[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 11



AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA:

Bishop accuses Indonesia of death penalty 'double standard'



Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has called on Indonesia to show the same 
mercy to the Bali 9 pair awaiting execution that it wants for its own citizens 
overseas.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has instructed that "optimum protection" be 
offered to 229 Indonesian citizens sentenced to death overseas, including 
accused drug felons, in countries such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, Fairfax 
Media reports.

This included hiring lawyers to defend them, holding meetings with family 
members and seeking amnesty from the heads of states or victims' families.

"Australia's efforts to seek a stay of execution and a reconsideration of the 
clemency bids of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are consistent with the 
Indonesian government's own efforts on behalf of its death row prisoners 
overseas," Ms Bishop said.

"I call on the Indonesian government to offer the same mercy to Australian 
citizens it is pursuing for its own nationals, including those convicted of 
drug offences."

Bishop will introduce a parliamentary motion on the issue today.

(source: 9news.com.au)








KUWAIT:

Kuwait court upholds death penalty on cop who raped Filipino maid



Kuwait's appeals court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a policeman 
for "abducting, raping and attempting to murder" a Filipino woman. The lower 
court condemned the policeman, identified only by the initials Y.M, to death 
last June. He can still challenge the ruling before the supreme court.

The policeman had arrested the woman after finding that her residence permit 
had expired, according to the court papers.

He took her to a deserted area where he stabbed her in the neck and raped her 
after she refused to have sex with him.

The policeman left her for dead in a pool of blood, but returned and stabbed 
her several more times when she moved.

The Filipino survived and crawled to a nearby road where a passerby took her to 
hospital.

About 180,000 Filipinos, many of them women employed as domestic helpers, work 
and live in oil-rich Kuwait, making up the 4th largest foreign community in the 
Gulf emirate.

(source: Arab News)