[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 10



ETHIOPIA:

EU, UK and US lawmakers demand release of Briton held in Ethiopia


A group of legislators from the US, UK and Europe have demanded the release of 
a British activist who has been held in a secret Ethiopian prison for over a 
year.

Andargachew 'Andy' Tsege, a prominent figure in the Ethiopian opposition, was 
abducted at a Yemeni airport in June 2014 and forcibly taken to Ethiopia. He 
has been held since in a secret location, and has been denied access to a 
lawyer, his family, proper consular visits and independent medical treatment.

Andargachew Tsege was sentenced to death in absentia in 2009 on charges 
relating to his political activities. Torture of political prisoners in 
Ethiopia is common, and the UN and human rights organisation Reprieve - which 
is assisting Mr Tsege's family - have raised concerns that he is being 
mistreated.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, the group 
- which includes US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, British MPs Jeremy Corbyn and 
Emily Thornberry, Baron Dholakia of the UK House of Lords, and MEPs Ana Gomes 
and Richard Howitt - called Ethiopia's behaviour "unconscionable and illegal."

Their letter says: "Your government's treatment of [Mr Tsege] is a stain on its 
reputation, and threatens to isolate Ethiopia internationally. Andargachew 
Tsege's ordeal has gone on long enough; we call on you to release him without 
delay and facilitate his return home to his family."

The call follows recent criticism by President Obama of Ethiopia's silencing of 
its critics, during his 1st trip to the country. Speaking at the African Union 
in Addis Ababa, Mr Obama said: "When journalists are put behind bars for doing 
their jobs, when activists are threatened - you may have democracy in name but 
not in substance."

Mr Tsege, whose partner and young children are American citizens, has 
previously travelled to Washington DC to speak about human rights concerns in 
Ethiopia. He told Congress in 2006 that "the scale of repression [by the 
current government] has exceeded Ethiopia's darkest hours during the military 
dictatorship."

Commenting, Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "From 
the White House to Congress and the European and British Parliaments, calls are 
growing for Ethiopia to change course and stop its persecution of dissidents 
like Andy. These lawmakers are right to say that Ethiopia is risking its 
international reputation with its shocking treatment of Andy, which has 
included rendition, secret detention, torture and a nakedly political and 
unlawful death sentence. Prime Minister Desalegn must listen, and return Andy 
to his family in Britain without delay."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)






ISRAEL:

Bayit Yehudi Leader's Position on Jewish Terrorism Surprises Many


Speaking with Galei Yisrael Radio's Kalman Lipskind on Sunday 24 Menachem Av, 
Bayit Yehudi party leader Education Minister Naftali Bennett explained that if 
there is substantial proof, then administrative detention must be used against 
suspected Jewish terrorists, emphasizing the use of this means cannot be 
abused.

"There must be a balance between one's individual rights and Israel's security 
and preventing attacks. I stand behind my position that administrative 
detention may be used with great caution".

However what really surprised listeners was not this, but Bennett's response 
when he was asked about the same punishment against Jewish and Arab terrorists, 
including razing homes and the death sentence, Bennett responded "yes, of 
course". He stated that "if there is a trend, once again and we must highlight 
this, I have yet to see such proof, but assuming there is a trend, we must use 
parallel measures".

Lipskind during the interview clarified and asked a 2nd time if this includes 
the death penalty, to which Bennett stated "yes, certainly". It is added that 
when a bill was voted upon in Knesset to permit using the death penalty against 
Arab terrorists, the Bayit Yehudi party opposed the bill.

(source: theyeshivaworld.com)






EGYPT:

Policemen among 6 facing death penalty in Qena----Court has charged them with 
murder and possession of arms, killings of 6 in village fight


Qena Criminal Court sentenced 3 policemen to death on murder charges, following 
a violent street fight between 2 families in the village of Awlad Amr in 2013, 
which left 6 people dead.

The policemen include one from the Luxor Security Directorate and 2 conscripts 
from the Qena Security Directorate, along with 2 civilians. They were convicted 
for murder and possession of weapons, while a 6th defendant was sentenced in 
absentia, and 5 further defendants were acquitted, state-run news agency MENA 
reported Monday.

The initial verdict was issued on 11 June, but local media reported the court 
had set the final ruling for 8 September.

On 25 November 2013, a 'tuk-tuk' driver accidently hit a woman, which led to a 
conflict between the families of the driver and the victim. The latter's family 
and local residents reportedly severely beat the driver, whose relatives 
included the policemen.

They returned for revenge and started shooting randomly, state-run newspaper 
Al-Ahram reported, which left 5 dead and 2 injured. The death toll later rose 
to 6. The same day, 7 suspects were arrested, including the driver and the 
policemen.

Such incidents are common in Egypt, whether they be large armed family 
conflicts or the abuse of power by police affiliates against citizens, 
especially in less urban areas where a minor incident can sometimes lead to 
larger scale problems.

(source: Egypt Daily News)



INDONESIA:

Bali 9 executed: former Indonesian judge tells of battle to save Sukumaran and 
Chan


A former Indonesian judge and leading legal figure has revealed his 
behind-the-scenes battle to stop the executions of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew 
Chan and others and how he twice managed to have the firing squads postponed.

Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie, who is in Melbourne to deliver a lecture on 
Tuesday, has revealed to News Corp Australia how he personally spoke with his 
country's President and Vice-President in a bid to save the lives of Sukumaran 
and Chan.

Prof Asshiddiqie, a former chief Judge of Indonesia's Constitutional Court, 
revealed how he tried many ways to save the lives of the Bali 9 and the others 
executed with them including suggesting the possibility of using Papua New 
Guinea in a prisoner swap agreement.

In a wide-ranging interview ahead of delivering his lecture at the Melbourne 
Law School, Professor Asshiddiqie told of his quest to stop the executions, of 
his hopes that soon the death penalty will be rarely used and eventually 
abolished in Indonesia and of his time on the country's highest court.

He also told of a confluence of issues - domestic politics, overcrowded jails, 
Australia's reaction to the impending executions, the Schapelle Corby clemency 
issue and a perception that Australian lives mattered more than Indonesian 
lives - came together and saw the new Indonesian President order 2 sets of 
executions this year.

Prof Asshiddiqie said that in the months before the Bali 9 duo was executed, 
their deaths were postponed twice.

"I talked to the Vice-President and I talked also to the President," Prof 
Asshiddiqie said.

He said he had hoped that during the postponements, legal appeals and court 
decisions may have changed the outcome.

"During the period of the postponement of the executions I tried to discuss 
other alternatives," he said.

One suggestion was a prisoner transfer or exchange of the 2 Australians with 
Indonesians in jail in Australia - with a 3rd country, Papua New Guinea - but 
Indonesia was not keen.

He said Australia's suggestion, to swap the 2 Australians for Indonesians in 
prison here, was not viewed well by his countrymen, who believed it smacked of 
suggestions that Australian lives were more valuable than Indonesians.

In the end, Indonesian President Joko Widodo was resolute about fixing what he 
and many others behind him, such as the country's anti-drugs body, saw as a 
"drug emergency" in his country.

On April 29, Sukumaran, Chan and 6 others were shot by firing squad.

Since then the Indonesian Government has suggested that there are more 
important matters on its agenda and there has been no more talk of a next round 
of executions.

Prof Asshiddiqie says that he tried everything, in vain, to save the lives and 
was disappointed at the outcome.

What he now hopes is that Indonesia will move toward limiting the death penalty 
to only the most serious cases of homicide and that recommendations,which his 
Constitutional Court first made in 2007, to commute death penalties to life or 
20 years after 10 years of good behaviour, will now be accepted.

The recommendation was already part of the draft of a new Criminal Code when 
Sukumaran and Chan were executed but had yet to be argued, let alone ratified. 
The pair, who had reformed, were executed just days after the 10th anniversary 
of their arrest, meaning they would have been eligible for commutation had it 
been law.

Prof Asshiddiqie was the chief judge on the Constitutional Court which heard a 
challenge against the death penalty bought by the Bali 9 members and decided in 
2007, by a narrow margin, to keep the death penalty.

At the time Prof Asshiddiqie chose not to write a disssenting judgment, saying 
he believed that this would have called into question the legitimacy of the 
ruling. Instead the court chose to make a recommendation to commute death 
sentences after 10 years of good behaviour, hoping this would provide the 
catalyst for abolition.

Now finally, 8 years later, the Indonesian Parliament is set to debate making 
that clause, and 3 other recommendations from that judgment, law.

Prof Asshiddiqie hopes the debate on the new Criminal Code, will begin next 
month.

He wants a 5th clause added - that the nationality and the laws of the home 
country be taken into account on sentence - that if someone from a country that 
does not have the death penalty is sentenced in Indonesia, they cannot be 
sentenced to death.

He believes however that it will take a long time - past his lifetime - for the 
death penalty to be completely abolished in Indonesia.

Professor Asshiddiqie wants the death penalty only for homicide and for the 
Muslim principal of qisas to apply so that the prospect of compensation can be 
paid by the perpetrator in order to avoid the death penalty. Islam, he says, 
preaches forgiveness.

Prof Asshiddiqie, who is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of 
Indonesia, will canvas these ideas in his lecture, Islam, Democracy and the 
Future of the Death Penalty, today (Tuesday) at the Melbourne Law School.

(source: news.com.au)






MALAYSIA:

Businessman to hang over 2006 murder of jogger


The Alor Star High Court yesterday sentenced businessman Shahril Jaafar, 33, to 
death over the 2006 murder of marketing executive Chee Gaik Yap. Judicial 
commissioner, Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab said the defence failed to raise 
reasonable doubt in the case.

"I have no choice but to sentence you with the death penalty, the only 
punishment as stipulated in Section 302 of the Penal Code," he was quoted as 
saying by The Star.

Shahril closed his eyes and remained calm when the death sentence was read out, 
the paper reported. The victim's parents, Chee Ah Sau, 60, and Lim Kim Nai, 59, 
who were seated in the public gallery, wept.

The death sentence marks the end of a nearly decade-long wait for Ah Sau, who 
spent the past 9 years looking for answers and clues to his daughter's rape and 
murder.

Gaik Yap, then 25 years old, had gone for an evening jog with one of her 
sisters at the Cinta Sayang Club, Sungai Petani, Kedah, on January 14, 2006, 
when she disappeared. Her semi-nude body with multiple stab wounds was found in 
Taman Ria Jaya near the club in the wee hours the next day.

In an impact statement recorded by the High Court, Ah Sau said Gaik Yap would 
be working in Germany if she were alive today.

The construction worker from Sungai Petani spoke of how his family was 
distraught during the 10 years they sought justice for Gaik Yap.

"The accused claimed that my daughter was a prostitute. She was a graduate," he 
reportedly said. The parents of murder victim Chee Gaik Yap say the family was 
distraught during the 10 years seeking justice for their daughter.

Zaki said Shahril's father's defence statement contradicted with what his son 
told the police.

In mitigation, Shahril's counsel Shamsul Sulaiman said his client was now 
married with a child.

"The problems in his life were caused by drug abuse. He regrets and sympathises 
with what the victim family had to endure," Shamsul was quoted as saying.

Ah Sau told reporters outside the courtroom that he hoped the judgment would be 
upheld if Shahril appealed.

Lawyer Ramkarpal Singh, who is holding a watching brief for Gaik Yap's family, 
said the court had set the record straight when it rejected allegations that 
the victim was a prostitute.

On June 25 last year, Shahril was acquitted and discharged by the Alor Star 
High Court without his defence called. The court ruled that the prosecution had 
failed to prove a prima facie case, as there was no clear evidence to implicate 
Shahril in the murder.

But on June 26 last year, the Court of Appeal unanimously set aside Shahril's 
acquittal, and ordered him to be remanded immediately for a retrial.

(source: themalaysianinsider.com)






TANZANIA:

Why Conflicting Decisions on Death Sentence


Death sentence is the most serious punishment imposed to an offender convicted 
of capital offences, notably murder, treason and any other grave offences as 
specified in the Penal Code, Cap 16 of the laws.

All offences attracting such sentences are triable by the High Court and all 
cases relating to the crimes must be taken to the Court of Appeal for 
verification or otherwise, of the proceedings surrounding the matter and the 
sentence provided.

The Court of Appeal, being the highest court of the land, gives decisions with 
binding forces, especially to subordinate courts on how cases of such nature 
and proceedings should be conducted, as per law.

Therefore, once the sentence is confirmed by the Court of Appeal, the High 
Court will be bound to impose such sentence to any person who is convicted of 
murder and not otherwise, according to the doctrine of what in law called, 
stare decisis.

However, justices of the Court of Appeal, for sometimes now, have not come into 
a common position as regard to the death sentence whether it is a justifiable 
punishment or not to murder convicts.

Of course, the majority of members of panel that are determining appeals 
relating to murder conviction, whose decision is taken as the judgment of the 
court, have been upholding the death sentence, while one member had been giving 
dissenting judgment on such punishment.

For example, murder is an offence charged under section 196 of the Penal Code, 
which reads, "Any person who, with malice aforethought, causes the death of 
another person by unlawful act or omission is guilty of murder."

The majority, therefore, when providing the sentence to a person convicted of 
murder, have been relying under section 197 of the Penal Code, which states 
that "Any person convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death."

But in the case of Republic versus Mbushuu Mnyaroje (1994), the court declared 
unconstitutional the death sentence and held that every person has a right to 
life, liberty and security.

This holding is also under Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, 1948. Despite such declaration, the High Court has continued imposing 
such punishment to murder convicts in line with Article 30 (5) of the 
Constitution.

The Article reads, "Where in any proceedings it is alleged that any law enacted 
or any action taken by the government or any other authority abrogates or 
abridges any of the basic rights, freedom and duties set out in Article 12 to 
29 of the Constitution... .

"... ..and the High Court is satisfied that the law or action concerned, to the 
extent that it conflicts with this Constitution, is void or is inconsistence 
with this Constitution, then the High Court, if it deems fit or if the 
circumstances or public interest so requires, instead of declaring that such 
law or action is void...

"... ..shall have power to decided to afford the government or other authority 
concerned an opportunity to rectify the defect found in the law or action 
concerned within such a period and in such manner as the High Court shall 
determine... "... ... . and such law or action shall be deemed to be valid 
until such time the defect is rectified or the period determined by the High 
Court lapses, whichever is the earlier."

On the other hand, the minority, who has been giving dissenting judgment on the 
sentence, has been relying under Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution of the 
United Republic of Tanzania, 1977, on the right to live.

Article 14 states, "Every person has the right to live and to the protection of 
his life by the society in accordance with the law, whereas Article 15 (1) 
stipulates, "Every person has the right to freedom and to live as a free 
person."

When giving reasons to support her dissenting judgment on death sentence during 
determination of appeal lodged by Dominick Damian, a resident of Bukoba, Kagera 
Region, Justice Engela Kileo, was of the opinion that life sentence would be 
the proper punishment for murder convicts.

She noted that the death penalty was inherently an inhuman and degrading 
punishment and it is also so in its execution, offending Article 13 (6) (d) and 
(c) of the Constitution of United Republic of Tanzania. According to her, death 
was one penalty which makes error irreversible and that chance of error was 
inescapable when based on human judgment.

She said that death penalty is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a 
human being by the state. In Tanzania, she said, "we cannot boast to have a 
perfect investigation, prosecution and trial system. We may have condemned 
people to death who did not commit the crime."

Justice Kileo further observed that such punishment violates the right to life 
as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the right 
to life which is protected in the country's Constitution. "I am of the humble 
view also that since we do not give life, then we have no right to take it, no 
matter what the other person has done.

It is only God who gives life and it is Him alone who should take it," she 
concluded. There are circumstances where life sentence or detainment under the 
President's pleasure could be provided in lieu of death sentence in terms of 
section of 26 of the Penal Code.

Part of section 26 (1) states that if a woman convicted of offence punishable 
with death is alleged to be pregnant, the court shall inquire into the fact and 
if it is proved to satisfaction of court that she is pregnant the sentence to 
be passed on her shall be imprisonment for life instead of a sentence of death.

While (2) states that the sentence of death shall not be pronounced on or 
recorded against any person who at the time of the commission of the offence 
was under 18 years of age, but in lieu of the sentence of death, the court 
shall sentence that person to be detained during the president's pleasure.

(source: Opinion, Faustine Kapama----Tanzania Daily News)