[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 26



UNITED NATIONS:

UN rights office urges stay for defendants in Afghan gang-rape case sentenced 
to death


The United Nations human rights office today urged the Government of 
Afghanistan to halt the death sentences in a case against a group of men 
charged with armed robbery, kidnapping and gang-rape in a province of Kabul.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed 
disappointment that the Afghan Supreme Court affirmed the death sentences given 
to 5 of the men, and also sentenced a 6th who had originally been given a 
20-year sentence.

"While this is a horrible crime, we have been concerned about the lack of due 
process and the failure to comply with national and international fair trial 
standards in the proceedings," spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in 
Geneva.

This decision denies proper justice to both the victims and the accused, she 
said, and also undermines efforts to strengthen the rule of law and 
administration of justice in the country.

"We urge both Afghanistan's outgoing and incoming Presidents not to implement 
the death sentence in this case and refer the case back to courts given the due 
process concerns," said Ms. Shamdasani.

The UN rights office also called on the Governments to resume a moratorium on 
executions pending full abolition of the death penalty.

In a high-level event yesterday in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and 
other senior officials called the continuing application of capital punishment 
a "primitive" practice which has no place in the 21st century. They pressed 
global leaders to set course towards abolishing the death penalty and advancing 
a more progressive judicial agenda in their respective States.

Participating in the meeting, High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al 
Hussein underscored the need to reform judicial systems around the world, 
noting that only then would a practice based on vengeance truly be defeated.

"No judiciary, anywhere in the world, is so robust that it can guarantee that 
innocent life will not be taken, and there is an alarming body of evidence to 
indicate that even well-functioning legal systems have sentenced to death men 
and women who were subsequently proven innocent," he said, calling the 
situation "intolerable."

(source: UN News Centre)






JORDAN:

Prince Zeid calls for abolishing death penalty


UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein urged all 
states to put an end to death penalty, which he said is the very example of 
human vengeance at its worst.

In remarks at the high-level event, Moving Away from the Death Penalty: 
National Leadership, held on the margins of the annual General Assembly debate 
in New York, he affirmed that the right to life represents everything the UN 
stands for.

His Highness added that the application of the death penalty deprived people of 
their lives "arbitrarily and cruelly" and that the practice itself was "unjust 
and incompatible with human rights." He underscored the need to reform judicial 
systems around the world, noting that only then would a practice based on 
vengeance truly be defeated.

"We encouraged the international community to "set course" towards a "more 
sophisticated, more human" form of justice which goes beyond punishment and 
seeks "a genuine recognition by the wrongdoers of their wrongdoing." The Prince 
said.

The High Commissioner dismissed capital punishment as "degrading and cruel in 
more than one sense" and acknowledged that it was "often discriminatory" of the 
condemned, disproportionately affecting the poor, the mentally ill, the 
powerless and minorities.

(source: petra.gov)






CHINA:

Chinese man declared innocent 13 years after death penalty


A man from south China's Guangdong Province was pronounced innocent by a local 
court after being sentenced to death for murder 13 years ago, Xinhua reported 
Friday.

Xu Hui, a resident of Zhuhai city in Guangdong, was given the death penalty 
with a 2-year reprieve for raping and killing a 19-year-old girl by the Zhuhai 
Intermediate People's Court in 2001.

Xu repeatedly protested his innocence but all the appeals were rejected by 
local courts until the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) found the suspect's 
confession contradicted evidence provided in 2007.

Under the instruction of the SPP, the People's Procuratorate in Guangdong 
suggested the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court rehear the case in 
2008. On Sep 9, the Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court brought in a verdict of 
not guilty.

(source: IANS)






INDIA:

SC extends stay on Yaqub Memon's death sentence


The Supreme Court Friday stayed execution of the death sentence of 1993 Mumbai 
bomb blast convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon as it issued notice to Maharashtra 
government on his petition seeking an open court hearing of his plea for the 
review of the apex court's verdict upholding his death penalty.

Extending the June 2 order suspending his death sentence, a bench of Justice 
T.S.Thakur, Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice R. Banumathi in their order said 
that the execution of the death sentence will be stayed.

Seeking the revival of his review petition, which was earlier dismissed after 
being considered in the chamber by the judges, Memon relied on Sep 2 verdict of 
the apex court's constitution bench which had held that a petition seeking the 
recall of the apex court's order upholding the death sentence will be heard in 
an open court by a bench of 3 judges.

The constitution bench in its Sep 2 order had also said: "It will also apply 
where a review petition is already dismissed but the death sentence is not 
executed so far. In such cases, the petitioners can apply for the reopening of 
their review petition within 1 month from the date of this judgment."

Memon is the 2nd death row convict whose plea for recall of the order upholding 
the death sentence is being revived after it was dismissed earlier.

On Sep 12, the court had fixed Oct 29 for an open court hearing of Nithari 
serial killer death row convict Surendra Koli's review plea which had also been 
dismissed earlier.

The Supreme Court March 21, 2013, had upheld the death sentence awarded to 
Memon by the special (now lapsed) TADA (Terrorism and Disruptive Activities 
Prevention Act) court and confirmed by the Bombay High Court.

Memon has been described as a mastermind of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts - a series 
of 13 explosions in India's business capital March 12, 1993, which claimed 257 
lives and left 713 injured.

President Pranab Mukherjee May 21 rejected Memon's mercy plea. He applied for 
presidential pardon in October 2013.

The TADA trial court presided over by Justice P.D. Kode had commenced the trial 
Nov 4, 1993, and pronounced its 4,230-page verdict July 31, 2007.

The trial court awarded death sentence to 12 people, including Memon. One of 
them subsequently passed away.

The trial court had also sentenced 20 people to life imprisonment and 46 
others, including Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, were given varying terms of 
imprisonment.

(source: Free Press Journal)






TUNISIA:

Tunisia rights group calls for abolishing death penalty----Habib Marsit, who 
chairs the Tunisian Coalition against the Death Penalty, urged all anti-death 
penalty groups to work to abolish it.


A Tunisian human rights group has urged the country's incoming parliament to 
abolish capital punishment after a new constitution - endorsed earlier this 
year - kept the practice in place.

"All groups that oppose the death penalty will rally to urge the incoming 
parliament to abolish it so that we might follow in the footsteps of other 
nations that have scrapped the practice, including Djibouti, the 1st Arab 
country to do so," Habib Marsit, who chairs the Tunisian Coalition against the 
Death Penalty, told Anadolu Agency.

Marsit's remarks were made on the sidelines of a regional conference held in 
Tunis under the banner, "Towards the Abolishment of Death Penalty."

The activist lashed out at President Moncef Marzouki and Constituent Assembly 
head Mustapha Ben Jafar, saying neither dared raise the issue during the 
drafting process of the new constitution, which, Marsit claimed, due to "narrow 
political interests."

Since being established in 2007, the coalition has called for scrapping capital 
punishment in Tunisia.

(source: World Bulletin)






BAHAMAS:

Lawyer Argues For 15-Year Sentence For Former Death Row Inmat3


The Court of Appeal yesterday reserved its decision on the appeal of a former 
death row inmate who wants a 52-year sentence for murder reduced by more than 
half.

Murder convict Maxo Tido and his lawyer, Glendon Rolle, appeared before the 
appellate court for Tido's substantive hearing to challenge his sentence for 
killing 16-year-old Donnell Connover in 2002. Tido's lawyer believes the 
sentence is unduly severe.

Yesterday, Mr Rolle argued that his client should have been re-sentenced to 15 
years in jail.

However, Justice Stanley John told the convict's lawyer that "15 years is 
clearly out of the question".

"The lawyer referred to the case of Quincy Todd, who was released on probation 
after a number of years in prison for murder. "Todd had served about 18 years, 
didn't he?" Justice Neville Adderley asked. Mr Rolle said yes, adding "and he 
was released on probation".

"You want him back into society to make a contribution notwithstanding the 
circumstances of the case?" Justice John asked.

Tido's lawyer replied: "We all find ourselves faced with situations that have 
consequences, but it does not mean the consequence should mean spending the 
rest of his natural life behind bars."

On March 20, 2006, a jury convicted Tido of murdering the victim in 2002. Her 
body was found off Cowpen Road, battered and bruised and her skull was crushed. 
Evidence also revealed that parts of Connover's body were burned after her 
death.

A month after his conviction, then Senior Justice Anita Allen ruled that the 
crime committed by Tido warranted the death penalty.

The decision came days after the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death 
sentence in place up to that point in the Bahamas was not constitutional.

In 2009, the Committee for the Prerogative of Mercy decided the law should take 
its course, as Tido???s case was not one that warranted mercy.

However, he appealed to the Privy Council, the Bahamas' highest court of 
appeal, which ruled that the killing did not warrant execution. Consequently, 
he had to reappear before the Supreme Court for re-sentencing.

"This re-sentencing occurred in March 2012 before Senior Justice Jon Isaacs, 
who gave Tido 60 years. This was reduced to 52 years considering the time Tido 
had spent on remand.

In his submissions yesterday, Mr Rolle also referred to the harsh conditions at 
the prison that his client had to endure.

"I am not sure whether it is for the court to take into consideration the 
conditions there," Justice John replied.

"The lawyer submitted that his client had a constitutional right to protection 
from torture and inhumane treatment, which he endures at the prison.

"Mr Rolle later told the court: "We're seeking 15-20 years because we're saying 
that the 60 years would, in effect, be a life sentence which is essentially a 
death sentence."

"The lawyer clarified that the new sentence should run from the date of the 
appellate court's decision on the matter, which when combined with his client's 
more than 10 years on remand, would fall within the 30-60 year range for murder 
sentences set out by appellate court in previous decisions.

In response, Crown prosecutor Darell Taylor argued that the case of Quincy Todd 
was different because Todd had above-reproach behaviour while incarcerated.

"While rehabilitation is an aspect of sentencing, there are a number of other 
factors as well. In this case, there's deterrence," the prosecutor added.

Mr Taylor submitted that Tido could not boast of having good behaviour since 
his incarceration as supported by the probation report presented to the court.

The prosecutor asked: "If we were to reintroduce him to society, are we able to 
say that he will not break the rules? That he is reformed?"

The judges asked if a psychiatric report had been presented to the judge before 
a decision on sentencing had been made.

The prosecutor said no, and submitted that "those are for matters involving the 
imposition of the death penalty."

The appellate court said its decision on sentencing will be made at a later 
date.

(source: tribune242.com)