[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 17



GLOBAL:

Death penalty: Aberration or deterrent?



As Australia appeals for clemency for 2 of its citizens awaiting execution in 
Indonesia for drug trafficking, the spotlight is once again focused on the 
practice of state-sanctioned killing as punishment for a range of crimes.

So what are the key facts, figures and arguments surrounding the death penalty?

Is the use of capital punishment increasing or declining? What would account 
for these trends?

Despite a global trend towards abolition, in 2013, the latest data available 
from Amnesty International, executions rose by almost 15% over the previous 
year. The spike of recorded, verifiable executions, according to the 
organization, were perpetrated by an "isolated group of entrenched 
executioners, mainly Iraq and Iran."

Excluding China, for which figures are not known, Amnesty reveals that 778 
confirmed executions were carried out in 2013.

However, despite an increase in numbers of executions as a whole, there is a 
general trend towards abolition, with an increasing number of territories and 
countries across the globe moving toward moratorium or abolition.

Worst offenders: Which countries execute the most people?

Amnesty reports that 22 countries conducted executions during 2013, one more 
than in the previous year. 4 countries -- Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and 
Vietnam -- resumed executions after moratoriums were lifted there.

China, which is believed to execute more prisoners prisoners each year than the 
rest of the world combined, does not release figures on its executions and thus 
reliable figures are hard to come by.

While concrete data is difficult to obtain in many countries, Amnesty says that 
almost 80% of all known executions (which excludes China's figures) worldwide 
were recorded in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this year, Egypt condemned 183 defendants to death in a mass 
sentencing, triggering international opprobrium and calling the Egyptian 
justice system into sharp relief.

The United States, which executed 39 people in 2013, is the only G7 country, 
and the only 1 of 56 member states of the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe, to still use capital punishment.

Which countries have abolished the death penalty?

More than 2/3 of countries have struck capital punishment from their statutes, 
or at least for all practical purposes. In 2013 no executions were recorded in 
Europe and Central Asia, and the U.S. was the only country in the Americas to 
execute people in 2013. Only 3 ASEAN nations -- including Indonesia -- carried 
out executions that year. Of the G8, only 2 -- the United States and Japan -- 
executed prisoners.

When do prisoners find out about their impeding execution?

This differs from country to country, ranging from an execution date -- pending 
appeals -- set at sentencing in the United States, to inmates unaware of their 
scheduled death until just a few days or hours before being killed, as is the 
case the Bali 9 as they await their fates in Indonesia.

How are prisoners executed?

Methods of execution range from lethal injection -- 1st adopted in the United 
States in 1977 -- to gassing, hanging, death by firing squad, electrocution and 
beheading -- Saudi Arabia still publicly executes prisoners by decapitating 
them with a sword.

How accurate are figures on the death penalty?

Amnesty says: "In some countries, it is not possible to obtain reliable data 
because governments do not make figures for death sentences and executions 
available, while others actively conceal death penalty proceedings. In 
countries affected by conflict it is often not possible to obtain sufficient 
information to confirm whether any executions have taken place."

How are cases of foreign nationals sentenced to death treated?

Foreigners on trial in countries with the death penalty can be at a 
disadvantage due to linguistic difficulties and an unfamiliarity with the 
country's legal system; however, those arrested abroad are granted consular 
assistance under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR).

Diplomatic solutions occasionally see prisoners repatriated to serve out 
sentences -- in lieu of execution -- in their home countries.

Indeed, the VCCR has been cited in diplomatic attempts to repatriate death row 
citizens -- Mexico invoked the United States' failure to abide by the 
convention as reason to repatriate 54 Mexican nationals in death row in the 
U.S.

However, foreigners often fall foul of some country's laws -- drug trafficking 
cases are often headline-grabbers -- and in some high profile cases, despite 
diplomatic appeals, politicians choose to go ahead with executions in a bid to 
appear unwavering in the face of serious crime.

What are the arguments for and against the practice?

Advocates say it is a powerful deterrent against serious crime, while others 
point to the problems -- and cost -- of keeping violent offenders in general 
prison populations. In many countries, justice is seen as served due to the 
satisfaction of the victims or their families in seeing perpetrators put to 
death.

Opponents cite the arbitrariness of the death penalty, the fallibility of 
juries and the problems associated with wrongful conviction. In the United 
States, there are also claims that there are racial disparities and that 
African-Americans are overrepresented on death row.

(source: CNN)








INDIA:

Shreya Rastogi and Lubhyathi Rangarajan: The life merchants----The Death 
Penalty Litigation Clinic has taken up the cudgels for prisoners on death row



Shreya Rastogi's voice bristles over the phone as she narrates incidents of 
underaged prisoners being awarded the death penalty. "Such prisoners routinely 
have their age inflated by the police and prosecution," the 24-year-old lawyer 
says. Just getting their age verified is an uphill task. In 1 instance, they 
had to go to the prisoner's school in a faraway village and get his 
school-leaving certificate. Still, the work has resulted in at least 1 person 
having his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. And that is just one of the 
many steps in a long road for Rastogi and colleague Lubhyathi Rangarajan, 27, 
who have criss-crossed the country interviewing prisoners on death row.

"Their work is absolutely path-breaking," says Yug Mohit Chaudhury, a lawyer 
who specialises in death penalty litigation. According to him, a major 
challenge for death penalty abolitionists has been the lack of data in India. 
The Supreme Court has even cited this as a factor in its inability to provide a 
reasoned judgment on the abolition of the penalty. In light of this, in 2013, P 
Sathasivam, chairperson, National Legal Services Authority, gave permission to 
the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic to compile empirical data on death row 
prisoners in India.

That was when the National Law University (NLU) in Delhi stepped in and 
provided initial funding for the clinic. Initially, the aim was to compile 
information on the number of prisoners on death row. Rastogi and Rangarajan, 
both lawyers, collaborated with Anup Surendranath, assistant professor at the 
university. (Maitreyi Misra, 24, who was part of the original team, was till 
recently associated with the clinic.) Of the 385 prisoners on death row in 
India, the duo have interviewed 370. (The only prisoners they haven't been 
given access to are those convicted in terror cases.)

"What we aim to do is map the socio-economic profile of someone sentenced to 
death," says Rangarajan. One finding: The prisoners are overwhelmingly poor and 
the duo has seen families falling into poverty once the sole breadwinner is 
sentenced to death. "At the very least, this has helped us understand that the 
death penalty results in entire families falling out of the economic net. 
Children are forced to start working, pushing economic advancement back by 
another generation," says Rastogi.

They are, for the most part, unable to afford lawyers and depend on the state. 
Then, there is the "callous manner" in which investigations are conducted. In 
Orissa, a tribal was accused of murdering his wife and sentenced to death. 
While being interviewed by the clinic, it emerged that he was beaten to the 
confession.

Upon seeing this, the clinic has gone beyond its founding role and started 
arranging legal representation for people on death row. Rastogi explains that 
for the moment - partly due to funding constraints - the clinic has only been 
able to intervene at the appellate level, i.e. once the death sentence has been 
passed. At present, it is helping 32 inmates. They have managed to stay 2 
executions.

Going forward, the project plans to publish a report where it will aim to map 
out the death row inmates. "It is only then that a reasoned conversation on the 
abolition of the death penalty can begin," says Rangarajan.

(source: Forbes India)

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

HC ratifies death for man who raped, killed Class IX student



The Bombay High Court on Monday confirmed death sentence to a man who had raped 
and killed a 13-year-old girl in Raigad in October 2012.

"The accused committed the offence in order to satisfy his lust. He forcibly 
raped 13-year-old defenceless school-going girl and eliminated her life," the 
HC said while confirming the death penalty for 22-year-old Viran Rajput, who 
hails from Madhya Pradesh.

The victim studied in Class IX at a school located four km from her house. "She 
used to go on foot to her school and on the unfortunate day, she was returning 
home alone. The accused took this opportunity and helpless girl was subjected 
to sexual and brutal assault in a remote place where there was nobody to 
protect her," said Justices V K Tahilramani and I K Jain.

Calling the accused "beastly", the judges said that after satisfying his lust, 
he feared that the victim might expose him. "So he buried her body in a naked 
condition in a ditch and covered the place with grass and mud. The modus 
operandi of the accused clearly shows he would be a menace to the society and 
there is no possibility of him being reformed," the judges held in a 93-page 
order.

On June 25, 2014, a sessions court had convicted Rajput under Section 302 of 
the IPC and sentenced him to death. He was also convicted under the Protection 
of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

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

Calling it insult to womanhood, Bombay HC confirms death penalty to man for 
raping, killing teen



The Bombay High Court on Monday confirmed death penalty to a 22-year-old man 
who was convicted for raping and killing a minor school girl way back in 2012.

"The accused committed the offence in order to satisfy his lust. He forcibly 
raped the 13-year-old defenceless school going girl and eliminated her life 
which is the ultimate insult to womanhood," said the court while confirming 
death penalty to the convict who hails from Madhya Pradesh.

"It has come on record that she used to go on foot to her school and on the 
unfortunate day, she was returning alone from the school. The accused took this 
opportunity and helpless girl was subjected to sexual and brutal assault in a 
remote place where there was nobody to protect her," said Justices V K 
Tahilramani and I K Jain.

Calling the convict's act "beastly", the judges said that after satisfying his 
lust he killed her as he thought she might expose him. "He buried her body in a 
naked condition in a ditch and covered the place with grass and mud. The 
modus-operandi of the accused clearly shows that he would be a menace to the 
society and there is no possibility of the accused being reformed," the judges 
held in a 93-page order.

Earlier, on June 25, 2014 a session court convicted him under section 302 of 
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced him to capital punishment. He was 
also convicted under section 366, sections 10 and 4 of the Protection of 
Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and section 201 of IPC.

The HC took into consideration the fact that the offence was not committed in 
the spur of the moment. "It was pre-planned. The accused took the victim to a 
secluded place and raped her. The subsequent conduct of the accused indicates 
that he had felt no remorse. After commission of crime, he was found coolly 
wandering in the village," the court said.

"The modus-operandi to commit the crime by resorting to diabolical method 
exhibits depravity, degradation and uncommon nature of the crime which had 
shocked the collective conscience of the community as well as the villagers who 
are required to send their minor girls to another village for education, in the 
era in which right to education is the constitutional guarantee," held the High 
Court.

(source for both: Indian Express)

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

Can Abu Salem be given the death sentence?



After his 1st significant conviction since his extradition from Portugal a 
decade ago, the crucial issue is what would be the demand now for Abu Salem's 
quantum of punishment in the case of murder and an act of terror. The central 
government may have to apply its mind before special public prosecutor Ujjwal 
Nikam makes his arguments for sentencing Salem on Tuesday for the 1995 murder 
of builder Pradeep Jain.

Salem's extradition in 2005 had come with riders to protect him from a death 
sentence, which Portugal had long abolished. Salem said the Indian government 
had agreed to this pre-condition. Legal experts say now it will be difficult to 
seek the death penalty for Salem.

In the Jain murder case, Salem was charged with murder, which attracts capital 
punishment. Additional charges under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities 
(Prevention) Act were added by the court that tried him in Mumbai. One of the 
sections attracts the noose.

In September 2010, the Supreme Court dismissed Salem's plea that he cannot be 
tried for offences punishable with death.

The SC had pointed out that notwithstanding the pre-condition imposed by 
Portugal, the two countries are signatories to the international convention on 
elimination of terrorism; hence, it felt that there was nothing wrong if the 
various provisions under Tada and the IPC were invoked against him.

Nikam said Salem's conviction, especially under Tada for committing terrorist 
acts, is major. It will have "wide ramifications", especially because his 
co-accused in the case is the absconding underworld don Anees Ibrahim, brother 
of don Dawood Ibrahim. "Salem was the associate of Anees and the verdict will 
be a big jolt to Dawood. It will boost the government's fight against terrorist 
gangs," said Nikam.

The prosecutor, who would have ordinarily sought nothing but the maximum 
punishment of death for a brutal murder, may have to contact the Centre on what 
the sentencing submission should be.

(source: The Times of India)








CHINA:

China Orders Compensation To Acquitted Death Row Prisoner



A court in China's southern city of Fuzhou ordered compensation of 1.14 million 
yuan (118,416 pounds) to a former death row prisoner who was acquitted on 
charges of poisoning 2 children, state media said on Tuesday.

The rare acquittal of Nian Bin, a former food stall owner who was freed in 
August after a court in Fujian province found there was insufficient evidence, 
prompted renewed calls for the abolition of the death penalty in China.

Nian, 39, was accused of poisoning his neighbours with rat poison, leading to 
the death of 2 children and injuries to 4 others in July 2006.

But he said he was tortured into confessing during police interrogations and 
had pursued his appeals for years, an effort closely watched by human rights 
lawyers in China and global rights groups.

He was convicted several times and spent 8 years in prison before being 
acquitted.

The intermediate court made the ruling on Sunday, and on Tuesday announced that 
Nian "should be paid 589,000 yuan for loss of personal freedom and another 
550,000 yuan for mental suffering," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China's ruling Communist Party has said it aims to prevent "extorting 
confessions by torture" and halt miscarriages of justice with a "timely 
correction mechanism", after a series of corruption investigations involving 
torture outraged the public.

But legal scholars are sceptical about significant change under 2-party rule. 
The government has been silent on establishing an independent judiciary or 
reining in the police, a powerful agency in China.

Rights groups say China uses capital punishment more than any other country, 
fanning public concern of irreversible miscarriages of justice.

(source: Malaysian Digest)

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

China's chance to end injustice of the death penalty----Zhou Zunyou says moves 
to cut the list of punishable offences are a step in the right direction, but 
public attitudes will need to be changed



2 high-profile incidents hit the headlines on February 9: in Hubei province, 
former mining tycoon Liu Han , along with his brother and 3 others, was 
executed for murder, running a mafia group and numerous other crimes. In Inner 
Mongolia, meanwhile, villager Zhao Zhihong was sentenced to death for a string 
of rapes and murders, including one in 1996 that had been blamed on a teenager 
by the name of Huugjilt.

In the former case, Liu had connections to Zhou Yongkang, the former security 
tsar and Politburo Standing Committee member, who has been arrested and 
expelled from the Communist Party. In the latter case, Huugjilt was 
posthumously exonerated last December; shortly afterwards, a police officer 
liable for the wrongful execution was charged with torture to coerce a 
confession, among other things.

While the execution of Liu was a by-product of China's iron-fisted onslaught on 
corruption, the death sentence meted out to Zhao was closely linked to China's 
difficult struggle for judicial fairness. In both campaigns, the death penalty 
has become a convenient tool for implementing the Communist Party's recent and 
unprecedented resolution on the rule of law.

In China, statistics on death sentences and executions are considered so 
sensitive that they remain a state secret. According to the Dui Hua Foundation, 
a human rights group, China executed around 2,400 prisoners in 2013, a 20 % 
drop from 2012. This estimate puts the annual number of Chinese executions at 3 
times as many as the rest of the world combined.

China retains the death penalty but has vowed to strictly control and prudently 
apply it. In the past decade, China has embarked on significant legal reforms 
to curtail its use. In 2007, the Supreme People's Court regained the right to 
review all death sentences without reprieve. In 2011, China introduced an 
amendment to its Criminal Code to remove 13 economic-related non-violent 
offences from the list of the 68 crimes punishable by death. At present, China 
is mulling adopting another amendment to the Criminal Code to cut 9 crimes from 
the current list.

Because of these reforms, annual executions are in steady decline. If this pace 
of change continues, the eventual abolition of the death penalty is a distinct 
possibility.

The current reform is largely the result of international pressure but Chinese 
academics have also played a prominent role. The contribution of Zhao Bingzhi, 
chairman of China's Association of Criminal Law, is worth special mention. He 
has even developed a detailed road map for the total abolition of the death 
penalty by 2050.

As in many other countries, a major argument that China makes in favour of the 
death penalty is the "national realities", in reference to its own legal 
culture and public opinion. It is a fact that the Chinese people strongly 
support the death penalty, based on the legal culture of "a life for a life". 
Hence, it is hard to expect authorities to stop using it immediately in 
defiance of the will of the people.

However, public opinion may change over time. There is ample proof in the 
history of the death penalty worldwide that people can be moved towards an 
abolitionist attitude. Similarly, the Chinese people will, at some point in the 
future, also be prepared to give up the idea of killing someone, regardless of 
how heinous he or she is, even if it is in the name of justice. Yet, the 
Chinese public first needs to be informed about the key reasons for the 
abolition of the death penalty.

Firstly, it is traditionally thought to be an effective and necessary deterrent 
against crime. But, so far, there has been no reliable scientific evidence that 
proves it is more of a deterrent than other punishments such as life in prison 
without parole.

Secondly, the death penalty leads to irreversible miscarriages of justice. For 
the parents of Huugjilt, nothing can repair their broken hearts, including 
hefty financial compensation for the wrongful execution of their son. Sadly, 
such miscarriages are not rare in China.

Thirdly, any method of execution involves a great deal of suffering, whether 
physical or psychological, that amounts to torture or cruel, inhuman or 
degrading treatment or punishment - which is prohibited under international 
law. The look of despair on Liu Han's face revealed his pain as he heard the 
court's verdict.

In 2012, 111 countries voted for a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a 
moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty. In 2013, 
173 of the 193 UN member states did not execute anybody, signalling a growing 
trend towards the abolition of capital punishment. Against this background, 
China has no reason to lag behind in its efforts to build a rights-oriented 
country.

(source: Dr Zhou Zunyou, head of the China section at Germany's Max Planck 
Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, is the author of 
Balancing Security and Liberty: Counter-Terrorism Legislation in Germany and 
China----SOuth China Morning Post)

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

Sydney man waits on China trial decision



Sydney man Peter Gardner, who has been detained in China on suspicion of drug 
smuggling for more than 3 months, is still awaiting a decision on whether his 
case will go to trial.

New Zealand-born Gardner was arrested on November 8 in Guangzhou, where 
authorities allege he tried to smuggle 40kg of methamphetamine out of China.

His travelling partner, Sydney woman Kalynda Davis, 22, was released in 
December after a month in custody without charge.

But Gardner, a 25-year-old from Richmond in northwest Sydney, could face the 
death penalty.

New Zealand human rights lawyer Craig Tuck has joined Gardner's defence team 
and will travel to China soon to work with his client's Chinese legal counsel.

'Mr Gardner has had his file transferred from the police to the prosecutor's 
office,' he said in a statement on Tuesday.

'He is detained in a cell while he awaits the decision about whether or not his 
case will proceed to trial.

'He is grateful for the love and support of his family and friends in New 
Zealand and Australia.'

The Gardner family has requested privacy and won't comment to the media while 
the case proceeds.

When Ms Davis returned to Sydney, her father revealed she was cleared because 
she had carry-on luggage only.

She had been shackled in a small cell during the 30-day interrogation, was 
allowed no contact with the outside world and had her long, blonde hair 
cropped.

(source: Sky News)



AUSTRALIA:

Vic legal profession opposes death penalty



Victoria's top judges will gather to oppose the death penalty as the execution 
of 2 Bali 9 smugglers draws close.

The Law Institute of Victoria will hold a minute's silence on Wednesday morning 
to support Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, 2 Australians facing the death 
penalty in Indonesia.

Jim Peters QC, Victorian Bar Chairman, said the death penalty only brutalises 
the community further.

'The death penalty is not an effective deterrent to crime,' Mr Peters said.

Law Institute president Katie Miller said the institute had a long history of 
advocating against the death penalty around the world.

'The LIV's position is that the death penalty should be abolished in every 
country and, even in this dark hour, we look forward to the day that this is 
achieved,' Ms Miller said.

The minute's silence will be held outside the County Court in Melbourne at 
8.30am.

(source: Sky News)

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

Why I won't be boycotting Bali - or other countries with the death penalty



Julie Bishop has suggested Australians might boycott Bali to protest against 
the death penalty. But are individual boycotts moral, or even effective? 
Deciding where to go on holiday involves a deep subset of choices. Do we want 
to rest or do we want adventure? Do we want wildlife and wilderness, or history 
and culture? Is it a holiday we're after, or are we "travelling" in search of 
some kind of self-discovery? Do we want to take a plane or a train? Hostels or 
resorts?

Now Australians are being urged to consider 1 more factor: the death penalty.

As 2 Australian men, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, wait to see whether they 
will be executed by firing squad over drug smuggling charges, Australia's 
foreign minister Julie Bishop had this to say:

I think the Australian people will demonstrate their deep disapproval of this 
action, including by making decisions about where they wish to holiday.

But Balinese people have already protested against any boycott, with hawkers 
claiming it will hurt their business. That is always the choice with boycotts: 
do we turn our travel decision into a political protest against the unjust 
decisions of a government? Or could our boycott hurt the people by leaving them 
isolated and exposed to the human rights violations we're protesting?

If we're being asked to boycott countries that support the death penalty, will 
we be asked to boycott China? Or the US? If we want to get down to a 
state-by-state basis, how about just boycotting Texas, which has executed 74 
people since 2010? The hugely popular SXSW Interactive festival is being held 
there next month. Should every prospective participant who disagrees with the 
death penalty be morally obliged to boycott it?

Or if it's only countries that execute Australians we're interested in, how 
about Singapore? Or as a reporter, should I boycott Turkey, which has more 
journalists imprisoned than any other nation?

As a woman, should I boycott Iran for its treatment of women? When I was 
planning a trip to Iran in 2011, many reasonable people made this claim to me.

Their arguments were sound. Some people believe that the tourist dollar is 
implicit support for the government and its regime. Back in the 1990s when Aung 
San Suu Kyi was under house arrest in Burma, she urged tourists to stay away 
from the country to protest the military regime. After reading the letter, 
travel journalist Jeff Greenwald wrote a column in the Washington Post 
encouraging tourists to "vote with their wings" by staying away from Burma. He 
later founded an NGO called Ethical Traveler.

I found myself wondering if Brits and Americans boycotting Australia as a 
protest to successive government treatment of our Indigenous people would have 
an effect on policy. And then I think of what the country would lose if that 
actually happened.

National stereotypes are made and moulded abroad. They're a shortcut to 
understanding and by their nature are hackneyed and generalised.

By visiting Australia, tourists from all over the world realise that not all 
Australians are racist and not all our politicians are cut from the same cloth 
as Sir Les Patterson (although in the current political climate the attempt to 
rid ourselves of that particular stereotype is proving difficult).

Still the best way to discover the nuance in national cultures is to visit 
those countries and interact with local people.

People travel for all kinds of reasons. Some just want a beach holiday in a 
resort that serves food they already know where the beers are cheap and the 
hospitality friendly. They really wouldn't leave home but these developing 
countries are so much cheaper - with guaranteed sunshine.

But mostly when we travel we can't help but absorb some of the local culture 
and return home with a deeper understanding of another way of life.

Greenwald himself now acknowledges the limits of travel boycotts, telling Radio 
National that it is "very, very difficult to be effective" because boycotts 
have to be widespread, and even then they're not always guaranteed to have an 
economic or political impact.

And then I'm back to my trip to Iran where I learned so much about that 
country's rich culture and history. Where I ate a raw onion like an apple after 
a meal of kebab and rice to "balance" the meal. Where I listened to Haafez's 
poetry recited in Persian and felt I understood what it meant. Where I was 
apologised to every day for the burden of having to wear the hijab (mostly by 
men). Where I was invited to stay in a stranger's home because I happened to be 
sitting next to her on the bus. Where I cried in response to a stranger's 
kindness and then had my visa renewal disapproved because a member of the 
tourist police decided it wasn't safe for a young woman (I was 34) to travel 
alone. Every culture contains deep contradictions.

How can we ever truly begin to understand each other if we don't go where we 
fear, or we only travel to places that have policies we like? What a sad and 
lonely world that would be.

(source: Gabrielle Jackson, The Guardian)








PAPUA NEW GUINEA:

Catholic Church seeks international support to oppose death penalty in PNG



The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea has spoken out against the resumption 
of the death penalty, with government plans to execute 13 death row inmates by 
the end of the year.

The death penalty has not been used in PNG for more than 50 years, but the 
National Executive Council has approved 3 modes of execution - lethal 
injection, firing squad and hanging, although at the moment there is no 
suitable infrastructure in place.

Now, both Indonesia and Thailand have stepped in with offers of financial 
assistance and expertise.

Archbishop John Ribat says he knows the church's voice may not necessarily be 
heard by the government but they have to try.

(source: Radio Australia)