[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 11




SINGAPORE:

Alleged drug kingpin nabbed during CNB


5 suspected drug offenders, including the alleged leader of a drug syndicate, 
were arrested yesterday in an operation by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). 
CNB officers also seized 2.31kg of heroin with an estimated street value of 
more than $160,000.

Early yesterday morning, 2 Singaporean men, aged 45 and 51, were arrested after 
they retrieved a plastic bag containing the drugs from a trash bin in Queen 
Street.

The bag was placed there by a suspected drug courier, a 43-year-old Malaysian 
man who rode a motorcycle. The man was later arrested at his workplace in 
Penjuru Road.

Following investigations, the suspected syndicate leader, a 44-year-old 
Singaporean man, was arrested in North Bridge Road.Another alleged accomplice 
was nabbed at the Woodlands Checkpoint while he was trying to leave Singapore 
in a lorry.

Investigations are ongoing. If convicted, the 5 men could face the death 
penalty.

(source: asiaone.com)






INDONESIA:

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo losing political support after 9 months


Joko Widodo's supporters took to the streets this time last year to celebrate 
his victory in Indonesia's presidential election. Hailed as the people's 
president, his win in the polls was seen to signal a new chapter for Indonesian 
democracy. The former furniture salesman and small-town mayor who insisted on 
being called by his nickname, "Jokowi", represented a break from the stronghold 
of elite and military circles over the nation's highest position of power.

One year on, and the president has developed a very different reputation, both 
at home in Indonesia and internationally. Social media users in the world's 
most active Twitter-using country have in recent weeks adopted the trending 
hashtag #SudahlahJokowi (Enough already, Jokowi) to express their 
disillusionment with their president. Relations with Australia have hit a new 
low, with an Australian ambassador being recalled from Indonesia for the 1st 
time. Meanwhile the Australian public's feelings toward Indonesia have cooled 
to the lowest point in 8 years, according to the latest Lowy Institute Poll.

Jokowi's honeymoon period is well and truly over. As he was officially 
inaugurated in October last year, the president is now only nine months in to a 
five-year term. He may have outstripped elite and military figures during 
election season, but Jokowi is now struggling to take control of the presidency 
without the full support of his party and coalition. His attempts to regain the 
people's support, such as by showing decisiveness on pursuing the death penalty 
for drug smugglers, have cost the president credibility among human rights 
supporters and international observers.

So what went wrong for Jokowi since this time last year? And what will it mean 
moving forward for Indonesia, and for Australia-Indonesia relations?

Domestically, Jokowi's biggest challenge is getting out from under the thumb of 
Megawati Sukarnoputri, his party leader. The Indonesian Democratic Party of 
Struggle (PDI-P), founded by Megawati, is the political machine that picked out 
Jokowi as the popular mayor of his hometown in Central Java and supported his 
rise to become governor of the capital - and then president of the country. At 
a party congress in Bali in April, Megawati gave a speech that indirectly 
reminded Jokowi of his origins, and advised that he toe the party line. Jokowi 
himself was not invited to speak at the congress.

The Indonesian public is well aware of this dynamic. As the incoming president, 
Jokowi made a show of filling his cabinet based on the new ministers' 
credentials rather than political affiliations - though a few appointments were 
still criticised as being politically motivated, including the appointment of 
Megawati's daughter Puan Maharani as minister for human resource development 
and cultural affairs.

Meanwhile, when it came to nominating a new National Police chief in January, 
Jokowi chose Budi Gunawan, a close friend of Megawati's. The Corruption 
Eradication Commission (KPK) advised against the appointment due to outstanding 
graft allegations while the parliament, and the president's party, backed it. 
Jokowi was caught between toeing the party line and siding with the KPK, backed 
by the volunteer support base that carried his presidential campaign.

Instead, Jokowi took a back seat as the drama unfolded. The police retaliated 
against the KPK by levelling charges against its top investigators. The 
country's most trusted anti-corruption body appeared on the brink of collapse. 
The military moved to secure the KPK, reigniting tension between the police and 
the armed forces. Finally, Jokowi dropped Gunawan's nomination for police chief 
- only to see him quietly inaugurated as deputy police chief in April.

By the end of January, a poll by the Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI) showed that 
54 % of respondents were dissatisfied with Jokowi's performance as president. A 
poll by Puspol Indonesia in February showed dissatisfaction as high as 74.6 %.

No direct link can be made between Jokowi's weakening position and his decision 
to go ahead with the execution of death row drug smugglers in January and in 
April. The president had already signed the execution papers last December, a 
time when he was still enjoying relatively high popularity ratings. From the 
beginning his public statements showed no sign that he would change his mind on 
the issue. However, the timing of the executions does suggest a political 
motivation to show his strength and decisiveness as a leader, and to recover 
public support.

Haris Azhar, coordinator of the non-governmental Commission for Missing Persons 
and Victims of Violence (KontraS), says that anti-death penalty activists in 
Indonesia are fighting an uphill battle. He says that those who campaign 
against capital punishment are labelled as "friends of drug dealers" and are 
bullied by online commentators. He is disappointed by what he sees as Jokowi's 
departure from a stated commitment to human rights.

"For me, it's very clear that he [Jokowi] does not care and does not understand 
human rights," he commented via email in February. "Politically, the executions 
would show that he has commitment [to] law enforcement, and silently he 
believes it will improve his popularity," he added.

Capital punishment has strong mainstream support in Indonesia. In a legal 
system where convicted criminals routinely "buy" their way into better cells or 
out of imprisonment altogether, the death penalty is seen as a strong deterrent 
and final punishment. The decision by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 
to grant clemency to Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was highly 
unpopular in Indonesia, seen as a case of special treatment given on the basis 
of nationality. By enforcing the death penalty for drug smugglers, and 
particularly for foreign drug smugglers, it is likely that Jokowi sought to 
distinguish himself from his predecessor and show his commitment to firm and 
fair law enforcement.

Unfortunately for Jokowi, this attempt to appeal for public support lost him a 
great deal of international support. United Nations Secretary-General Ban 
Ki-moon expressed regret over the executions, and urged a return to the 
moratorium introduced by Yudhoyono. Brazil and the Netherlands both withdrew 
ambassadors following the first round of executions in January. France and the 
Philippines objected to their citizens' scheduled executions in April, which 
did not eventuate due to ongoing investigations and appeals. In response to the 
executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in April, Australia 
for the 1st time withdrew its ambassador from Jakarta, the country's biggest 
overseas diplomatic post.

These developments signal a very different Australia-Indonesia relationship 
under Jokowi to the one experienced under Yudhoyono for the past 10 years. 
While all sides of Australian politics agree on the importance of a strong 
relationship with Indonesia, and in fact argue over which side is doing a 
better job of maintaining the relationship, the same cannot be said of the 
various factions in Indonesian politics. Despite some rocky moments with 
Australia during his term, Yudhoyono was an outward-looking statesman with a 
sincere interest in developing stronger ties with Australia. By contrast, 
Jokowi is inward-looking and reluctant to participate in international affairs.

"Jokowi is not particularly interested in Australia," says Ken Ward, a former 
government Indonesia analyst who is due to launch a book via the Lowy Institute 
this month on the Australia-Indonesia relationship. "He's not hostile towards 
Australia, but he does appear indifferent."

In a telephone interview, Ward pointed out that in public speeches Jokowi tends 
to mention an ambition for Indonesia to be seen as a world power on par with 
China and the United States. A role for Australia as a powerful regional 
neighbour does not feature in this worldview, Ward noted.

On Australia's part, a hardline approach to asylum seekers and frequent 
diplomatic gaffes have harmed the stated goal of a stronger relationship with 
Indonesia. Lasting damage was done by Prime Minister Tony Abbott's comments 
linking Australia's contribution to the 2004 Aceh tsunami recovery efforts and 
the government's request for clemency for Chan and Sukumaran. The implication 
of a diplomatic debt seen as equating the lives of 130,000 Acehnese with those 
of two Australians sparked public outrage and a viral campaign in Indonesia to 
return the debt in the form of "Coins for Australia".

Australia's refusal to resettle Rohingya refugees has also had a poor reception 
in Indonesia, as the country that took the lead in Southeast Asia for handling 
the boat crisis in May. An aggressive border protection policy by Australia 
continues to rankle Indonesia, particularly in relation to border incursions 
into Indonesian waters and allegations of bribery by Australian authorities for 
people-smugglers to return to Indonesia.

It's early stages yet for Jokowi to forge stronger ties with Australia and 
fulfil domestic expectations of strengthening Indonesia's democratic 
institutions and improving the country's human rights record. However, the 
president's performance in the first year since he was elected shows that the 
bulk of this work still lies ahead.

(source: Catriona Croft-Cusworth is a Jakarta-based correspondent for the Lowy 
Interpreter, lowyinterpreter.org.----Brisbane times)






NIGERIA:

WFAD Is Against Death Penalty For Drugs Offences, Says General Secretary


The Word Federation Against Drugs (WFAD), Stockholm, Sweden, General Secretary, 
Linda Nilsson has said that WFAD is against death penalty for drug related 
offences, but big countries are using their power to make it difficult to get 
the resolution against death penalty to scale through in the United Nations 
(UN).

Speaking in Lagos during the 1st West African Forum On Dugs (WAFOD) themed: 
Mainstreaming Health and Child-Right Concerns in Substance Abuse Policy, 
Planning and Programming in West Africa,??? organised by People Against Drug 
Dependence and Ignorance (PADDI Foundation) with the support of WAFD, Nilsson 
said that every tribe should be open and fair to people with drug related 
offences.

"Death penalty should be out of it. The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) all 
agree, that countries should try to put an end to death penalty. We always put 
in strong recommendations for those countries to stop death penalty."

She said that one of the ways out of death penalty is to galvanize public 
opinions against death penalty in those countries practicing it.

"Instead of death penalty they could sentence those found guilty to prisons 
which is much better than killing them in my own opinion."

She said that CSOs should do their own part and the government should play 
their own roles against drug.

"We need a holistic balance approach. One person can't do everything. We need 
to cooperate. Cooperation is the best way to move forward. Educating teachers 
and the youths and parents to put an end to drug abuse."

Director Drugs Demand Reduction Department of the National Drug Law Enforcement 
Agency (NDLEA), Baba Hussaini said that the CSOs should not wait for the 
government to do everything for them.

"People should support the effort of the government without necessarily asking 
for financial support from them," he said.

An Assistant Comptroller of Nigerian Immigration Service, Mannir Yari who 
represented the Comptroller of Immigration, Lagos State Command said that there 
is the need for more sensitising and advocacy on drug abuse.

"There is the need to sensitise the youths. If we can catch them young like 
many of the speakers had spoken. We can prevent drug abuse in Nigeria."

Professor of Radiology, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Nsukka, 
Ifeoma Okoye said that death penalty ought not to have been meted out to the 
vulrerable and innocent ones that drug barons usually take advantage of. 
"Sometimes they don???t know they are carrying drugs. Atimes they made them to 
swallow it. Addict should be treated as those who have diseases."

(source: The Guardian)






INDIA:

UP number 1 in awarding death penaltie


Bihar stood 2nd at 178, followed by MP at 162 and Maharashtra at 160.

That Maharashtra was among the top four states that included some of the 
country's most economically deprived states with poor governance records is a 
bit of a surprise, says Venkatesh Nayak of CHRI. "The death penalty is in stark 
contrast with the philosophy of human rights. The state cannot give itself the 
power to take away a person's life. That amounts to legitimising murder," says 
Nayak.

The report points to the fact that India is amongst the few countries that has 
retained capital punishment.

Between 1998 and 2013, 2,052 people were awarded capital punishment in India, 
an average of 128 a year. However, during this 16-year period, only three 
people were actually executed, one each in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi.

"Those who have been executed are dead and gone, whereas the suffering is far 
worse for those who are on the death row and have not been pardoned. They live 
with a Damocles sword hanging over their heads. Every moment is uncertain for 
them; the order for their execution could come any moment, while they're asleep 
or awake. It is not fair for any human being to be put through such torture. Is 
the purpose of punishment retribution or reform? Is it society's collective 
desire for revenge?" asks Nayak.

He points out that the system of jurisprudence itself is uneven on such 
matters. "In some cases, the circumstances of the murderer and the crime are 
looked into. At other times, only the circumstances of the crime are looked 
into," he adds.

The highest number of death sentences in a given year, 186, were handed down in 
2007. The least number of death sentences, 55, were awarded in 1998. Over 1,600 
death penalties were awarded in the first 13 years of the new millennium. 
Interestingly, 4,497 death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment during 
these 13 years.

The North-East accounts for the least number of death sentences. Assam 
accounted for the largest proportion of death penalties awarded by the 
North-Eastern states.

"It is also interesting to note that the states which have a long history of 
conflict between government forces and militant groups have not seen any kind 
of spurt in the number of death sentences being awarded," says the report.

(source: The Times of India)