[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 14



PAKISTAN:

Release Asia Bibi, Indian rights activists urge Pak


Indian human rights activists and Christian groups have appealed to Pakistan to 
release Asia Bibi, the woman who is on the death row in the country after being 
convicted for blasphemy.

Dr John Dayal, a member of National Monitoring Committee for Minority 
Education, met Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit here and urged that Bibi 
should be allowed to come to India, where local groups have volunteered to take 
care of her.

"Christian groups have offered to take care of Aisa Bibi, who is ill, and her 
family. We in India will be very happy to take care of her medical needs. We 
appeal to you to impress upon the government of Pakistan to set her free and to 
allow her and her family to travel to India," Dayal said in a letter which he 
handed to Basit.

A Pakistan court in October upheld the death penalty on Bibi, who was convicted 
of blasphemy in 2010 in a case that triggered global furore over the 
controversial law. Bibi, a Christian and a mother of five, was arrested in 2009 
under blasphemy charges.

Dayal, an Indian human rights and freedom of faith activist, also expressed 
shock over the recent incident in which a Christian couple was burnt alive near 
Lahore on claims that they had desecrated the Quran.

"The brutal murder of Shahzad and Shama Masih... Is a case of impunity as it 
took place in the presence of police and on the orders of a local panchayat.

"Media in Pakistan have reported how mobs were mobilised to gather at a brick 
kiln, and how the couple were beaten, tortured and then burnt to death," Dayal 
said in his letter.

These 2 cases, Dayal said, have shocked the world and disturbed the global 
Christian community.

"We in India are particularly concerned as we campaign for the full protection 
of religious minorities in India - especially Muslims - and their 
constitutional and democratic rights. We are also against capital punishment," 
the letter added.

Dayal called upon the Pakistani government to ensure punishment for those 
guilty of lynching the couple so that a strong message is sent out about its 
commitment to preventing violence against religious minorities.

(source: Business Standard)






BANGLADESH:

Prosecution: Execution after Khokon gets arrested


International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor Mokhlesur Rahman has said the 
execution of fugitive BNP leader MA Zahid Hossain Khokon Alias Khokon Razakar 
will be held after he gets arrested.

He made the statement while giving reaction before the media on Thursday 
morning, immediately after the tribunal had given its verdict.

He said: "The copy of the verdict has been sent to the inspector general of 
police and the magistrates of Dhaka and Faridpur. The tribunal has also ordered 
the IGP and the magistrates to arrest Khokon Razakar."

"10 out of 11 charges have been proved beyond reasonable doubt against Khokhn. 
He was given death penalty in 6 of the charges" says the prosecutor.

Earlier in the day, the International Crimes Tribunal gave death penalty to 
Khokon Razakar for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War 
of Bangladesh in 1971.

Faridpur's Nagarkanda municipality Chairman Khokon Razakar was traced in the 
Swedish capital, Stockholm. His trial has been handed down in absentia.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)






CHINA:

Drug dealer dragged for miles by truck----He had passed out after taking 
cocaine


A motorist was dragged for 6 miles after tailgating a truck in China's Jiangxi 
Province.

Zhen Yin an alleged drug dealer reportedly blacked out at the wheel of his 
Porsche Cayenne, which was reportedly 'full of drugs', according to Mirror.com.

The 32-year-old motorist was allegedly on his way to see a contact when he 
passed out after taking cocaine and rammed into the back of a truck and got 
dragged along for miles on stretch.

The driver of the truck was alerted by passing motorists who honked to call his 
attention. However, he initially mistook their sign and increased the truck's 
speed, as he thought the car drivers wanted him to speedup up.

Yin now faces death penalty for illegal possession of drugs.

(source: emirates247.com)






ALGERIA:

Death Penalty Enforcement in Algeria Requires Open Debate, Says Louh


Minister of Justice, Tayeb Louh said Thursday in Algiers the enforcement of the 
death penalty in Algeria requires an "open and objective" debate involving all 
fringes of society away from prejudice and cyclical influences.

In response to an oral question to a member of the National People's Assembly 
(Lower House of Parliament) on the causes for non-enforcement of the death 
penalty in Algeria for years, despite a surge in crime and abduction 
phenomenon, Louh said that in addition to its legal nature, this issue had 
political, social and moral implications.

"Algeria's position on this issue must correspond to the specific 
characteristics of the Algerian society that many experiences have forged in 
this area over time," stated minister.

The minister recalled that the suspension of the enforcement of the death 
penalty in Algeria dated back to 1993, adding that a number of other countries 
whose legislation provides for the death penalty did not apply this sentence.

Modern societies are faced with the problem of enforcement this penalty because 
of its legal, human and social consequences, claiming that this issue "is 
controversial even within different intellectual currents, including in 
Algeria."

(source: Algerie Presse Service)






ZIMBABWE:

"Aggravating Circumstances" May Have Just Ended The Death Penalty In Zimbabwe


The future of the death penalty in Zimbabwe will come down to the meaning of 
these words. Or, perhaps, their lack of clear meaning.

According to the country's 2013 constitution, even while "every person has a 
right to life," "a law may permit the death penalty to be imposed only on a 
person convicted of murder committed in aggravating circumstances."

According to Zimbabwean High Court Justice Charles Hungwe, this is simply not 
enough guidance. Until the country's parliament enacts a law detailing just 
what constitutes aggravating circumstances, the country's courts will not be 
able to sentence individuals to death.

According to the Justice, the inclusion of the "aggravating circumstances" 
standard in the new constitution, something that was not present in the old 
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act that previously defined criminal law and 
punishment, is meant "to unfetter the exercise of ... discretion??? that 
previously existed for sentencing courts.

To Hungwe's point, other than "aggravating circumstances," the conditions under 
which capital punishment may be used are remarkably well defined by the 
country's constitution.

Section 48(2), the country's article that deals with the fundamental "Right to 
Life," ensures that courts are given discretion whether or not to sentence an 
individual to death, thus disallowing mandatory death sentences for crimes, the 
provision also forbids the death penalty against men under 21 or over 70 and 
all women.

The constitution also specifically allows individuals who are sentenced to 
death the ability to seek "pardon or commutation from the President" and 
maintains that the judgment must only be carried out after a final order by a 
Court.

With this level of detail, Hungwe ruled that no Zimbabweans could be sentenced 
to death until Parliament further describes exactly what constituted 
"aggravating circumstances."

There is extensive disagreement between international criminal systems as to 
whether such "aggravating circumstances" or "aggravating factors" should be 
spelled out by the code or left to the discretion of the sentencing judge.

According to Dr. Barbora Hola, an Assistant Professor at the VU University of 
Amsterdam's Law Faculty and a scholar of sentencing guidelines, "many domestic 
jurisdictions provide acceptable factors concerning aggravation of a 
sentence..." For instance, the United States Criminal Code includes 16 separate 
aggravating factors for homicide, in addition to 11 others that apply to other 
crimes that can warrant the death penalty under Federal Law.

However, such specificity is not the case in all circumstances, Hola goes on to 
discuss the sentencing regimes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the 
Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda 
(ICTR), which provide no legal framework but prefer the discretionary, judicial 
method. The Appeals Chamber for the ICTY noted the wide discretion, saying 
"Trial Chambers have some discretion as to the rubric under which they treat 
particular factors."

Taking the detail oriented constitutional provision to favor detail over 
discretion, Hungwe also wrote that he "interpret[ed] the legal position to be 
that in keeping with its international obligations and best practices, Zimbabwe 
intends to move away from the death penalty."

There appears to be some support for this idea amongst prominent politicos in 
the sub-Saharan state. Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to sign no 
"death warrants," the final step in the execution process, during his tenure. 
He has said that even while the constitution allows for such a punishment, he 
personally finds it unfair.

Mnangagwa is himself intimately familiar with capital punishment, having been 
sentenced to death by hanging under the regime of Ian Smith in the 1960???s, 
while he was in his teens. Not only did he escape the noose due to his youth, 
he has managed to rise to a position where he has immeasurable control over 
potential executions.

As we have previously discussed here at AFKInsider, a Zimbabwe that is moving 
away from the death penalty fits within the wider trend across the continent.

In the past few years less and less African countries have sentenced 
individuals to death or carried out such sentences, but the countries that do 
have seemingly doubled down. This has increased the total number of executed 
individuals even as the number of countries falls.

While 2013 saw 16 individuals in Zimbabwe sentenced to death, Minister 
Mnangagwa's presence ensures that no individuals are executed. Should the 
country's parliament not intervene on Hungwe's ruling and it survives appeal, 
the country will also no longer sentence individuals to death. This would mean 
that despite a constitution that specifically provides for the death penalty, 
there would be a de facto ban in the country, a major victory for abolition 
advocates even without constitutional or legal change.

(source: Andrew Friedman is a human rights attorney and freelance consultant 
who works and writes on legal reform and constitutional law with an emphasis on 
Africa----AFK Insider)