[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 7



SOUTH KOREA:

S Korea prosecutors seek death penalty for ferry captain



South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday (Apr 7) urged an appeals court to hand down 
the death penalty for the captain of the ferry that sank a year ago, accusing 
him of intentionally abandoning more than 300 people to their certain deaths.

Captain Lee Jun-Seok and 14 of his surviving crew were handed jail terms in 
November ranging from 5 to 36 years for their roles in the disaster.

The 36-year sentence was imposed on Lee, who was convicted of gross negligence 
and dereliction of duty, but acquitted of a more serious homicide charge along 
with 2 crew members.

The prosecution wanted the high court in the southern city of Gwangju to 
reconsider the dismissed homicide charges, while the defendants appealed their 
convictions and the severity of the sentences.

At a final hearing on Tuesday, Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed prosecutor 
as saying Lee escaped the ship "without taking any steps to rescue passengers".

Prosecutors have insisted that Lee deserved the death penalty, insisting he 
abandoned the passengers intentionally.

The notion of intention has been at the core of the appeals lodged by both 
sides.

Dismissing homicide charges against Lee and 2 crew members in November, the 
lower court ruled prosecutors had failed to prove the defendants abandoned the 
ship in the knowledge that the passengers would die as a result.

The exception was the ship's chief engineer, who was convicted of homicide for 
specifically failing to help 2 injured crew members who then drowned.

The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank off the southwest coast on April 
16 last year. Of the 304 who died, 250 were pupils from the same high school.

The tragedy shocked and enraged the country as it became clear that it was 
almost entirely man-made -- the result of an illegal redesign, an overloaded 
cargo bay, an inexperienced crew and an unhealthy nexus between operators and 
state regulators.

Lee and his crew were publicly vilified, especially after video footage emerged 
showing them escaping the vessel while hundreds remained trapped on board.

The high court will deliver its verdict on April 28.

(source: Channel News Asia)








BANGLADESH:

Suspend Death Sentence of War Crimes Accused ---- Rejection of Kamaruzzaman's 
Petition Signals Imminent Execution



The Bangladesh Supreme Court's rejection on April 6, 2015, of the death penalty 
review petition for Muhammed Kamaruzzaman permits his imminent execution 
despite a seriously flawed trial, Human Rights Watch said today. Kamaruzzaman, 
a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islaami party, was convicted of war crimes committed 
during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. The authorities should 
immediately stay Kamaruzzaman's death sentence pending an independent review of 
his case.

Kamaruzzaman's death sentence was upheld on appeal in November 2014. Following 
the publication of the full text of the judgment against him, he filed for an 
independent review of his sentence to the Appellate Division of the Supreme 
Court on March 5, 2015. Without hearing the application on its merits, the 
country's highest court summarily rejected his petition and upheld the death 
sentence.

"The death penalty is an irreversible and cruel punishment that is made even 
worse when the judiciary fails to fully review such sentences," said Brad 
Adams, Asia director. "Bangladesh's war crimes trials have been plagued by 
persistent and credible allegations of fair trial violations that require 
impartial judicial review."

Kamaruzzaman was arrested in July 2010 on the orders of the International 
Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which was set up to address the atrocities committed 
during the 1971 war which led to independence for Bangladesh from Pakistan. He 
was given no reason for his arrest, leading the United Nations Working Group on 
Arbitrary Detention to classify his arrest as arbitrary and a violation of 
international law.

At his trial, the court arbitrarily limited the ability of the defense to 
submit evidence, including witnesses and documents. The court denied the 
defense the opportunity to challenge the credibility of prosecution witnesses 
by rejecting witnesses' earlier statements that were inconsistent with their 
trial testimony. The court denied a defense application to recuse 2 judges for 
prior bias.

"Human Rights Watch has long supported justice and accountability for the 
horrific crimes that occurred in 1971, but these trials need to meet 
international fair trial standards to properly deliver on those promises for 
the victims," Adams said. "Delivering justice requires adhering to the highest 
standards, particularly when a life is at stake. The conduct of Kamaruzzaman's 
trial cannot be said to have met those standards."

Human Rights Watch reiterated its longstanding call for Bangladesh to impose an 
immediate moratorium on the death penalty. The death penalty is inconsistent 
with international human rights law, according to statements of UN human rights 
experts and various UN bodies.

The UN Human Rights Committee, which interprets the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a state party, has said that 
"in cases of trials leading to the imposition of the death penalty, scrupulous 
respect of the guarantees of fair trial is particularly important" and that any 
death penalty imposed after an unfair trial would be a violation of the right 
to a fair trial.

Bangladesh should join with the many countries already committed to the UN 
General Assembly's December 18, 2007 resolution calling for a moratorium on 
executions and a move by UN member countries toward abolition of the death 
penalty. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as 
an inherently cruel punishment.

"The Bangladesh government should impose a moratorium on the death penalty and 
quickly join the growing number of countries that have abolished this barbaric 
practice," Adams said. "The severity of the offense in question provides no 
justification for its continued use."

(source: Human Rights Watch)








PAKISTAN----executions

2 more death row convicts executed in Punjab



In connection with the death penalty applied on prisoners, 2 more death row 
convicts have been executed at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore and Sahiwal Central 
Jail in the early hours of Tuesday.

According to sources at Kot Lakhpat prison, death row inmate Tayyab was hanged 
for murdering Abrar Hussain in Toba Tek Singh back in 2000.

The 2nd execution of the morning was carried out at Sahiwal's Central Prison 
where dual-murder convict Jaffar was hanged for murdering his relative Khalil 
and his daughter Sadia in 1997.

It is pertinent to mention here that around 60 convicts have now been hanged to 
death in Pakistan since the country lifted a moratorium on capital punishment 
in December.

(source: Ki Awaz news)

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

Pakistan hangs 2 prisoners following reversal of self-imposed moratorium on 
death penalty



Pakistan today hanged 2 death-row prisoners, taking to 68 the number of 
executions since the country reversed the self-imposed moratorium on the death 
penalty in December despite criticism by the rights group.

Both the hangings were carried out in Punjab province. The latest executions 
bring to 68 the number of convicts hanged since Pakistan resumed executions on 
December 17, a day after a Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar that 
killed more than 150 people, mostly children.

There are more than 8,000 death row prisoners in the country.

Initially executions were limited to terrorism offences but on March 10 the 
government decided to implement death penalty in all cases following the 
Peshawar school massacre in December.

The moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government 
took power from a military ruler in 2008. Supporters of the execution argue 
that it is the only option to deal with the scourge of militancy but human 
rights group are highly critical of it.

Rights groups say many convictions are highly unreliable in Pakistan where 
criminal justice system barely functions and torture has often been used to 
extract confessions.

(source: The Economic Times)

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

Protecting death row prisoners



In The Express Tribune of April 5, 2015, a story quoted Ghinwa Bhutto as 
follows: "The death penalty is against human rights and therefore 
implementation on executions should be stopped." I have a question for Ms 
Bhutto in this regard. Suppose the country has a limited amount of funds that 
can either be given for the people of Thar in Sindh, or to maintain terrorists 
for life while they and their compatriots plan for jailbreaks.

Bear in mind, Ms Bhutto, that this entails a huge amount of money for 
maintenance costs, for adequate salaries of the guards to ensure that they are 
not 'bought' by the militants in jail, and due security that needs to be 
provided against jailbreaks. The amount that could be freed may save thousands 
of lives of innocent Sindhis, including children, who have never committed a 
murder or any other crime. Would you really like to spend that money on 
maintaining enemies of the state? Please note, Ms Bhutto, I am not talking 
about revenge, which can be morally unjustifiable, but about the practical 
management of limited resources, which is what the people elect their 
representatives to ensure. Do you expect the people of Sindh to support you on 
this issue?

Asghar Qadir

(source: Letter to the Editor, Express Tribune)



SOMALIA:

Somalia military tribunal gives MPs killers death sentences



Somalia's military tribunal sentenced 2 men to death on Monday after they were 
convicted of killing members of the country's federal Parliament and 
Intelligence officers.

The verdict was announced by the Chief of the military tribunal Hassan Shuute 
who said the 2 men, Shuaib Ibrahim Mahdi and Farah Ali Abdi were found guilty 
of killing 3 members of the Parliament and 2 National intelligence agency 
officers.

He added that both were al-Shabaab's unit of carrying out assassinations by 
drive-by shooting.

The 2 were accused of killing 3 members of Somali Federal Parliament in July 
2014. The 3 members were : Saado Ali Warsame, Adan Mohamed Madeer and Mohamed 
Mohamoud Heyd.

Somalia uses its military court to punish members of al-Shabaab militant group 
which wants to overthrow the government and its soldiers who commit heavy 
crimes. But the court has also prosecuted civilians who have been accused of 
minor cases and later on went to face harsh punishments.

There was a decrease in the number of executions in Somalia 2014 compared to 
the previous years, Amnesty International said in a recent report.

The report, released last week, said that at least 52 people were sentenced to 
death, despite the Somali government's vote in favour of the UN General 
Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in 2012 and 
2014.

(source: horseedmedia.net)








INDONESIA:

Widodo Earns Indonesian Approval for Death Penalty Stance



The majority of Indonesians say they support President Joko Widodo's decision 
to enforce the death penalty for drug traffickers, according to a survey 
released amid appeals for clemency from several death row drug convicts.

Jakarta-based survey agency Indo Barometer found that almost 85% of survey 
respondents said they support Mr. Widodo's firm stance on the death penalty, 
while more than 84% of respondents said they agreed with the death penalty for 
drug traffickers and dealers. Indonesia's penal code lists death as the maximum 
sentence for the production, import/export or sale of category one narcotics, 
which include opium, heroin and marijuana.

The reason the majority of people surveyed (60.8%) gave for supporting the 
death penalty for drug offenses was because they believe that drugs ruin young 
people, said Indo Barometer's executive director Muhammad Qodari. Almost 24% of 
them said that capital punishment would provide a deterrent effect.

"Indonesians see that drugs now reach so many areas; areas that they haven't 
thought before, such as schools," Mr. Qodari said.

President Widodo has repeatedly denied requests for clemency from Australia and 
several other countries with citizens on death row in Indonesia, saying he is 
trying to combat a drug emergency in his country.

On Monday Jakarta's high administrative court rejected a final appeal effort 
from Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, saying clemency is the 
prerogative of the president.

The 2 men are among 10 convicted drug smugglers whose executions were delayed 
last month because of judicial challenges by 6 inmates seeking to appeal Mr. 
Widodo's clemency rejections.

The international community and celebrities have also called on Mr. Widodo to 
reconsider his decision, but Mr. Qodari said international pressure hardly 
affects Indonesian public opinion.

In fact, he said, it helps strengthen feelings of nationalism that benefit Mr. 
Widodo.

In the same survey released Monday, Indo Barometer found that the president's 
approval rating after almost 6 months in office was 57.5% - higher than a 
January survey by the Indonesia Survey Circle, which found only 42% of 
Indonesians said were satisfied with the president???s performance.

Mr. Qodari said the death penalty policy definitely contributed positively to 
the president's approval rating.

Aside from drug trafficking, 53% of survey respondents said they were in favor 
of the death sentence for corruption, murder (16.3%) and sexual crimes (4.25%). 
Corruption and sexual crimes are not currently punishable by death.

Indo Barometer's survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 
people from March 15 to 25 in all Indonesia's 34 provinces.

(source: Wall Street Journal)








BELARUS:

Despite repeated EU criticism, Belarus continues executing and sentencing 
prisoners to death



Despite repeated EU criticism, Belarus continues executing and sentencing 
prisoners to death But becoming a member of the international organisation for 
cooperation, human rights and rule of law, would mean Belarus would have to 
give up the death penalty.

Belarus, recent host of the Minsk Ceasefire summit, was the only country in 
Europe and Central Asia to execute prisoners last year. But, after 
reintroducing capital punishment in territory they hold, pro-Russian Ukrainian 
rebels have sentenced at least one man to death since September 2014.

Belarus executed three people by shooting in 2014 after a 24-month break in 
state killings, Amnesty International told EurActiv. It is the only European 
and Central Asian country which uses the death penalty.

The executions were secret with lawyers and family only being told after the 
prisoners were dead, Amnesty, which today (1 April) published its annual Death 
Penalty Report, said.

Authoritarian leader Aliaksandr Lukashenka hosted the February Minsk talks to 
end fighting in eastern Ukraine. They were attended by Russian President 
Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko, Germany's Angela Merkel and 
France's Francois Hollande.

Ukraine abolished the death penalty in 2000. In August last year, pro-Russian 
rebels in the so-called Donetsk People Republic, in eastern Ukraine, introduced 
a criminal code in August, reserving the death penalty for the "gravest 
crimes". The same session approved the setting up of military "courts" in the 
territories they control.

The Lugansk People's Republic has also re-introduced the death penalty. On 26 
September, rules were introduced that homosexual rape could be punished by 
death.

In October, a YouTube video surfaced which appeared to show a "people's court" 
of about 300, judging 2 alleged rapists of women. After gunpoint confessions 
and a vote by the kangaroo court, 1 was sent to the frontline.

The other was sentenced to death by firing squad, with only his mother speaking 
out for mercy. Amnesty International has not been able to confirm if he was 
shot, but the sentence did not appear to be carried out immediately.

While there have been numerous reports of summary executions in Ukraine, they 
were not committed within the pseudo-legal framework of the criminal code.

European Union

The European Union does not recognise either the Lugansk or Donetsk republics, 
branding November elections held in the territories "illegal and illegitimate". 
It has called for the rule of law and order to be reestablished, so that human 
rights violations can be prevented and investigated.

"Capital punishment cannot be justified under any circumstances. The death 
penalty is a cruel and inhuman punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent 
and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity," a EU 
official said.

Every EU member state has abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The 
last country to do so was Latvia, which banned capital punishment in wartime in 
2012. The absolute ban on the death penalty is enshrined in the Charter of 
Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Lukashenka, described as leading "Europe's last dictatorship", was able to play 
the international statesman at Minsk, shoring up his position at home, 
campaigners told EurActiv.

?But there was little choice in the location for the summit if EU leaders 
wanted to stop the fighting. The EU can leverage hardly any influence over the 
police state, which is heavily backed by Russia.

A lack of interest from the west, hastened by the Ukraine crisis, have also 
ruled out any Maiden-style revolution in Belarus, according to analysis by 
Belarus Digest, published in The Guardian. Lukashenka has been in power since 
1994.

"Legal" executions

The EU has urged Belarus to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a 
step towards its universal abolition. Despite repeated EU condemnations, 
Belarus continues to execute by shooting, and to sentence prisoners to death.

In April 2014 Belarus secretly executed Pavel Selyun, sentenced in June 2013 
for a 2012 double murder. The UN Human Rights Committee had requested a stay in 
execution, which was ignored.

Such requests are legally binding on state parties to the First Optional 
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which 
Belarus agreed to in 1992.

In May, the Mogilev Regional Court in Belarus confirmed that Ryhor Yuzepchuk 
had been executed. He was sentenced to death in 2013 for a 2012 murder. The 
authorities have not made public the date of his execution or the location of 
his grave.

Aliaksandr Haryunou was executed in October. He was sentenced to death in 2013 
for a murder committed in 2012. Haryunou appealed to the UN Human Rights 
Committee in April, arguing that his trial had been unfair.

The Committee asked the Belarusian authorities to stay his execution until it 
had considered the case. They ignored the legally binding request. Neither his 
relatives nor lawyer were given the chance to have a final meeting with 
Haryunou.

In March 2015, Siarhei Ivanou was sentenced to death by the Homel Regional 
Court of the Republic of Belarus. The EU's foreign policy bureau called for his 
right to appeal to be guaranteed, while expressing sympathy to the family of 
the victim.

Counter-terrorism

Worldwide, there was a sharp spike in the handing down of death sentences in 
2014, up more than 500 on the previous year to at least 2,466. This was due to 
more governments in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan using 
sentences handed down on trumped up terror charges to quell dissent, Amnesty 
International said.

Writing exclusively in EurActiv today, it warned that "mainstreaming 
counter-terrorism" into EU foreign policy in the guise of "international 
cooperation" could undermine its principled stance on the death penalty.

Targeted and upgraded security dialogues with countries such as Pakistan and 
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, were dialogues with countries that executed as 
a matter of course, warned Iverna McGowan, acting director of Amnesty 
International's European Institutions Office.

"In the wake of the sharp spike in death sentences, and closer security 
cooperation with many state perpetrators, the burning question the EU needs to 
answer is whether and how it is making sure partners stop using the death 
penalty," she said.

Russia and the Council of Europe

Ironically, Belarus' sponsor Russia has had a moratorium on the death penalty 
since 2009. All 47 member states of the Council of Europe, including Russia, 
have stopped using capital punishment due to commitments under the European 
Convention on Human Rights.

Becoming a member of the international organisation for cooperation, human 
rights and rule of law, would mean Belarus would have to give up the death 
penalty. It would also be open to legal challenges over its dismal human rights 
record.

Council spokesman Andrew Cutting stated, "The Council of Europe is firmly 
opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The Committee of Ministers 
has repeatedly called upon non-member countries including Belarus, the United 
States and Japan to cease using the death penalty and move towards abolition."

Japan (3 executions last year) and the United States have observer status at 
the Council. Executions in the US dropped from 39 in 2013 to 35 in 2014, 
Amnesty International said.

China again carried out more executions than the rest of the world put 
together. Amnesty International believes thousands are executed and sentenced 
to death there every year, but with numbers kept a state secret the true figure 
is impossible to determine.

Without China, there were 602 executions in 22 countries in 2014. The world's 
top 5 executioners apart from China in 2014 were Iran (289 officially announced 
and at least 454 more that were not acknowledged by the authorities), Saudi 
Arabia (at least 90), Iraq (at least 61) and the USA.

(source: eurobelarus.info)