[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

INDONESIA:


EXECUTIONS FEARED FOR END OF APRIL

The Indonesian Attorney General announced that the execution of 10 prisoners 
might be carried out
after the Asia-Africa Conference, end of April.

View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and sample 
messages, here.

On 9 April Indonesian Attorney General HM Prasetyo made a statement implying 
that his office may
carry out the executions of 10 prisoners after the Asia-Africa Conference, 
which is being held
between 19 and 24 April in the Indonesian city of Bandung.

Although the final list of those facing executions has yet to be announced, the 
death row prisoners
facing imminent executions are believed to include Andrew Chan and Myuran 
Sukumaran (both
Australian, males), Raheem Agbaje Salami (Nigerian, male), Mary Jane Fiesta 
Veloso (Filipino,
female), Zainal Abidin (Indonesian, male), Martin Anderson, alias Belo 
(Ghanaian, male), Rodrigo
Gularte (Brazilian, male), Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise (Nigerian, male), Okwudili 
Oyatanze (Nigerian,
male) and one other individual. All 10 were sentenced to death for drug 
trafficking, an offense that
does not meet the threshold of the “most serious crimes” for which the death 
penalty may be imposed
under international law. Indonesian President Joko Widodo rejected their 
clemency applications in
December 2014 and January 2015.

The lawyers for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have filed a legal challenge 
at the Constitutional
Court questioning the Indonesian president's process of refusing to pardon them 
from the death
penalty. Rodrigo Gularte has been diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia 
and bipolar disorder
with psychotic characteristics, an illness which has deteriorated while he has 
been on death row.
However, on 20 April the Attorney General’s office said that Rodrigo Gularte is 
mentally fit for the
execution.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Further information on those facing executions:

View the full Urgent Action here.

Name: Andrew Chan (m), Myuran Sukumaran (m), Raheem Agbaje Salami (m), Martin 
Anderson (m), Mary
Jane Fiesta Veloso (f), Zainal Abidin (m), Rodrigo Gularte (m), Sylvester 
Obiekwe Nwolise (m),
Okwudili Oyatanze (m)
Issues: Imminent execution, Death penalty, Legal concern
Further information on UA: 305/14 (5 December 2014) and updates (13 January 
2015, 15 January 2015,
30 January 2015, 4 March 2015)
Issue Date: 22 April 2015
Country: Indonesia

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!

EITHER send a short email to uan at aiusa.org with "UA 305/14" in the subject 
line, and include in the
body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent.

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office 
if sending appeals
after the below date. This is the fifth update of UA 305/14. Further 
information:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ASA21/1124/2015/en/. If you receive a 
response from a
government official, please forward it to us at uan at aiusa.org or to the Urgent 
Action Office address
below.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please write immediately in English or your own language:
  *  Calling on the authorities to immediately halt plans to carry out any 
executions;
  *  Urging them to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to 
abolishing the death
     penalty and to commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment;
  *  Reminding them that international safeguards clearly state that no 
execution must be carried out
     while appeals are pending, that the death penalty should not be imposed or 
implemented against
     people with mental disabilities and illnesses, and that drug trafficking is 
not an offense for
     which the death penalty can be imposed under international law;
  *  Pointing out that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty 
deters crime more
     effectively than other punishments and that the decision to resume 
executions has set Indonesia
     against the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty and the 
country’s own progress
     in this area.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 3 JUNE 2015 TO:

President of the Republic of Indonesia
H. E. Joko Widodo
Istana Merdeka
Jakarta Pusat 10110
Indonesia
Fax: 011 62 21 386 4816 /011 62 21 344 2233
Email: dumas at setneg.go.id.
Twitter: jokowi_do2
Salutation: Dear President

Minister of Law and Human Rights
Yasona H. Laoly
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav No. 4-5
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan 12950, Indonesia
Fax: 011 62 215 253095
Email:  rohumas at kemenkumham.go.id Twitter: Humas_Kumham
Salutation: Dear Minister



And copies to:
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Retno Marsudi
Jl. Pejambon No.6. Jakarta Pusat, 10110
Indonesia
Fax: 011 62 21 3857316
Email: kontak-kami at kemlu.go.id




Also send copies to:
H.E. Ambassador Budi Bowoleksono, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
2020 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 775 5365  I  Phone: 1 202 775 5200  I  Email: 
ikuhn at embassyofindonesia.org  or
  http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/contactform/contact-form.php

Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/1HlMGNY

We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues! When 
you share with your
networks, instead of forwarding the original email, please use the "Forward 
this email to a friend"
link found at the very bottom of this email. Thank you for your activism!

UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003
T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. uan at aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent



SOMALILAND:

Activist Who Questioned Executions Detained ---- Free, Drop Charges Against 
Prominent Rights Lawyer



Somaliland authorities on April 18, 2015, detained a prominent human rights 
activist, apparently for criticizing the government's execution of 6 prisoners, 
Human Rights Watch said today. Police arrested Guleid Ahmed Jama after he made 
statements on the radio denouncing the executions, the 1st in Somaliland in 
nearly a decade. The authorities should immediately release him and drop the 
charges against him.

Guleid, 29, is a lawyer and the chairman of the Human Rights Centre, one of 
Somaliland's few independent human rights monitoring organizations. He has been 
charged with "anti-national" propaganda and other crimes, and faces up to 6 
years in prison or longer. Police initially held him in isolation and denied 
him contact with his family.

"Human rights activists shouldn't face prosecution for voicing their concerns," 
said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Every day 
that the authorities keep Guleid in jail is another day of setbacks for human 
rights in Somaliland."

The criminal charges against Guleid violate his right to free expression and 
appear intended to intimidate and silence criticism of the government, Human 
Rights Watch said.

Police arrested Guleid, on the order of a regional court judge, on the morning 
of April 18 as he was representing clients at the regional court in Hargeisa, 
Somaliland's capital. Police initially took him to the Central Investigation 
Department and then transferred him to Hargeisa's central police station.

Guleid's arrest came 2 days after the BBC Somali service broadcast an interview 
with him in which he criticized the government's April 13 execution of the six 
men, who had been convicted of murder. Guleid raised due process concerns in 
death penalty cases, particularly those handled before the military courts. He 
also called for judicial, police, and legislative reforms. The Regional Court 
judge who ordered his arrest questioned him about his interview comments, a 
source close to Guleid told Human Rights Watch.

The death sentences were the first carried out in Somaliland since 2006. Human 
Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an inherently 
cruel and irreversible punishment.

On April 19, the state attorney contested the order of the Hargeisa Regional 
Court to release Guleid on bail. In a letter to the Regional Court of Appeal, 
he alleged that Guleid had committed a range of criminal offenses, including 
"anti-national" propaganda, intimidation of the public, and publication of 
false information. He also accused Guleid of running an unregistered human 
rights organization, even though the Human Rights Centre's registration was 
renewed as of January 1. The Court of Appeal suspended the lower court's 
release order.

On April 20, Guleid appeared before the Regional Court, which ordered his 
detention for another seven days and transferred him to Hargeisa Central 
Prison. Guleid's lawyers were able to meet with him there. An April 20 charge 
sheet lists as evidence to support the charges the comments made by Guleid in 
his BBC Somali service interview and the Human Rights Centre's December 2014 
annual report.

Somaliland's independent human rights groups have faced obstruction from 
government authorities before. In 2007, under the previous government, the 
Somaliland Human Rights Organization Network was effectively dismantled after a 
leadership struggle that was characterized by overt government interference.

For years, Somaliland had no human rights monitoring organization. The Human 
Rights Centre was established in 2012. The current government has arrested 
journalists, particularly those reporting on corruption or on developments in 
the contested border regions of Sool and Sanaag, and harassed staff of popular 
newspapers. On April 21, 2015, Somaliland's national electoral commission 
announced that national elections would take place in June 2016.

In 1998, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on 
Human Rights Defenders, which states that individuals and associations have the 
right "to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human 
rights and fundamental freedoms."

"Somaliland's government should ensure there is space for dissenting views and 
public debate on critical issues of public concern, especially as elections 
draw near," Lefkow said. "The authorities need to recognize that organizations 
such as the Human Rights Centre are an asset to Somaliland, not a threat."

(source: Human Rights Watch)








SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Indian beheaded in Saudi for murdering boss



Saudi Arabia beheaded 2 people for murder Wednesday, one of whom was from 
India, the interior ministry said.

Sajada Ansari, a shepherd, was convicted of robbing his Saudi boss as he slept 
and beating him to death with a hammer, the ministry said in a statement 
carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The other convict, Saudi Mater al-Rowaeeli, was condemned for shooting dead his 
ex-wife and 2 of their children.

Both executions were carried out in the kingdom's north.

They bring to 65 the number of beheadings by the sword this year in Saudi 
Arabia, a surge that compares with 87 death sentences in all of 2014, according 
to AFP tallies.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable 
by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law.

Amnesty International's 2014 global report on the death penalty ranks Saudi 
Arabia among the top five executioners in the world.

The interior ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for carrying out the 
punishment and says executing murderers aims "to maintain security and realise 
justice".

(source: Agence France-Presse)








PHILIPPINES:

Revisiting the death penalty for drug offenses



Not discounting the power of prayer, the execution of Filipina OFW Mary Jane 
Veloso seems inescapable considering that Indonesia has made a seriously hard 
stand to arrest its increasingly severe drug problem, and has vowed not to give 
in to international pressure in meting out its tough drug laws.

Despite this foreboding scenario, however, we join in supporting the optimistic 
view that the Indonesian court should reconsider its decision due to the merits 
of Veloso's statement of innocence that she did not knowingly agree to act as a 
courier, and that her recruiter underhandedly placed the drugs in her luggage. 
China has similarly done the same and several Filipinos have been executed due 
to drug related cases. Like Indonesia, it has also refused to listen to our 
government's appeals for clemency, underscoring the argument that it needed to 
enforce its laws to arrest the incidence of illegal drug trade in the country.

According to the latest data from the Department of Foreign Affairs, about 787 
Filipinos are facing drug-related cases around the world. There are 116 cases 
in the Americas, 104 in Europe and 244 in the Middle East and Africa, but the 
majority, 343 of which are in Asia. This reflects the seriousness and gravity 
of the illegal drug epidemic. Notwithstanding the merits of Veloso's case, we 
should emulate what these countries are doing to discourage the drug trade in 
their jurisdiction. While it is true that the death penalty did not entirely 
eradicate the drug problem in these countries, it has nevertheless offered a 
strong deterrence. In the Philippines, the severity of the drug epidemic can be 
readily surmised just by realizing that 60 % of our inmates are incarcerated 
due to drug related offenses. Further supporting this concern is the advisory 
given by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) under the section 
"Drug-related Crimes" in its "Philippines 2014 Crime and Safety Report": 
"Production, trafficking, and consumption of illegal drugs are issues of 
concern...Transnational organized crime groups both exploit under-staffed and 
under-resourced law enforcement and a weak judicial system to establish 
clandestine drug laboratories and import wholesale quantities of 
methamphetamine to supply the domestic market...Regionally, the Philippines is 
an identified source of methamphetamine for Guam and a transit point from 
Africa to Southeast Asia (emphasis mine)".

This cancer continues to grow and root itself in the very foundations of our 
society while simultaneously, boldly mocking the weight of our criminal justice 
system. Having said this, I strongly feel that we need to draw on both China 
and Indonesia's iron-hand approach to arrest this menace. Even in our own 
national experience, no one can deny the high deterrent psychological effect of 
the execution of Lim Seng during the Marcos administration when capital 
punishment was still being enforced in the Philippines. Lim Seng was a Chinese 
drug lord that was tried and sentenced to die by firing squad in December 1972. 
His execution was a good example which put terror in the hearts of other 
big-time pushers during the time.

The concept of capital punishment in the Philippine context has had a varied 
history. Many Filipinos oppose it due to religious and humanitarian arguments, 
while its proponents view it as an effective way of deterring crimes. Although 
I do not subscribe to the opinion that the death penalty is the only solution 
to the problem of the drug menace in our country, I am firmly convinced of the 
fact that its absence has emboldened many local and foreign operators and 
syndicates to perpetuate and broaden their activities here. As a result, many 
of our countrymen have directly and indirectly fallen victims to this scourge.

Indeed, the life of every individual is priceless and valuable, but we should 
not hesitate to choose the ruin of one to deter the ruin of greater populace.

(source: Commentary; Danilo Suarez----Manila Standard Today)



THAILAND:

Give graft court death penalty powers: Veera



The charter drafters have been urged to set up a corruption court empowered to 
give corrupt officials the death penalty if the damage to the state from their 
crimes exceeds Bt5 million.

Veera Somkwamkid, secretary-general of the People's Network against Corruption, 
made the suggestion in a letter submitted to Constitution Drafting Committee 
(CDC) chairman Borwornsak Uwanno yesterday.

Veera said his long fight against graft made him realise that lax and 
ineffective laws caused anti-corruption efforts to fail. He proposed that 
corruption cases have no statute of limitations and a special court be set up 
to try them.

He said politicians convicted for corruption must be banned from politics for 
life and have all assets confiscated if their cases proceeded through three 
courts. Politicians or state officials convicted of corruption with less than 
Bt1 million must be jailed for 20 years, allowed no pardon, or have their 
sentences commuted, he said.

If damage to the state was above Bt1 million, they must be given a 
life-sentence without right of pardon. Veera said those convicted should also 
face civil suits, which force them to pay compensation - double the amount of 
damage to the state.

All political office holders must declare their assets to the National 
Anti-Corruption Commission. They must not run in elections for more than two 
consecutive terms, he proposed.

Veera also said that members of civic groups should declare their assets. 
Independent agencies in charge of corruption cases must finish graft probes 
within 1 year.

(source: The Nation)