[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 6



BANGLADESH:

Dhaka jail officials wait to get SC's review rejection order copy to hang 
Kamaruzzaman



Moreover, the issue of the Jamaat-e-Islami leader's seeking presidential 
clemency has not been sorted out yet.

Asked about preparations to carry out the sentence, Law Minister Anisul Huq 
told bdnews24.com: "What can I do if the order has not reached [jail]?

"The order has to go there. How can he (Kamaruzzaman) be hanged otherwise?"

But the jail authorities were ready for the hanging, he said.

Al-Badr leader Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death by a special tribunal in 
2013 for Liberation War time atrocities.

Last year, the apex court upheld the death penalty describing his crimes "worse 
than Nazis".

On Monday, the chief justice-headed bench threw out his plea to revise the 
sentence.

After the verdict in the morning, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said no new 
official order was needed to execute the war crimes convict since a death 
warrant had been issued before.

But Minister Huq said, "It (the order's copy) must go [to the jail 
authorities]."

Speaking to reporters on Monday night, Dhaka Central Jail's Senior 
Superintendent Forman Ali said, " We have not received a copy of the court's 
order.

"We could not ask Kamaruzzaman whether he would seek presidential mercy."

There was no possibility of executing the verdict on Monday night, he added.

Attorney General Alam said it depended on the president whether or not he will 
show mercy to the war criminal.

But if Kamaruzzaman chooses not to seek presidential clemency, the government 
will move to execute the death sentence.

Otherwise, the execution will have to wait for the outcome of the mercy 
petition.

Kamaruzzaman's lawyer Shishir Monir said they believed the verdict execution 
would have to wait until the Appellate Division's order that dismissed to 
review the death sentence reached jail.

Around 5pm, Supreme Court's Registrar Syed Aminul Islam told bdnews24.com that 
the relevant section of the court was yet to receive summary of the verdict.

The convict's family went to the jail around evening to meet him.

Jail officials say they have completed preparations to carry out whatever the 
government's order may be.

Security around the jail area has been ratcheted up since morning to prevent 
untoward incidents.

(source: bdnews24.com)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam law pundits in joust over cash-based death commutation



Vietnamese law experts are getting into a heated debate over a proposed 
amendment to the Penal Code that capital punishment should be commuted to a 
life jail term if the convicted can give back a part of the money or property 
they have gained from their wrongdoing.

Among the amendments to the Penal Code that the government is about to submit 
to the National Assembly is one that proposes the death penalty should be 
reduced to a life sentence if the convicted can submit to competent agencies at 
least 1/2 of the money or property they have earned from their crimes; actively 
work with investigators on detecting, investigating, and handling criminals; or 
achieve a great feat.

According to Deputy Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung, this amendment was put 
forward on the basis of the Party's policy to narrow the applicable scope of 
capital punishment, lower jail-term sentences, and increase pecuniary 
penalties.

Therefore, in addition to a provisional amendment calling for the abolition of 
the death penalty for seven crimes, the amendment drafting board has also 
recommended such a commutation, Tung added.

Vietnam now considers waiving capital punishment for 7 crimes: plundering 
property; destroying important national security works and/or facilities; 
disobeying orders in the military; surrendering to the enemy, which is 
applicable in the army; undermining peace, provoking aggressive wars; crimes 
against mankind; and war crimes.

Meanwhile, a research group of the National Assembly Justice Committee said 
that the new amendment should be considered carefully in order to prevent 
occurrences in which murderers, drug offenders or violators of national 
security can use their money to escape death sentences.

Chairman of the committee Nguyen Van Hien said, "This draft amendment can give 
rise to a misunderstanding that any death row inmates can avoid their sentence 
if they have enough money as required. Therefore, I recommend that this 
proposition should be re-considered," Hien said.

In talking with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, lawyer Truong Trong Nghia, who is 
also a lawmaker, said that the submission of money in this case should be 
understood as a mitigating factor in penalizing an offender, not to be 
misunderstood as an exchange of money for a commutation.

"Such a regulation must be drafted clearly to show its rationale so that it can 
be passed by the National Assembly," lawyer Nghia advised.

Meanwhile, Judge Pham Cong Hung, from the appeal court of the Supreme People's 
Court in Ho Chi Minh City, said that this proposal may cause discontent in 
society, show a loophole in law enforcement, and create conditions for corrupt 
officials to get away from capital punishment easily, according to news website 
Dan Tri.

"It is extremely unreasonable for offenders to submit at least half of the 
money or property gained from their crimes and then enjoy a commutation from 
the death penalty to life prison terms, as that money or property originally 
belonged to others or the State; it is not theirs," Dan Tri quoted Judge Hung 
as saying.

Lawyer Truong Xuan Tam, deputy chairman of the Bar Association of the southern 
province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, also expressed his disagreement over such a 
leniency.

"This suggestion is vey unreasonable as it is against the current principles of 
criminal treatment. It is unacceptable to set up a mechanism for using money in 
exchange for life, as many death row inmates have a lot of cash and they will 
try to duck the death penalty at any cost," Tam said.

"This proposal is also against the principle of independent trial of any court. 
Whether a defendant is sentenced to death must be decided by the jury in a 
hearing. After a sentence has been announced, there should not be 'a 2nd trial' 
for the convict with 'banknotes' being the 'jurors'," the lawyer said.

(source: Tuoi Tre News)








GLOBAL:

Death penalty a FLAWED tool to tackle crime



Last November, shortly after taking office, Indonesia President Joko "Jokowi" 
Widodo announced the resumption of executions - mainly of drug traffickers - to 
tackle soaring crime rates linked to a "national drugs emergency".

The many of us who had hoped his presidency would mean a new era for human 
rights were deeply disappointed.

The news of 6 executions this year - and dozens more lives apparently at 
imminent risk - has confirmed our worst fears.

A dark trend was starkly evident last year - governments using the death 
penalty in a misguided, and often cynical, attempt to tackle crime and 
terrorism.

Amnesty International has released its annual review of the death penalty 
worldwide, and much of it makes for grim reading.

In Pakistan, the government lifted a 6-year moratorium on the execution of 
civilians in the wake of the horrific Taleban attack on a school in Peshawar 
last December.

More than 50 people have been put to death since, and the government has 
threatened to send thousands more death row prisoners to the gallows.

Iran and Iraq were among other countries to execute people for "terrorism" last 
year, while other states made moves in that direction by expanding the scope of 
capital crimes in their penal codes.

In a year when abhorrent summary executions by armed groups were branded on the 
global consciousness like never before, it is appalling that governments are 
themselves resorting to more executions in a knee-jerk reaction to terrorism.

Like Indonesia, other states made use of executions in similarly flawed 
attempts to address - or appear to address - crime rates.

Jordan ended an 8-year moratorium in December, putting 11 murder convicts to 
death, with the government saying it was a move to end a surge in violent 
crime.

Governments using the death penalty to tackle crime and security threats are 
either deceiving themselves and the public or, in some cases, cynically 
attempting to look effective by executing people.

But there is no evidence that the threat of execution is more of a deterrent to 
crime than a prison sentence.

This fact has been confirmed in multiple studies in many regions around the 
world, including by the UN.

While the death penalty is always a human rights violation, there are many 
issues in Indonesia - in particular around fair trial concerns - that make its 
use especially troubling.

Investigations by human rights groups have found that individuals sentenced to 
death have been tortured and forced to sign police investigation reports.

Many are not provided with lawyers, in particular after arrest and during 
interrogation.

Widespread reports of corruption in the police and judiciary and Indonesia's 
decades-old penal code - which does not provide adequate protection from 
torture, for example - compound these issues.

One recently uncovered case involved Yusman Telaumbanua, from Nias island, who 
was only 16 when he was arrested and sentenced to death for murder, despite 
both international and national law banning the imposition of the death penalty 
against juveniles.

A local human rights group exposed how Yusman had been tortured into a 
"confession" by police, who also allegedly fabricated his age.

With so many questions around the fairness of trials in Indonesia, how can the 
government be sure that innocent people will not be put to death?

It is high time that world leaders, including Jokowi, stop using the death 
penalty as a response when times get tough.

The death penalty is not the solution to crime and terrorism. Its use does not 
make us safer.

Thankfully, most of the world appears to have come around to this fact.

In 1945, when the UN was founded, only 8 countries had abolished the death 
penalty; today 140 states are abolitionist in law or practice.

Last year, Amnesty International recorded executions in 22 countries around the 
world - almost 1/2 the number or 41 just 20 years ago.

Despite the troubling developments we recorded in 2014, there was still much 
good news.

The number of executions dropped significantly compared to 2013, from 778 to 
607.

However, this number does not include China, where more people are put to death 
than the rest of the world put together, but with death penalty statistics 
treated as a state secret, the true figure is impossible to determine.

Those governments that still execute need to realise that they are on the wrong 
side of history, and join the vast majority of countries who have dropped the 
ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Campaigning for an end to the death penalty remains an uphill task, but Amnesty 
International and many others are determined to make the world free of this 
punishment.

By this time next year, we hope we will have even more good news to report, and 
that no more people will have been put before the firing squad in Indonesia.

(source: Opinion; Josef Benedict is Amnesty International's Indonesia 
campaigner----The Nation)