[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 9



INDONESIA:

Jokowi's human rights promotion disappoints: Survey


The President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo administration has failed to deliver on its 
campaign promise of human rights protection in its first year, a study has 
revealed.

The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace recorded a slight fall of 0.04 
points from 2014 to 2015 on the achievement index of human rights promotion, 
which is rated from 0 to 7, with 7 being the best score.

"The results are not surprising because human rights issues have evidently not 
been a priority in the Jokowi-JK administration," said Setara Institute deputy 
chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos, referring to Jokowi and Vice President Jusuf 
Kalla.

According to Bonar, the promise made during the election campaign was not 
reflected in a number of government documents, including the National Mid-Term 
Development Plan (RPJMN), the National Plan of Action on Human Rights (RANHAM) 
and the Government Working Plan (RKP).

The study, which was conducted from Nov. 5 to Dec. 5, involved 215 respondents 
in 19 provinces.Setara research director Ismail Hasani said that respondents, 
who consisted of human rights experts and activists, were disappointed that 
human rights protection was not outlined in Jokowi's Nawa Cita (nine agenda) 
development principles and at the failure to set up a special commission on 
past human right abuses that was initially proposed.

Instead, Bonar explained, the government has been inconsistent in the matter 
and has neglected to bring to light the truth in regards to these issues, such 
as by restricting discussions on the 1965 communist purge and questioning every 
move by the public to demand full disclosure.Human rights issues that the 
survey rated included the death penalty, with the county's score on this seeing 
the biggest drop in the past year from a recorded of 2.18 in 2014 down to 1.99 
in 2015.

Ismail said the executions of convicted foreign drug offenders earlier this 
year had negatively impacted diplomatic relations on the human rights front 
within the international realm and therefore affected the protection of 
Indonesian citizens on death row abroad, he explained.

However, Ismail continued, there were also some improvements, such as a rise in 
economic, social and cultural rights that went up from 2.99 to 3.22 in the past 
year. Ismail said the study showed that Jokowi was leaning too much toward 
infrastructure development while neglecting human rights issues.

Setara national committee secretary Pastor Benny Susetyo urged for a balanced 
approach from the government, adding that upholding human rights and democratic 
values would also promote economic growth.

There is a need to break ties to the past, Benny said, adding that it was 
necessary for the government to own up to past failures. He also said the 
President should not be afraid to ignore politicians in his circle that had 
conflicts of interest in order to experience real growth in the promotion and 
protection of human rights.

(source: The Jakarta Post)






IRAN:

Amnesty International: Iran remains world's top executioner of juvenile 
offenders


The Iranian regime has "cemented its shameful status as the world's top 
official executioner of juvenile offenders after 2 young men were re-sentenced 
to death for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old", Amnesty 
International said on Tuesday.

2 Iranian juvenile offenders Sajad Sanjari and Hamid Ahmadi, are facing death 
after the Iranian regim's judiciary concluded that they had reached "mental 
maturity" at the time of the crime.

Sajad Sanjari, now aged 20, was 15 years old at the time of alleged crime and 
Hamid Ahmadi, now aged 24, was first sentenced to death in August 2009 was 17 
years old at the time of committing alleged crime.

"This ruling lays bare the Iranian authorities' contempt for the human rights 
of children, coupled with their appetite for the death penalty - a toxic 
combination that leaves numerous juvenile offenders facing execution," said 
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and 
North Africa Programme.

"Iran's continued use of the death penalty against persons convicted of crimes 
committed while they were under 18 years of age is cruel, inhumane and 
blatantly unlawful. The death sentences of both these men, and all other 
juvenile offenders on death row in Iran, must be commuted immediately."

"The re-sentencing to death of Sajad Sanjari and Hamid Ahmadi makes a mockery 
of a fundamentally flawed provision that gives judges the discretion to impose 
the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. No such discretion must ever 
be given under any circumstances. The assessment of their mental state years 
after the crime is an inherently defective way of determining criminal 
responsibility," said Said Boumedouha.

"These retrial proceedings have been hailed as juvenile justice advances but 
increasingly we are seeing them turning into a cruel show that ends with 
juvenile offenders once again finding themselves on death row."

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/iran-renewed-death-sentences-for-juvenile-offenders-show-%E2%80%98contempt-for-children-s-rights

(source: NCR-Iran)






JAPAN:

Japan lawyers' group slams 'inhumane' death penalty, calls for suspension, 
national debate


The Japan Federation of Bar Associations on Wednesday condemned capital 
punishment as "inhumane" and called on Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki to set 
up an panel of experts to review the policy.

It said the body should start a national debate about a practice already 
abandoned in Europe and elsewhere.

The lawyers' group, an influential body representing Japan's legal profession, 
said the panel should include people for, against and neutral toward the death 
penalty.

The secrecy surrounding executions in Japan has been criticized at home and 
abroad, with neither death row inmates nor their lawyers and families given 
advance notice executions, which take place by hanging.

It is also unclear what criteria authorities use in deciding when inmates are 
to be executed, as some remain on death row for years.

Making its case, the group noted that 140 countries have abolished the death 
penalty by law or in practice as of the end of 2014. It also cited a 
recommendation by the U.N. Human Rights Committee that urged Japan to "give due 
consideration to the abolition of the death penalty."

The group said: "The death penalty is one of the most important human rights 
problems facing Japan."

Moreover, it called for a suspension of executions while the nation debates the 
policy.

"We have called for public debate over the abolition of capital punishment," 
the group said. "It is because the death penalty is an inhumane punishment and 
it eliminates the possibility of rehabilitating those who commit crimes."

It added: "Trials always carry a risk of misjudgment, and if a wrong judgment 
leads to capital punishment, it cannot be corrected."

(source: Japan Times)