[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 28



VIETNAM:

Indonesian woman suspected of smuggling 5kg of drug into Vietnam


Police in Hanoi have arrested a 27-year-old Indonesian woman for allegedly 
smuggling nearly 5 kilograms of heroin into Vietnam by hiding the contraband in 
the cover of comic books.

Triwening Puju Astuli is being detained for 4 months pending further probes 
into her drug smuggling allegations, Dan Viet newspaper reported Saturday.

According to investigators, Hoan Kiem District police on September 12 raided a 
hotel and found the drug being hidden in the covers of 6 comic books, titled 
Winnie the Pooh and Best Friends.

Police said the drug weighs 4.929 kilograms in total.

During questioning, Astuli confessed that an African man named Staenly, who 
only contacted her by phone and internet, had hired her to smuggle the drug 
into Vietnam.

On August 28, Astuli took a flight from Indonesia to Malaysia to meet two 
African men and receive a suitcase with clothes and comic books inside.

However, after jetting in Vietnam on August 31, Astuli said no one touched base 
with her to deliver the drug.

She also admitted that Staenly had hired her to smuggle drug to China three 
times. Before each trip, the man gave her a sim card of the destination 
country.

Astuli was paid $250 per such trip.

Lieutenant Chu Thi Hoa of the Hoan Kiem police force said that it was the 1st 
time they busted such a large amount of drugs hidden in a book cover, which was 
covered in a tin foil layer to foil airport detection.

Further investigations would be underway, police said.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Those convicted of 
smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of 
methamphetamine face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal 
narcotics is also punishable by death.

(source: Thanh Niew News)






PHILIPPINES:

Rep. Atienza: Bringing back death penalty won't deter crime


Instead of reviving the death penalty, the government should ensure the police 
are chasing and catching criminals to improve the peace and order situation in 
the country, a lawmaker said Sunday.

In a statement, Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza called death penalty a 
"poison" and said it will not serve as an effective deterrent to crime.

"The problem is the lack of effective and efficient law enforcement but the 
solution is not the death penalty - this will not stop the heinous crimes in 
the country. Lason sa lipunan ang death penalty. Ayusin natin ang ating law 
enforcement, ang ating kapulisan, the defective criminal justice system. 
Certainty of arrest is the best deterrent to crime," he said.

Atienza's statement against death penalty follows the announcement of Iloilo 
Rep. Jerry Trenas last week that he would soon file a bill reinstating the 
Death Penalty Law amid rising incidents of heinous crimes.

Trenas has suggested the creation of a multi-sectoral commission to review the 
possibility of reviving death penalty, which was abolished in 2006 following 
the signing of Republic Act 9346 by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The 
law repealed RA 7659.

With the Philippine National Police (PNP) reporting a 17 percent surge in 
crimes from 2013, the Liberal Party stalwart it is timely for Congress to 
consider reviving the death penalty for criminals "who committed crimes that 
are so heinous and too evil that there is no more hope for redemption and has 
forfeited their right for any amount of human compassion."

Some of the crimes which Trenas wants to be considered for the reimposition of 
the death penalty include rape with murder, multiple murder and certain cases 
of drug trafficking and drug smuggling.

But Atienza said the government, particularly the Department of the Interior 
and Local Government (DILG), which has supervision over the Philippine National 
Police (PNP), should focus its resources in reforming the police system and 
tapping local government units to help in the fight against criminality.

"Our honest, hardworking policemen must be given all the support for effective 
performance of their duties. But at the same time, those that are already lost 
in the cycle of corruption among the ranks."

(source: GNA news)






IRAN----executions

3 more executions confirmed at Rajaee Shahr Prison


On Wednesday 3 more prisoners were executed at the same time as Mohsen Amir 
Aslani who was hanged because of his beliefs.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on 
Wednesday 26 September 2014, 3 death row prisoners were hanged on Murder 
charges at Rajaee Shahr Prison yard with Mohsen Amire Aslani.

These 3 prisoners were from Wards 1 and 6. Remaining family of the victims did 
not agree to forgive them after they were taken to the gallows, so they were 
hanged.

Along with these 3 prisoners, Mohsen Amir Aslani was also hanged on the charges 
of "Corruption on earth, Heresy in religion, insulting the Profit Jonah and 
committing Adultery".

Official Iranian Media sources have announced that he was only hanged on the 
charges of "Rape and Committing Adultery" whereas according to lawyers, his 
family and published documents, Mohsen Amir Aslani was cleared at branch 31 of 
Supreme Court of "Rape and Committing Adultery" charges because none of the 7 
conditions of Rape and Adultery applied to him. His death sentence was given to 
him back in 2007 for the 1st time by Judge Salavati at Islamic Revolutionary 
Court on the charges of "Heresy in religion and Blasphemy".

(source: Human rights Activists News Agency)






AFGHANISTAN:

In a Final Act, Karzai Orders Execution of 5 Men in Rape Case


Hamid Karzai's last major act as president of Afghanistan may well be his order 
on Saturday to execute 5 men who were convicted of rape after a trial that the 
United Nations' top human rights official has denounced as unfair.

The convictions were based entirely on the defendants' confessions, which all 
five men testified during the appeals process were obtained by torture at the 
hands of the police. 1 of the 5 men said he was beaten so badly that he would 
have confessed to incest with his mother.

The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad Zeid 
al-Hussein, called on Mr. Karzai and his successor, Ashraf Ghani, who will be 
inaugurated on Monday, not to carry out the death penalty "and to refer the 
case back to courts given the due process concerns," according to a statement 
issued by his spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani.

Mr. Zeid's appeal may well come too late, because there were indications that 
the executions would be carried out speedily. Mr. Karzai has already promised 
to see the men executed once the Supreme Court upholds their convictions, which 
it now has done.

The police chief of Kabul, Gen. Zaher Zaher, said on Afghan television on 
Saturday night that the 5 men would be hanged on the grounds of the main 
Pul-i-Charkhi prison, with the victims present as witnesses. He did not say 
when, but since Mr. Karzai is president for only 1 more day, it was likely that 
the order would be carried out on Sunday.

The 5 men were among 7 convicted of the rape and robbery of 4 women who were 
stopped by assailants in police uniforms as they returned from a wedding party 
just outside of Kabul on Aug. 23.

All 7 were convicted after a hurried trial on Sept. 7, but an appeals court 
reduced the death sentences of 2 of them to 20 years in prison. The 2 claimed 
they were burglars arrested in an unrelated crime. One suspect said the police 
forcibly put a police uniform on him and then photographed him in it. The 
accused were confronted by their victims in a lineup at which they were the 
only ones present, and 1 of the victims initially picked out a detective and a 
police cook as her assailants, until police officers corrected her and 
indicated the "correct" suspects, according to testimony at their appeals.

In addition, the three defense lawyers for the men said they had received death 
threats. One quit in the middle of the proceedings, while another said the 
lawyers were too frightened to mount any sort of defense. The public reacted 
angrily to the rapes, with many people complaining that the culprits - who come 
from an area well known for its many prominent gangsters and shady politicians 
- would just buy their way out of justice.

"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," Mr. Zeid said.

Even before the trial of the 7 men took place, Mr. Karzai had publicly promised 
that they would be executed when found guilty, arousing criticism from human 
rights groups - mostly outside Afghanistan.

The president's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, announced on Twitter that the execution 
order had been signed.

1 of the defense lawyers, Najibullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name, 
said that the execution order was invalid because Mr. Karzai's term in office 
expired constitutionally during the long delay in announcing the winner of the 
presidential elections.

"From the day they were arrested, all the actions against them were contrary to 
the laws," Najibullah said. "For example, the right to keep silent, the right 
to have a defense lawyer present, the right to have sufficient time to prepare 
a defense."

Patti Gossman, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said: "Whoever is 
pushing for this kind of vigilante justice does not have the interests of 
Afghan women, or civil society in general, in mind. It's been a show trial, and 
unfortunately many Afghans see it as justice - which speaks volumes for how 
little judicial reform has happened under Karzai."

In its statement, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human 
Rights said, "While this was 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."

The United States has spent more than $900 million in an effort to improve the 
judiciary system and other aspects of the rule of law in Afghanistan in the 
past decade. The country's legal system has also received heavy investment from 
other Western donors, including the United Nations.

(source: New York Times)