[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----MALAY., PNG, INDON., AUST., EGYPT, INDIA, JAPAN

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 5


MALAYSIA:

Cops smash drug ring with arrest of 4 men



Police have crippled a drug syndicate which had been active in Kelantan since 
December last year with the arrest of 4 men.

The first to be arrested was a 26-year-old man, who was nabbed at 12.10am on 
Tuesday during an operation here, said Kelantan police chief DCP Datuk Mazlan 
Lazin. A police special task force picked him up in front of a grocery shop in 
Jalan Pengkalan Chepa and seized RM98,600 worth of drugs, DCP Mazlan told 
reporters yesterday.

He added that the drugs consisted of 3,564 ketamine pills, 300 eremin 5 pills 
and 20g of methamphetamine.

"We also seized RM17,460 from the man who is now remanded until Feb 9," he 
said.

Later that morning, police detained three men aged between 21 and 26 at the 
same place.

"A body search found 70 ketamine pills on 2 of the 3 men.

"They had escaped the first raid which followed a tip-off from the public," DCP 
Mazlan said.

The 3 are being remanded until Friday.

DCP Mazlan said that all four tested positive for drugs, and their case was 
being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952, which 
carries a mandatory death penalty, and Section 39(A)(1) of Dangerous Drug Act 
1952, which carries a jail term of not less than 2 years and not more than 5 
years with 3 to 9 strokes of the rotan.

Meanwhile, Kelantan police are distributing pictures of a 26-year-old man known 
as Khairul whom they are looking for to help investigate cases of armed robbery 
and illegal car towing.

Earlier, DCP Mazlan handed over new vehicles to all police district offices in 
Kelantan.

The state police received 9 Nissan Navara 4x4 trucks, 20 Proton Preve cars and 
21 Honda scooters for the Women's Peace Police Squad.

(source: The Star)








PAPUA NEW GUINEA:

Church Leaders condemn PNG Government's decision to implement Death Penalty



Papua New Guinea church leaders have condemned the government decision to 
implement death penalty. It has been revealed that about 13 people on death row 
in Papua New Guinea are expected to be executed this year after PNG Cabinet 
endorsed the proposed guidelines for the implementation of death penalty. 
Secretary for the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Dr Lawrence 
Kalinoe told the media that PNG Government had approved the establishment of an 
inter-agency committee to see its implementation.

Howevern, this announcement did not go down well with the PNG Church leaders 
Council. The church leaders said in a media statement " We believe that all 
human life is God-given and that no one, including the State, should take upon 
itself the right to end a life.

Additionally, there is ample evidence proving that over the best processes of 
justice can sometimes happen. It is therefore, unthinkable that we, the people, 
should condemn a potentially innocent person to death.

As a Christian Nation, we can never allow our justice system to sink, to acts 
of revenge or payback. We must not take the attitude of 'an eye for an eye' but 
rather maintain penalties that are appropriate for all crimes but do not 
include the death penalty.

Incidences of serious crime have not decreased in countries that have adopted 
the death penalty.

The possibility of the death penalty increases the possibility that the 
criminal will murder their victim to eliminate them as a witness.

We call upon the Papua New Guinea Government to continue to work towards a 
nation of propriety of equality, so that people can pursue legal legitimate 
ways of life".

(source: pngfacts.com)








INDONESIA:

How Chan, Sukumaran will face their executions



Australian drug smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have apparently 
penned a desperate letter from death row, begging the Indonesian government to 
spare them.

The Bali 9 ringleaders are running out of options to avoid the firing squad, 
which is being planned for the next 2 weeks.

Tony Abbott has left "no stone unturned" trying to prevent the death penalty 
for Chan and Sukumaran.

HOW INDONESIA CARRIES OUT EXECUTIONS:

- The convicted must be notified 72 hours before execution

- While waiting, they must be held in a special prison

- If the convicted wants to say something, the statement or the message must be 
received by the prosecutor

- If the convicted is pregnant, the execution will take place 40 days after the 
child is born

- Their lawyer can attend the execution

- The execution is not performed in public and conducted in the most modest 
possible way unless determined otherwise by the president

- The head of local police forms the shooting team, consisting of one 
non-commissioned officer and 12 privates, under the command of an officer

- The convicted can be accompanied by a spiritual counsellor

- They must dress modestly and orderly

- The commander will blindfold them with a piece of fabric, unless asked not to

- They can stand, sit or kneel

- If necessary their hands or feet will be tied to a pole

- There will be between 5 and 10 metres between the convicted and the shooting 
team

- Using a sword for the signal, the commander will order "ready" by swinging 
his sword up, ordering the team to aim at the convict's heart

- By swinging his sword down quickly, he orders "shoot"

- If the convicted isn't yet dead, the non-commissioned officer is ordered to 
shoot his pistol in his/her head, above the ear

- A doctor will confirm the death and a report will be prepared on the 
execution

- The body is handed to family or friends for burial, or to the state, with 
attention paid to religious beliefs.

Close friend, Pastor Matius Arif, says the pair are "very sad" their bid for a 
judicial review was rejected in the courts on Wednesday.

He read an open letter - addressed to the Indonesian government and signed by 
both Australians - to reporters outside Kerobokan jail on Thursday.

It argues they are more useful alive as they work to rehabilitate other 
prisoners.

"We beg for moratorium so we can have chance to serve Indonesia community 
(sic)" the letter says.

Mr Matius says the letter was handwritten by Sukumaran.

"There's so many testimonies about what they're doing inside," he told 
reporters.

"I also personally request the government to make a special commission or a 
special team to investigate what they're doing inside."

The team should then report on the rehab programs to the president, he said.

The application for a judicial review detailed the work of Chan, 31, and 
Sukumaran, 33, to assist others through chaplaincy and art programs,

Denpasar District Court determined it didn't meet the "new evidence" criteria 
for a review.

It was the last legal option for the pair, who have been denied clemency by 
President Joko Widodo.

Barrister Julian McMahon says their team is still examining the options after 
Wednesday's setback.

"It's certainly a major blow, that's for sure, because having this 2nd appeal 
was probably our best option in having all the issues canvassed," he told ABC 
Radio.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, too, says diplomatic efforts to save them are 
continuing.

"We are not going to engage in last-minute, megaphone diplomacy but I just want 
to assure people that the Australian government has left no stone unturned to 
try to ensure that these 2 Australians on death row have their sentences 
commuted," he said. The men's families visited Kerobokan jail again on 
Thursday, with Sukumaran's brother Chintu wrapping his arm around their mother 
Raji.

(source: Yahoo news)

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

Indonesia using Triple J poll to justify Bali 9 executions



A Triple J SMS poll which found 52 % of Australians, in principle, support 
death penalties for overseas drug traffickers could have sealed the fate of the 
Bali Nine ringleaders.

The lawyer for Sydney men Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who on Wednesday 
had a second judicial review of their case thrown out, said a "snap" poll 
commissioned by the radio station's Hack program had been quoted by the 
Indonesian government to justify sending the drug smugglers to the firing 
squad.

"The AG and the ambassador have publicly relied on the SMS poll as a factor 
justifying execution," Julian McMahon told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"They say that it pushes them to do it, that they have Australian public 
support."

About 2123 Australians cast their vote in the "yes" or "no" poll, which posed 
the question "In your opinion if an Australian is convicted of drug trafficking 
in another country and sentenced to death, should the penalty be carried out?"

The results were published in January under the headline "Australians think 
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran should be executed", despite there being no 
mention of the 2 men's specific case in the Roy Morgan Research poll.

Gary Morgan, executive chairman of Roy Morgan Research, defended its treatment.

Chan and Sukumaran's legal team applied for a 2nd judicial review of their case 
on Friday, citing past errors of the law and their transformation over a decade 
in jail.

Despite the bid, Indonesian authorities continued planning for their execution, 
announcing on Wednesday that neither man's application would be accepted.

The Bali 9 ringleaders, who have been on death row since 2006, were named in 
the next round of executions.

It is understood they will be taken in the dead of the night from their cells 
in Kerobokan Prison in Denpasar and flown to Jogyakarta.

>From there they will travel 5 hours through the villages and waters of Java en 
route to the notorious correctional centre on Nusa Kambangan, where they 6 drug 
criminals were executed 2 weeks ago, to meet their fate.

(source: 9news.com.au)






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

Lindsay Sandiford: Foreign secretary raises opposition to death penalty while 
in Indonesia



British foreign secretary Philip Hammond has raised his government's opposition 
to the use of the death penalty while in the country where a Teesside gran is 
on death row.

Mr Hammond spoke with Jusuf Kalla, the Vice President of Indonesia, and Foreign 
Minister Ibu Retno yesterday about the UK's position about capital punishment.

Lindsay Sandiford, originally from Redcar, is currently in one of the country's 
jails after she was sentenced to death in January 2013.

The 58-year-old is in a Bali prison for trafficking cocaine worth 1.6m pounds 
and believes she may face a firing squad within weeks.

"In Indonesia and have raised UK opposition to death penalty with Vice 
President Jusuf Kalla and Foreign Minister Ibu Retno," said Mr Hammond on 
Twitter.

The MP had also announced he would raise the issue of the death penalty with 
the Indonesian authorities before his arrival in the country.

At a joint press conference in Australia with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Mr 
Hammond said: "The UK's position - like Australia's position - is that we are 
opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.

"We have abolished it at home and we strongly advocate the abolition of the 
death penalty in other countries.

"I am going to Indonesia after my visit to New Zealand in a couple of days time 
and will be engaging with our Indonesian counterparts there. And I will be 
delivering on behalf of all of the governments of countries who have people 
convicted and on death row - including the UK, we have UK nationals on death 
row in Indonesia - that message about our position on the death penalty."

Sandiford was found with cocaine as she arrived in Bali on a flight from 
Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2012.

The grandmother and mum of 2 claimed she was forced to transport the drugs to 
protect her children, whose safety was at stake.

All her appeals have so far been denied and she has no legal representation 
after the British Government refused to fund a lawyer for her.

She has no money for lawyers and claims to have had little Foreign Office help.

But a spokesman said the Foreign Office stood "ready to provide support".

The spokesman added it had consistently provided and offered consular support 
to Sandiford, which she currently declined to accept.

Indonesia began a wave of executions recently with 5 foreigners - including a 
Dutchman and a Brazilian - killed by firing squad.

Days later, the 2nd of 2 Australians on death row in the same prison as 
Sandiford in Bali had their clemency appeals rejected.

Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, are now expected to be shot dead by 
firing squad next month.

(source: gazettelive.co.uk)

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

Bali 9 members ask Indonesia for death penalty moratorium -- Andrew Chan and 
Myuran Sukumaran write an open letter calling for a moratorium on their 
executions as their last legal avenue for appeal was rejected



Drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have received the official 
notice informing them of the Denpasar district court's rejection of their last 
legal recourse for appeal against their executions, with a letter delivered to 
Kerobokan prison on Thursday.

Just 1 hour earlier the 2 men released an open letter to the government of 
Indonesia begging for a moratorium on the death sentence.

The letter was delivered on Thursday morning by a court official, Mr Rudi, who 
showed the addressed envelope to media outside.

Earlier the 2 Australian men, sentenced to die for their part in the 2005 
heroin smuggling attempt by a group known as the Bali 9, released a letter 
through evangelist Matius Arif Mirjara.

To government of Indonesia, we beg for moratorium so we can have chance to 
serve Indonesia and commit to bring more benefits on the rehabilitation process 
in prison. We believe in the Indonesian legal system that brings justice and 
humanity.

Mirjara said the 2 men are upset with the news, and are begging for a 
moratorium "because we believe that they bring more benefit if they have a 
chance to live in prison,??? he told media outside the prison.

"There is so much testimony about what they are doing inside. I also personally 
address the government to make special permissions to make special 
recommendations by the president for them to live.

The families of Chan and Sukumaran visited again on Thursday morning, but did 
not speak to media. On Wednesday the Denpasar district court rejected an 
application for the pair???s cases to undergo a second judicial review. The 
controversial legal move divided the Indonesian legal system, with the 
constitutional court ruling prisoners could have more than one such appeal but 
the supreme court disagreeing.

The Indonesian lawyer for the pair, Todung Mulya Lubis, told Guardian Australia 
the rejection "can be considered violation of the constitutional court 
decision."

"[The] constitutional court decision is final and binding, and every court 
should adhere to that decision. I regret the rejection and reserve a right to 
take any possible legal recourse available," he said late Wednesday.

The Denpasar district court agreed to accept the application last Friday and 
spent most of this week deliberating before rejecting it.

Indonesia's minister of law and human rights said a new regulation to be issued 
in a few months' time would allow multiple judicial reviews but until then only 
1 was permitted, including for Sukumaran and Chan.

Last week the attorney general, HM Prasetyo, said the so-called PK application 
and the pleas for clemency and talk of the men???s rehabilitation contained in 
it did not constitute new evidence, but he would not interfere in the court 
process.

The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, who rejected both clemency appeals, has 
vowed to take a hard line against drugs smugglers in Indonesia.

Last week Prasetyo said the 2 Australians would be among the next group of 
convicted people to be executed.

Planning of the executions did not pause while the application for another 
review was still active, but no time or place had been decided yet. Some 
embassies have been notified that their citizens will shortly be executed, but 
Prasetyo did not detail which ones.

The Australian embassy told Guardian Australia it would not comment on the case 
at this time.

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

Pregnant teenager says she is 'petrified' but innocent of Bali suitcase murder



Heather Mack told the Chicago Tribune in a series of interviews on Tuesday that 
she loved her mother and had no reason to kill her. The remains of her mother, 
62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack, were found in a suitcase outside a resort in 
Bali where she and her daughter were staying in August.

Also on trial is Mack's boyfriend, 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer, who police say 
arrived in Bali shortly before the death. If convicted, Schaefer and Mack could 
face death by firing squad.

Mack, who is due to give birth on 1 April, said her fear was "more for my 
daughter than me".

Mack said she contacted the Tribune by phone because her attorney in Indonesia 
is not being paid out of a $1.56m trust fund left behind by her mother. In 
Chicago, Cook County judge Neil Cohen ruled in January that $150,000 from the 
fund should go to Mack's attorney but could not be used for the boyfriend's 
defence.

The Indonesian attorney has received one $50,000 payment, Mack said, but two 
more instalments have not been paid. Cohen had said those payments should not 
be made until the attorney provides a billing statement explaining his 
services.

Prosecutors say Mack and Schaefer plotted to kill Mack's mother because she 
didn't endorse their relationship, and that Mack once proposed that Schaefer 
hire a hit man for $50,000. When asked by the Tribune about the hit-man 
allegation, Mack said she "can't answer that".

"I maintain that I am innocent of all charges against me related to the death 
of my mother," Mack said. "I believe my lawyer, who has worked relentlessly on 
my behalf, will prove this in court."

According to the indictment, Von Wiese-Mack became angry during an argument 
over the hotel bill and scolded Schaefer using a racial slur. The indictment 
says Schaefer battered her with a fruit bowl handle, and then Mack helped put 
her mother's body in a suitcase.

Mack and Schaefer hired a taxi, put the suitcase in the trunk and never came 
back after saying they were going back inside to check out, prosecutors said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that court records show Mack's uncle, William 
Wiese, sold her mother's Chicago condo in December without telling Mack or her 
attorneys. Wiese, who is Von Wiese-Mack's brother, has clashed with Mack over 
the trust fund and objected to her request to use funds from the trust for her 
defence.

The condo was sold for $610,000, the Sun-Times reports, and Mack's belongings 
were sent to her aunt's house in St Louis.

Trial proceedings continued on Wednesday.

(source for both: The Guardian)

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

Execution of 11 more death row inmates soon: Attorney General Office



The Attorney General Office said the death penalty of 11 more convicts whose 
appeals for clemency have been rejected by the president would soon be 
executed.

"The date is not yet fixed," the chief spokesman of the Attorney General Office 
Tony Tribagus Spontana said here on Wednesday.

The 11 convicts include 8 convicted in drug cases and 3 in murder cases.

2 among the drug convicts are Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan of 
the Bali 9 group, Tony said.

The Bali 9 group include 9 Australian arrested in April, 2005 and sentenced 
later for attempting to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Bali from Australia.

A Denpasar district meted out jail punishment for the other 7 Si Yi Chen, 
Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrence, Tach Duc Than Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott 
Rush and Martin Stephens.

Tony said all aspects had been met in connection with the procedure for the 
execution.

Head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Comr.Gen. Anang Iskandar said BNN 
fully supports the execution to give a deterrent effect on drug dealers.

Anang said most important in the execution was deterrent effect.

The attorney general office said it had received a presidential decree 
rejecting appeals for clemency of the 11 people condemned to death.

The other 9 are Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar, Harun bin Ajis and Sargawi alias 
Ali bin Sanusi -- all 3 Indonesian convicted for premeditated murder -- and 
the rest in drug cases including Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines, 
Serge Areski Atlaoui of France, Martin Anderson alias Belo of Ghana, Zainal 
Abidin of Indonesia , Raheem Agbaje Salami of Cordova, and Rodrigo Gularte of 
Brazil.

President Joko Widodo has said he would not give leniency for all drug convicts 
who make up around 60 % of the country's prison inmates.

Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands have been angered by the execution of the 
death penalty. Brazil and the Netherlands even recalled their ambassadors in 
protest of the execution last month.

On Wednesday, British Foreign Minister, Philip Hammond, who was on a visit 
here, expressed concerned that a Britisher is facing death execution .

Hammond, however, did not seek to lobby only to express concern, Foreign 
Minister Retno LP Marsudi said.

Retno said she had told Hammond the execution is in line with the standard of 
international law.

A Britisher, Lindsay Sandiford, is a death row inmate, convicted for possession 
of 4.7 kilograms of cocaine in Bali in 2012.

"Britain is against death sentence. We have abolished death sentence and we 
advocate abolition of death sentence," Hammond said.

(source: Antara News)








AUSTRALIA:

Death Sentences & Diplomacy: Australia's Strained Indonesia 
Ties----Incompatible attitudes towards recreational drugs complicates 
Australian diplomacy in the region.



Every few years the Australian public is outraged by the incarceration of one 
of its citizens in Southeast Asia for drug trafficking. In the past decade, 
newspaper headlines have repeatedly run photo essays and long features on 
Australian drug traffickers languishing in Southeast Asian prison cells.

The most recent coverage has been focused on the so-called Bali 9, a group of 
young Australians apprehended in 2005 and convicted for drug trafficking in 
Indonesia. Last week the 2 ringleaders of the group lost their appeals for 
presidential clemency in Indonesia.

The 2 men, Myuran Sukumaran and Adrew Chan, are now "next in line" to be 
executed.

Public vigils were held across Australia last week and news media have been 
consumed by the sentencing of the 2 men. Any thought that Indonesian President 
Joko "Jokowi" Widodo might have of granting clemency is likely to have been 
quashed by his declining popularity in his first 100 days since taking office. 
Among the reasons for this slump, his decision to scrap fuel subsidies. The 
death penalty in Indonesia is popular and the past president used it to 
leverage his popularity. Under the guise of "firmness," Jokowi appears to be 
employing a similar modus operandi.

For Australia's foreign policy in Indonesia, this causes problems.

Canberra has had a tougher than usual relationship with Jakarta in recent 
years. Revelations in late 2013 that Australia had spied on Indonesia???s 
former president Susilo Bambang Yughoyono, his wife, and other senior 
government officials including current Vice President Jusuf Kalla, was a major 
blow to relations.

Other executions of foreign nationals this year, including a Brazilian and a 
Dutch man, led those countries to recall their ambassadors. Canberra will feel 
pressure to do the same.

In 2005, Australian man Van Tuong Nguyen was executed in Singapore for drug 
trafficking. At the time, Tony Abbott, then minister for health, said that 
"people do need to understand that drug trafficking is a very serious offence 
and it has heavy penalties in Australia and it has even more drastic penalties 
overseas as we have been reminded today."

The then Prime Minister John Howard gave a stern warning to all Australians to 
stay away from drugs. A warning that Australia, one of the highest users of 
recreational drugs in the world, seems unable heed.

Australia is today facing its own epidemic of methamphetamine and other drugs. 
The epidemic encourages trafficking from Southeast Asia and fuels Australian 
party-tourism to Southeast Asian states. The current publicity around these 
sentences is perhaps the best time for Canberra to crack down on the flow of 
narcotics within Australia and launch an all-out assault on lax attitudes to 
drug consummation. That domestic approach should be coupled with improved 
cooperation on counter-narcotics in Southeast Asia.

The difficulty for the Australian government is that there are dozens more 
Australians facing drug charges in Southeast Asia, some in countries that also 
have the death penalty. Once such cases reach the domestic media they become 
points of national pride, with neither side able to hold a constructive 
dialogue. In effect, the incarcerated become hostages to a cause.

Cleaning up Australia's domestic drug attitudes would go a long way to making 
sure other young Australian's don't face the death penalty. And that would make 
the job of Australia's diplomats (who per capita still make up one of the 
smallest diplomatic corps in the world) much easier.

(source: The Diplomat)




EGYPT:

Egypt court upholds death sentence for Morsi supporter



An Egyptian court on Thursday upheld a death sentence handed down against a 
supporter of ousted President Mohamed Morsi convicted of committing murder, a 
judicial source has said.

"The verdict is final and cannot be challenged," the source, requesting 
anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency.

The court also upheld life sentences handed down against 16 defendants, 15-year 
jail terms for 8 defendants, and 10-year jail terms for 35 others in connection 
with the same murder.

A minor was also jailed for 7 years in the same case.

"The verdicts are final and will be applied to all defendants," defense lawyer 
Ahmed al-Hamrawi told AA.

He said the death penalty "is the 1st to be upheld by an Egyptian court against 
a supporter of Morsi."

The defendants were convicted of throwing opponents from the roof of a building 
in the coastal city of Alexandria in the summer of 2013.

The killing took place 2 days after the army unseated Morsi - Egypt's 1st 
freely elected president - following massive protests against his-year rule.

Egypt's army-backed authorities have since launched a wide-ranging crackdown on 
supporters of Morsi and his embattled Muslim Brotherhood group, detaining 
thousands and killing hundreds.

Egyptian authorities have also branded the Brotherhood a "terrorist" group on 
claims that it condones violence, an allegation dismissed by the movement, 
which says it is committed to peaceful activism.

(source: World Bulletin)

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

Court upholds death penalty, life sentences for those who threw 4 off roof



The Court of Cassation upheld a death penalty sentence for Mahmoud Hassan 
Ramadan on charges of throwing 4 people to their death from a building in 
Alexandria in 2013, Youm7 reported Thursday.

The court also upheld the life sentences for his 57 co-defendants, who were 
accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

All defendants faced charges of the murder of 4 persons and the attempted 
murder of 8 others in the Sidi Gaber district of Alexandria in 2013 after the 
ouster of the former President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013.

On March 29, 2014, the Alexandria Criminal Court handed down its verdict 
against the defendants, and Ramadan confessed to the crime.

Video footage showed that Ramadan and other defendants were holding al-Qaeda 
flag as they threw the victims, some of whom were teenagers.

(source: The Cairo Post)








INDIA:

Parents of deceased girl seek death penalty for culprits



The biological parents of Naushan Beguam alias Shahista Saba, a 5-year old 
girl, who died while on her way to hospital after rescued by an NGO and police 
on January 29, demanded death penalty for those who kidnapped and tortured the 
girl to death.

Md. Mahmood and his wife Reshma Begum, residents of Rajendranagar in Hyderabad, 
along with family members arrived at the police station at Kondapur on 
Wednesday to testify about the kidnap of their girl and later being tortured by 
Sayyad Zakeer Ahmad and his wife Razia Sultana.

Speaking to reporters at the police station, they said that the girl was 
kidnapped when they visited Gulbarga on July 31, 2014.

They added that a complaint of kidnap was lodged with the police at Gulbarga 
and since then they were unable to trace her.

Thanking the media for passing on the information about their missing daughter 
and her plight, the couple demanded capital punishment for the culprits.

(source: The Hindu)



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

Lapses that led Allahabad HC to commute Koli's death sentence



The Allahabad High Court, which last month commuted the death sentence of 
Surender Koli, convicted in the Nithari killings, has cited glaring lapses on 
part of the state government in dealing with his mercy petition.

"Evidently, the state government had no processes and systems in place to deal 
with or streamline the disposal of mercy petitions filed under Article 161 of 
the Constitution of death convicts. Surely, a matter as serious as one 
impinging upon the right to life of a convict cannot be dealt with in such a 
cavalier fashion," the court said in its January 28 order, the details of which 
became available on Wednesday.

The court, which had allowed the petitioner's counsel to inspect the files 
related to Koli's mercy plea, has pointed out the following lapses:

First, the processing of the mercy plea started on the basis of a Government 
Order (GO) passed on April 3, 2005, which dealt with grant of pardon by the 
Governor to convicts. Later, however, the Prison department realised this GO 
applied only to those convicts who were not handed the death sentence. The 
subject head of the GO clearly said it dealt with all convicts other than those 
awarded the death penalty.

Second, the principal secretary (home) admitted in writing in the file notings 
that he did not have the jurisdiction and competence to make any recommendation 
on a mercy petition. Yet, the court found in its perusal of records that he 
made a firm recommendation, saying Koli should not be granted mercy plea. The 
court took a serious note of this lapse.

Third, the Law department, which should have dealt with the matter in detail, 
simply went by the recommendation made by the principal secretary (home), which 
was invalid.

Fourth, the legal advisor to the Governor submitted before him that the 
findings arrived at by the courts of law regarding guilt, conviction and 
quantum of sentence of the convict was 'binding' on the Governor. The court 
said such an advice actually prevented the Governor from exercising his 
Constitutional rights.

On the issue of delay, the court pointed out that of the 3 years and 3 months 
taken to complete the process of mercy petition - between May 7, 2011, and 
August 2, 2014 - the state government took 2 years and 2 months, while the 
Union government took 1 year and 15 days.

Further, the court pointed out that even the 1st basic exercise - of the 
reports being called from district magistrates of Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh 
Nagar as well as the prison authorities when the mercy plea was first made - 
took nearly 1 1/2 years.

Referring to the Jail Manual - which gives 7 days to convicts for filing a 
mercy petition - the court said, "Surely, if such an obligation is cast upon 
the convict, the least that is to be expected is, a decision on a mercy 
petition ought not to be prolonged unduly and should be arrived at with all 
reasonable dispatch."

The court also took into account the plea of the petitioners that Koli had, in 
violation of Constitutional provisions, been kept in solitary confinement ever 
since he was first convicted and handed death in 2009 by a sessions court. 
Under rules, a death row convict cannot be kept in solitary confinement until 
the order attains finality following rejection of mercy petition by the 
President.

Further, the court also took into account the wrong issuance of warrants by the 
Additional Sessions Judge of Ghaziabad, in which, instead of specific dates, a 
range of dates were mentioned for the execution to take place. Finally, the 
court said it was not the quantum of delay that was important, but the reasons 
for the same. The court also rejected the plea of the state authorities that 
the gravity of the crime and not only delay should be taken into account on the 
ground that law dealing with execution of death sentence too has a humanising 
element and had to be seen in the light of Article 21 (right to life) of the 
Constitution.

(source: Indian Express)








JAPAN:

Death penalty activists aim to convince public with weeklong series of talks, 
movies in Tokyo



A Tokyo movie theater will screen movies this month about the death penalty and 
host guest speakers to stimulate debate about a practice that most developed 
nations have abolished.

"Death Penalty Movie Week" is scheduled for Feb. 14 to 20 at Eurospace in 
Shibuya and features 8 movies, some of them homegrown but others foreign.

The festival's title is "Can 1 Person Bring Another to Justice?"

It aims to explore the sin against society of taking someone's life in 
vengeance.

The movies include the 1959 Japanese film "I'd Rather Be a Shellfish," which 
depicts a barber falsely charged with killing a U.S. captive during World War 
II and sentenced to death. Another is the 1984 Japanese movie "Heaven Station," 
about the 1st female death row inmate hanged in Japan after the war.

Also showing is the 1999 American movie "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred 
A. Leuchter, Jr.," which profiles a technician who developed execution devices 
such as electric chairs and lethal injection machines, and "Camp 14: Total 
Control Zone," a 2012 German documentary featuring a North Korean political 
prisoner who was born and grew up in a re-education camp.

The event is the 4th of its kind. It will feature talks by guest speakers, 
including lawyers and journalists, according to the organizer, Forum 90. 4 
movies will be shown per day.

Also appearing is Iwao Hakamada, a former death row inmate who was released 
last March after spending nearly 48 years in prison following a court decision 
to reopen his case. He will visit the theater with his activist sister Hideko 
Hakamada on Feb. 15 following a screening of the 2010 Japanese film "BOX: The 
Hakamada Case."

The movie focuses on a judge who sentenced Hakamada to death over the 1966 
murder of four members of a family. The judge later said he believed Hakamada 
to have been innocent but was unable to prevent a guilty verdict being passed.

The organizers say they hope the festival will help sway those who may already 
be questioning the value of the death penalty.

"We expect those who wonder whether the death penalty should be maintained or 
not and those who are hesitant to attend anti-capital punishment rallies to 
watch these films," said Masakuni Ota, a member of Forum 90.

The group has separately been helping a private fund that supports exhibitions 
of paintings and writing by condemned prisoners.

During one such exhibition in Tokyo last September, which drew around 4,000 
people, visitors left the organizers with notes about their impressions.

While some said they felt unsympathetic toward death row inmates being 
encouraged to draw and write, one visitor said the exhibition had forced a 
change of mind.

"I was pro-capital punishment (until seeing this), but I have become aware that 
human beings are attractive. It's shocking, but I now believe we had better not 
keep the death penalty," the visitor commented.

Ota said, "We hope the upcoming screenings will also lead the visitors to think 
about the death penalty, as the exhibition did."

The past 3 "Death Penalty Movie Week" events attracted some 3,800 viewers in 
total.

A government survey last month found 80.3 % of people in Japan are in favor of 
the death penalty, down from a record 85.6 % in the previous survey in 2009. 
The respondents may have been affected by the court decision to reopen the 
Hakamada case, observers say. Opponents of the death penalty criticize the 
wording used in such surveys.

According to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, more than 2/3 of all 
nations had abolished the death penalty by law or in practice as of the end of 
2013.

In contrast with this global trend, Japan has hanged 11 inmates since Prime 
Minister Shinzo Abe's government came to power in December 2012.

Submitting a written request for Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa in November to 
suspend the execution of death row inmates, the JFBA said some nations abolish 
the death penalty in spite of apparent public support for it.

"Britain abolished capital punishment when 81 % of its citizens supported it, 
France did so despite 62 % support, and the Philippines terminated it despite 
80 % support" the request said. "South Korea has suspended executions (since 
1997), although 66 % of its citizens support it."

Japan was urged by the U.N. Human Rights Committee last July to "give due 
consideration to the abolition of the death penalty."

(source: Japan Times)