also have to ensure that our legal obligations as a state party 
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Second 
Optional Protocol aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty are respected 
and fulfilled,” the commissioner said.

“As a state party to these human rights treaties, we have perpetually committed 
not to impose nor reintroduce capital punishment,” she added.

(source: manilastandard.net)

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

House approves bill amending Dangerous Drugs Act on final reading sans death 
penalty provision



After deleting a provision for the restoration of death penalty, the House of 
Representatives finally approved on 3rd and final reading the bill proposing 
amendments to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

At the resumption of regular sessions Monday, House Bill 8909 was presented 
anew for final reading. The measure seeks to further strengthen drug prevention 
and control.

HB 8909 seeks to further strengthen drug prevention and control by providing 
legal presumption that will define who will be considered importer, and 
financier of illegal drugs and protector or coddler of those involved in the 
trade.

The bill had been passed on final reading as early as February but the approval 
was reconsidered after several solons protested the inclusion of a provision 
that restored the death penalty.

Former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was believed to be 
behind the bill’s recommitment to the committee level in order to delete 
reference to death penalty of the bill.

Arroyo is known to be an anti-death penalty advocate who “sacrificed” her 
position as deputy speaker when she voted against the bill reimposing the 
capital punishment in 2017.

The speaker and other oppositors of the death penalty were apparently oblivious 
that HB 8909 contained a provision that reimposed it.

Arroyo’s name, together with other death penalty advocates in the Lower House, 
was included as among those who voted to approve on final reading HB 8909when 
it was first presented for final reading last February.

The plenary voting result then was 172 affirmative and zero negative for 
approval of the measure on third and final reading.

Following a motion made by Asst. Majority Leader and Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. 
Wilter Palma, the House agreed Monday to invalidate the 3rd reading approval of 
the measure and recommit HB 8909 to the Committee on Public Order and Security 
and on Dangerous Drugs.

Makabayan bloc leaders Reps. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Partylist) and Carlos 
Zarate (Bayan Muna Partylist) admitted they were not aware House Bill 8909 
proposing amendments to Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs 
Act of 2002, contained a provision reimposing the death sentence in the 
country’s penal system.

Before the motion to recommit the bill, the two opposition lawmakers said they 
will manifest, either on the floor or by writing the House leadership, that 
they are against the bill if it contained the death penalty provision.

Makabayan bloc solons who are strongly opposed to the death penalty were 
present during the voting, indicating that they, too, were among those who 
registered affirmative votes for passage of HB 8909.

HB 8909 that sought to amend Republic Act 9165, the Dangerous Drugs Act of 
2002, reimposed the death penalty in the country’s penal system, this time, 
providing for the capital punishment on persons found in possession of 
dangerous drugs during parties, social gatherings, and meetings.

HB 8909 consolidated many provisions of at least 15 bills seeking to amend the 
dangerous drugs law. Authors included Reps. Rozzano Rufino Biazon (PDP-Laban, 
Muntinlupa City); Winston Castelo (PDP-laban, QuezonCity); Alfredo Garbin and 
Rodel Batocabe (Ako Bicol Partylist) and former president and Speaker Gloria 
Macapagal-Arroyo, among others.

Section 13 of the bill penalizes a person found possessing any dangerous drug 
during a party or a social gathering or meeting attended by 2 or more 
individuals with life imprisonment or death. A fine ranging from P5 million to 
P10 million regardless of the amount of seized narcotics will also be imposed.

HB 8909 seeks to further strengthened rug prevention and control by providing 
legal presumption on those who are considered importer, financier and protector 
or coddler of illegal drugs.

Negligent lessors whose properties have been found have been turned into a drug 
laboratory, drug den and venue for other illegal drug activities are also 
penalized.

If a property is owned by a third person and is used as a den, dive, or resort 
to commit violation of the provisions of RA 9165, criminal liability will be 
extended to the partner, president, director, manager, trustee, estate 
administration or officer of the corporation or partnership who consents to or 
tolerates such violation.

The bill directs the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission 
to investigate cases of acquittal of drug cases to determine whether or not 
these were bungled by the prosecutor, investigator or concerned arresting 
officers.

The bill also mandates professional and non-professional athletes to undergo 
mandatory drug tests at least twice a year. Those found positive of drug use 
will be suspended and subjected to further investigation by appropriate 
government agencies.

The proposed measure also grants immunity to state witnesses who appear to be 
the least guilty but can testify to personal knowledge and info necessary for 
the conviction of other drug suspects.

There is likewise a presumption of planting of evidence against lawmakers if 
the rules of procedure and/or engagement for arrest, search and seizure have 
not been complied with.

There is also a presumption of a person as financier if she or he causes the 
payment, underwrites and supplies the money for planting, maintenance and 
operation of marijuana plantation and drug laboratories.

(source: Manila Bulletin)








INDONESIA:

Indonesia court sentences Frenchman to death for drug smuggling----Dorfin was 
arrested in September carrying a suitcase filled with about three kilograms of 
drugs.



An Indonesian court has sentenced Frenchman Felix Dorfin to death for drug 
smuggling - a surprise verdict after prosecutors asked for a 20-year jail term.

Dorfin, 35, was arrested in September carrying a suitcase filled with about 
three kilograms of drugs, including ecstasy and amphetamines, at the airport in 
Lombok, a holiday island next to Bali where foreigners are routinely arrested 
on drugs charges.

While prosecutors had not asked for the death penalty, Indonesian courts have 
been known to go beyond their demands.

"After finding Felix Dorfin legally and convincingly guilty of importing 
narcotics... [he] is sentenced to the death penalty," presiding judge Isnurul 
Syamsul Arif told the court.

He cited Dorfin's involvement in an international drug syndicate and the amount 
of drugs in his possession as aggravating factors.

"The defendant's actions could potentially do damage to the younger 
generation," Arif added.

The Frenchman made headlines in January when he escaped from a police detention 
centre and spent nearly 2 weeks on the run before he was captured.

A female police officer was arrested for allegedly helping Dorfin escape jail 
in exchange for money.

It was not clear if the jailbreak played any role in Monday's sentence.

Dorfin, who is from Bethune in northern France, sat impassively through much of 
the hearing in front of 3 judges, as a translator scribbled notes beside him.

He said little as he walked past reporters to a holding cell after the 
sentencing.

"Dorfin was shocked," the Frenchman's lawyer Deny Nur Indra told AFP news 
agency.

"He didn't expect this at all because prosecutors only asked for 20 years."

The lawyer said he would appeal against the sentence, describing his client as 
a "victim" who did not know the exact contents of what he was carrying.

"If he had known, he wouldn't have brought it here," Indra added.

Indonesia has some of the world's strictest drug laws - including death by 
firing squad for some drug traffickers and it has executed foreigners in the 
past.

It has not executed anyone since 2016, but a number of foreigners are still on 
death row including a cocaine-smuggling British grandmother and Serge Atlaoui, 
a Frenchman who has been on death row since 2007.

/ In 2015, Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - the accused 
ringleaders of the Bali 9 heroin smuggling gang - were executed by firing 
squad.

The case sparked diplomatic outrage and a call to abolish the death penalty.

The Bali 9 gang's only female member was released from jail last year, while 
some others remain in prison.

Last year, 8 Taiwanese drug smugglers were sentenced to death by an Indonesian 
court after being caught with around a tonne of crystal methamphetamine.

(source: Agence France-Presse)