[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 15



ISRAEL:

Netanyahu Buries Death Penalty Law


Slated to go before Ministerial Committee Sunday, death penalty for terrorists 
bill indefinitely frozen by PM's technical maneuver.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has significantly slowed the advancement of a 
controversial bill on Sunday.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation was set to discuss the bill, 
submitted by Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Gal, and requiring the death penalty for 
those found guilty of terrorist murders.

However, Netanyahu, who opposes the initiative, has decided to instead 
establish a government commission to examine the issues pertaining to the 
proposed law.

Headed by Tourism minister Yariv Levin (Likud), the commission will include 
representatives from each of the different coalition factions, of which Yisrael 
Beytenu is not a member.

The commission's review is expected to last several months, and as a result the 
bill is, at least temporarily, being dropped from the Ministerial Committee for 
Legislation's agenda.

MK Gal's bill mandated that terrorists convicted of murdering Israeli civilians 
through activities in Judea and Samaria - which remains under martial law - 
also be liable for the death penalty.

In addition, it required that only a majority in Judea and Samaria military 
courts rule for the death penalty, and likewise would have prevented the 
regional IDF commander from being able to lighten the sentence.

Should MK Gal still attempt to bring the proposal before the Ministerial 
Committee for Legislation on Sunday, Channel 2 reported, all Likud ministers 
will oppose, despite some previously making statements to the contrary.

(source: The Jewish Voice)






THAILAND:

New anti-corruption law in Thailand extends death penalty to foreigners ---- 
Previous legislation allowed the death penalty for Thai officials convicted of 
bribery, though apparently no one was ever executed for the crime


Thailand has enacted a new anti-corruption law that extends a maximum penalty 
of capital punishment to foreigners.

Previous legislation provided various punishments, including a possible death 
penalty, for Thai officials convicted of bribery, though apparently no one was 
ever executed for the crime.

The new statutes, which took effect on 9 July and are part of a separate 
anti-corruption law, extend those punishments to non-Thais working for foreign 
governments and international organisations.

The military government that took power following the ouster of an elected 
civilian government last year has said countering corruption is one of its 
major goals.

Although such action is touted as part of a reform movement to clean up Thai 
politics, it is widely seen as targeting former prime minister Thaksin 
Shinawatra, who was toppled by a previous military coup in 2006. Thaksin was 
accused of corruption, but also built a powerful, populist political machine 
that challenged the privileges of the country's traditional elite, associated 
with the military and the royal palace.

Another provision of the new anti-corruption law states a statute of 
limitations of 20 years no longer applies if the convicted person flees the 
country. Thaksin was convicted in 2008 of a corruption-related charge but fled 
abroad. The old statute of limitations would have allowed him to return in 10 
years.

Several corruption-related charges are also pending against Thaksin???s sister, 
Yingluck Shinawatra, who was prime minister until shortly before the army 
ousted her government last year.

The secretary-general of the national anti-corruption commission, Sansern 
Poljieak, has been quoted by Thai media as saying the punishments under the new 
law are appropriate because graft involving public servants is a severe 
offence.

However, the new law also has critics.

"This is a huge step in the wrong direction," Amnesty International spokesman 
Olof Blomqvist said in an email. "Thailand should be working to remove the 
death penalty from the legal books, not expanding its scope."

(source: The Guardian)






NORTH KOREA:

Revealed: Why Kim Jong-un Executes So Many North Korean Officials


Much has been made of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's propensity to execute 
high-ranking officials, most notably, his uncle: Jang Song Thaek. More 
recently, reports emerged that Kim may have ordered the execution of former 
North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol. These moves, many foreign 
analysts say, underscore the young North Korean leader's precarious grip on 
power.

Indeed, South Korean officials recently told the Associated Press that Kim 
Jong-un has executed some 70 senior officials since taking over power in 
December 2011. Calling Kim Jong-un's time in power a "reign of terror," South 
Korea's Foreign Minister noted that his father, Kim Jong-il, only executed 
around 10 officials in his first years in power. The natural conclusion to this 
is that Kim Jong-un's grip on power appears to be much more tenuous than his 
father's was at this point in his rule.

But the comparisons between Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-il are extremely 
misleading at best. When Kim Jong-Il officially took over power from his own 
father, North Korea's eternal leader Kim Il-Sung, in 1994, he already benefited 
from decades of preparation and grooming. Some North Korean experts - such as 
Jang Jin-Sung, a former United Front Department officer and poet laureate to 
Kim Jong-il - claim that Kim Jong-il had usurped his father in power as early 
as the 1980s. By the time of his death, these experts say, the eternal leader 
was merely a figurehead.

Much like his son and the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il was able 
to usurp his father through good \ old-fashioned purges, including against 
members of his own family. As Jang relates in his memoirs Dear Leader: My 
Escape from North Korea:

The most troubling aspect for me at the time was Kim Jong-il's merciless rule 
by purging, which did not spare members of his own family. As soon as Kim 
Jong-il had consolidated his power, he used the "side branch" notion to 
designate members of his family who were like side branches of a tree that must 
be pruned for the tree to grow tall and strong. To begin with, his uncle Kim 
Yong-ju and stepmother Kim Sung-ae were placed under house arrest; and in 1981, 
he ordered that the children of Kim Il-sung's supporters should not to be 
accepted into the Central Party. This became fixed as an internal regulation in 
the OGD [Organization and Guidance Department]. Kim Il-sung's associates began 
to disappear one by one.

Even those who dispute that Kim Jong-il had already supplanted Kim Il-Sung by 
the time of the latter???s death do not dispute that Kim Jong-il was groomed 
for the throne for at least a decade before coming to power. It follows that he 
did not need to purge many officials in his early years in order to strengthen 
his grip on power. Any officials who might have threatened him were already 
dealt with while Kim Il-Sung was still alive.

The same cannot be said for Kim Jong-un. He wasn't viewed as the heir apparent 
until late 2010, following the deterioration of Kim Jong-il's health after his 
2008 stroke. Just over a year after Kim Jong-un was officially anointed the 
heir apparent to his father, he was forced formally take over because of Kim 
Jong-il's untimely death.

In these circumstances, it is unsurprising that Kim Jong-un resorts to 
extensive purges, especially considering his efforts to weaken the power of the 
military and push through limited economic reforms.

But the larger question is what do these purges say about Kim Jong-un's grip on 
power? As with most things involving the North Korean regime, it's impossible 
to say with any degree of certainty, and it's reasonable to assume that Kim 
Jong-un is not quite as secure as his father was at this point during his rule, 
given the quick succession of power.

Nonetheless, the widespread view that the purges indicate that Kim Jong-un's 
grip on power is tenuous is just as likely to be dead wrong as accurate. 
Indeed, that Kim Jong-un has been able to execute such powerful figures as his 
uncle Jang, who was widely seen as the 2nd most powerful figure in the country, 
suggests that Kim has quite a strong grip on power, and he is using his 
security to squash any potential challengers before they emerge as real threats 
to his power.

(source: Zachary Keck is managing editor of The National Interest)






AUSTRALIA:

Australian theatre ---- 'I am a miracle' said Marvin Wilson on death row - and 
we must believe him; The dying words of a mentally disabled man, executed in 
Texas after 18 years, have inspired my new play - and they should move us all 
to change


In Huntsville, Texas, at 6.32pm on 7 August 2012, Marvin Lee Wilson was 
executed by lethal injection after 18 years on death row.

In and of itself, the execution of an African-American man in Texas should 
hardly be newsworthy; 527 prisoners have been killed on death row since 1982, 
and as of July 2015, 70% of the inmates in death row are black or Hispanic. But 
this case was different. Over a decade-long appeals process, Wilson's lawyers 
had presented a strong case their client was mentally disabled.

In 2004, Wilson was administered the WAIS-III IQ test. He scored 61, which 
placed him 9 points below the 70 required for an inmate to be considered 
intellectually subnormal - and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. But 
in his appeal this test result was successfully discredited by the prosecution. 
The test was administered by a PhD candidate, rather than a consulting clinical 
psychologist, which - the prosecution argued - meant the result was 
compromised.

The loss of this piece of crucial, empirical evidence was the undoing of his 
case. And, so, through one small manoeuvre, the state of Texas was able to send 
a mentally disabled man to his death.

Deeply religious by the end of his life, Wilson's final words included the 
following plea:

Take me home, Jesus.

Take me home, Lord.

I ain't left yet.

Must be a miracle.

I am a miracle.

I turned 30 this year and for most of my life, I've believed in some version of 
God. More specifically - in spite of myself - I've believed in the most 
conservative image of him. A white-bearded father figure, whose love is both 
infinite and infinitely complicated. This might seem odd, given I'm a garden 
variety left-wing queer ex-Catholic Australian playwright. But, the way I see 
it: his will is the moral root of western civilisation. His desire is heard in 
every judgement passed through our courts - increasingly faint, but there 
nonetheless.

But I don't believe this is a god who can intervene. My god is a passive 
figure. So, 2 years ago, when I started writing a play about miracles, my main 
question was this. How can a miracle occur in Australia in 2015? And, if it 
could occur, what would it be? For me, the answer came from Texas.

I'm a garden variety left-wing queer ex-Catholic Australian playwright

I've obsessed over Wilson's words for three years, and in this time, their 
meaning has slowly shifted and evolved. At times, they have seemed gruesome, 
pitiable, inspiring. But at the time of writing, I hear them as a cry for 
justice. A demand for recognition of his humanity.

The 1958 Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins with the famous article: 
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." But it never 
actually states what a "human being" is, other than a biological entity. To 
offer a definition, in the very broadest legal sense: a human is a citizen of a 
nation state, who enjoys the full protection of the law. And living in a first 
world democracy, we take that protection for granted. That there will be 
serious legal repercussions if we are attacked, abused, stolen from, tortured 
or murdered.

But if we look around us, in Australia, in 2015, it???s plain to see there are 
people to whom this protection is not granted. Whose violation is allowed to 
pass unchecked by the legal system. Who are, therefore, implicitly regarded as 
less-human in the eyes of the law.

In the last two months alone, Guardian Australia has reported on the deaths of 
2 Indigenous Australian men in custody. Both men - Kwementyaye Langdon, and 
another whose identity has been withheld - were detained under "paperless 
arrest" laws, which grant police powers to incarcerate a person for up to 4 
hours without any charge. Indigenous Australians are statistically more 
vulnerable to self-harm, medical neglect, and unchecked police violence in 
these places of incarceration, where they arrive with 15 times greater 
frequency than white Australians.

And then, of course, there's the "border protection" policy (of this 
government, and the last) - which has seen thousands of asylum seekers and 
their children imprisoned in remote internment camps. In these spaces of legal 
limbo, human beings are subject to physical, emotional and sexual abuse - 
indefinitely. And, astonishingly, doctors and care workers are now held to the 
threat of legal action for even reporting on this violence.

In America, Marvin Lee Wilson was born outside the protection of the law. 
Alexander Weheliye writes brilliantly on this exclusion, and the making of the 
category of "human". He suggests particular groups of people carry centuries of 
oppression "scripted onto [their] bodies", markings which come to dictate a 
person's proximity to human status.

Wilson - black, poor, and mentally disabled - is a prime example of a person 
born a great distance from full humanity in the eyes of the law. Through a 
spate of aggressive, poorly-thought-out robberies and the abduction and murder 
of a police informant, he spent the majority of his life in government 
institutions. Unable to hold down basic jobs, unable to read or write beyond a 
2nd grade level, he was socialised as a sub-human criminal, and this is how he 
died.

Likewise, in Australia, in 2015, if your flesh marks you as "other", you'd 
better at least be well-behaved. Even if you've got no money. Even if you've 
got no hope for a better life, and no love for the authorities and institutions 
who consider you, by Weheluiye's categorisation, "not-quite-human".

The crux of the matter is the distinction between "law" and "justice" or 
whether these terms have become indistinguishable in our collective 
imagination. Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten at Kirribilli House during Naidoc 
week.

Historically speaking, our quest for utopia has defined our "progress" as a 
species. The combustion between warring ideologies has driven us to this point 
in history. But here, in this stalled, ideologically stripped present, equality 
and justicehave become the banal terminology of a retrogressive, hippy dream - 
rather than the very reasonable suggestion that everyone in our first world 
democracy has the basic right to be treated as a human being.

What's the alternative? In an age where our imaginations are increasingly 
fragmented, colonised and turned inward, towards the lifelong project of 
ourselves - or backwards, towards a history of failed "isms". In 2015, how can 
we imagine any future - yet alone one we can attain collectively?

Safe to say, our leaders aren't taking on this responsibility. Tony Abbott and 
Bill Shorten are currently duelling it out in the polls for the title of least 
unpopular demagogue. In the public spotlight, their astonishing lack of vision, 
integrity, and ideology is embarrassingly foregrounded. The conservatism 
represented by both the coalition government and opposition is horrific mainly 
because it suggests we bunker down in a wildly unsustainable present and dig in 
for infinity.

This isn't a sustainable form of governance. It's a form of nihilism, which 
believes we have no capacity to overcome our own inherent greed, weakness and 
cruelty as a species. That we have no ability to marshal our resources to 
prevent the looming ecological disaster. That we should sit in passive 
stagnation, exploiting the weak, abusing the vulnerable, accumulating 
short-term capital gain, until our planet rightfully wipes us out.

In the final act of the play I wrote about Wilson, I am a Miracle, a single 
angel, horrified by Wilson's death, initiates an act of rebirth. She 
obliterates the law and re-begins history from a point of radical justice. In a 
theatrical sense, this is a deux-ex-machina. In a religious sense, it's a 
miracle. In a secular sense, it's a dumb, earnest, utopian fantasy. But it's 
also, I hope, a provocation.

We need to break from the catastrophes of the past, and our implicit trust in 
the gormless, visionless leaders of our virtually-indistinguishable 2 party 
system. We need to believe in, and move towards, a miraculous shift in history. 
Even if the miracle we hope for isn't the intervention of a divine being - but 
rather, a recognition of the stupendous, remarkable implausibility of all human 
life.

I Am a Miracle runs at the Malthouse theatre, Melbourne from 18 July to 19 
August.

(source: Declan Greene, The Guardian)






SUDAN:

Christian pastors' defence team close their case


The defence team of 2 South Sudanese pastors facing trial for espionage in 
Sudan have closed their case, and campaigners remain hopeful that they will be 
acquitted of all charges.

Rev Yat Michael and Rev David Yein Reith (also named as Peter Yein Reith in 
some reports) are being held on 6 charges including espionage, "offending 
Islamic beliefs", promoting hatred amongst sects and undermining the 
constitutional system. They could face the death penalty or life imprisonment 
if found guilty. They both maintain their innocence.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), 2 witnesses were presented 
at yesterday's hearing in Khartoum. Ex-army general and 2010 presidential 
candidate, Abdul Aziz Khalid, testified that the charges of security and 
espionage are without basis. Evidence presented by the prosecution was 
available to the public, Khalid told the court.

Michael was arrested on December 14, 2014, and Reith in January of this year. 
They were both detained without charges, and without access to a lawyer or 
their families, until March 1. Ahead of yesterday's hearing, they were denied 
access to their legal team, despite promises that they would be allowed a 15 
minute briefing with their lawyer, Mohaned Mustafa.

The pastors have also been denied regular visits from relatives, which is 
illegal under the Sudanese constitution. "This is meant to put more 
psychological pressures and warfare on the arrested pastors," a legal 
representative told World Watch Monitor.

Michael and Reith will return to court for another hearing on July 23, where 
closing statements will be given. A verdict is expected on August 5.

Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of CSW, said of yesterday's hearing: "The court 
heard from a prominent expert witness that there is no basis for the charges 
against the pastors. We therefore renew our call for these unwarranted and 
extreme charges to be dropped and for Rev Yat Michael and Rev Peter Reith to be 
released unconditionally and without further delay.

"The ongoing denial of access to the pastors' legal team is unacceptable and in 
violation of fair trial principles, as articulated in Article 14 of the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sudan is a 
party. The denial of family visits is a further measure to increase their 
mental and emotional distress; a cruel and unjust action on the part of the 
State.

"We urge the African Union in particular, and the wider international 
community, to challenge Sudan on its treatment of the pastors and its failure 
to protect and promote freedom of religion or belief and the right to a fair 
trial."

(source: christiantoday.com)






SINGAPORE:

Man who allegedly harboured 'One-eyed Dragon' murderer charged


A 42-year-old Malaysian man was charged in the State Courts on Wednesday (Jul 
15) for harbouring an offender, in connection with a 2006 Serangoon murder.

Ho Yueh Keong was charged for harbouring Tan Chor Jin after the latter had 
committed the murder of Lim Hock Soon on Feb 15, 2006 at Block 223 Serangoon 
Avenue 4.

At 8.22am, more than an hour after the murder was committed, Ho had transported 
Tan out of Singapore to Malaysia via the Woodlands Immigration Checkpoint with 
the intention of screening him from legal punishment.

Police said Ho was arrested in Malaysia and was extradited back to Singapore on 
Monday, with assistance from the Royal Malaysian Police.

Ho will be remanded for 4 weeks, pending further investigations. The accused 
had asked to make a phone call to his parents to apply for counsel but the 
police prosecutor objected, saying that there is a risk of investigations being 
compromised should the call be allowed.

District Judge Eddy Tham said that the investigation officer in charge of the 
case would be making the phone call on behalf of Ho. The case will be heard 
next on Aug 12 at 9am.

Under Section 212 of the Penal Code, an offender who is convicted for 
harbouring a person, who has committed an offence punishable by death, can be 
sentenced to a maximum 5 years' jail and is liable to a fine.

Tan, known in media reports as the "One-eyed Dragon" due to an opacity over the 
cornea in his right eye which became blind about 15 years ago, was reported to 
have owed Lim a S$30,000 interest-free loan.

After Tan asked for more time to raise the funds, the "One-eyed Dragon" barged 
into the deceased's home of the day of the murder, intending to rob him. Tan 
had discharged 6 rounds from a Beretta 0.22 Calibre pistol with intent to cause 
physical injury to Lim. The victim suffered five gunshot wounds in various 
parts of his body. He was found in a prone position and was pronounced dead at 
the scene of crime by paramedics.

Tan was subsequently arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 25, 2006, 10 days after he 
absconded from Singapore. A Rolex watch was found on Tan, which was confirmed 
by the deceased's wife to have belonged to the deceased.

Tan was convicted under Section 4(1) of the Arms Offences Act and sentenced to 
the death penalty.

(source: channelnewsasia.com)






INDIA:

Lone death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts, Yakub Memon, could be hanged on 
30 July


The only convict sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in the 1993 
serial blasts in Mumbai, Yakub Memon, is reportedly set to be hanged on 30 July 
subject to the apex court hearing his plea for mercy days earlier.

According to a DNA report, the 53-year-old convict could be hanged as the 
result of a Tada (Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) court 
issued a warrant to carry out the sentence as per which he is scheduled to be 
executed on 30 July at 7 am in the Nagpur Central Jail.

The report said that Memon has moved a petition in the Supreme Court hoping to 
stay the execution, but for now, the state government has given its sanction 
for the execution and in keeping with procedure his family has also been 
informed of the impending hanging.

On 10 April, the Supreme Court had rejected a petition filed by Memon seeking 
to stay the death sentence. Memon, a former chartered accountant, is the 
brother of the prime accused in the case Tiger Memon. Earlier on March 21, 
2013, the apex court had upheld the death sentence of Memon.

The multiple blasts had claimed 257 lives and left 713 injured. CBI, which 
probed the blasts, had alleged that the conspiracy was hatched by Dawood 
Ibrahim and other absconding persons, including Yakub's brother Tiger Memon, 
who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

The court had commuted the death penalty awarded by a special TADA court to 10 
others, who had planted RDX explosives-laden vehicles at various places in 
Mumbai, to life term by distinguishing their roles from that of Memon.

Yakub, who owned an export firm allegedly handled his brother, gangster Tiger 
Memon???s, funds. He was accused of having funded the training of 15 youths who 
were sent to Pakistan for training in the use of arms and ammunition and 
funding the escape of the family following the blasts. The Memon family, 
including Yakub, had fled Mumbai before the blasts.

After reportedly meeting with a family lawyer in Kathmandu in July 1994, Yakub 
was set to return to Karachi after being told that he was unlikely to get much 
mercy if he did surrender to Indian authorities.

But his being caught with multiple passports at the Kathmandu airport set off a 
chain of events that resulted in all the other members of the Memon family also 
being brought to India.

His arrest remains controversial. Officially Yakub was arrested on the morning 
of 5 August 1994, inexplicably from the New Delhi railway station, far away 
from Pakistan or Dubai where the Memon family was said to be in hiding.

The mercy plea of Memon had earlier been rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee 
on 21 May, 2014. The decision had been taken by the President following 
recommendations of the Maharashtra government and the Home Ministry that the 
mercy petition of Memon be rejected.

(source: First Post)

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

Yakub Memon execution: Maharashtra Govt. will follow SC's directives, says 
Fadnavis


Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that the state 
government would follow the directives given by the Supreme Court over the 
execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts prime accused Yakub Memon.

"The Supreme Court has made a decision on this issue. Whatever directives will 
be given by the court, the Maharashtra Government will act according to that. 
We will provide more information on this matter when the time is right," said 
Fadnavis.

Memon is likely to be hanged on July 30, the 1st execution related to the spate 
of violence that had hit the city, leading the death of over 250 people.

According to reports, the execution will take place if Memon's mercy petition 
is rejected by the Supreme Court, after his appeals against the death sentence 
were rejected by the apex court and by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Memon is currently lodged at the Nagpur Central Jail, which reportedly has 
facilities for hanging.

Memon, who is a key conspirator with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial 
blasts case, is one of ten accused who were awarded the death penalty by a 
special TADA court.

Memon's death sentence was earlier upheld by a Supreme Court bench on March 21, 
2013.

(source: ANI news)





KUWAIT:

Kuwait gives 11 death sentences over mosque bombing


Kuwait's public prosecution has demanded the death penalty for 11 of 29 
suspects charged over the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque last month, a 
newspaper reported Wednesday.

Al-Qabas, citing informed sources, said 2 of the suspects are currently 
fighting with the Islamic State jihadist group which claimed the attack.

The June 26 bombing, carried out by a Saudi, was the bloodiest in Kuwait's 
history and left 26 people killed and more than 200 wounded.

Those charged are 7 Kuwaitis, 5 Saudis, 3 Pakistanis, 13 stateless people known 
as bidoons, and another person at large whose identity is unknown, the 
prosecution said Tuesday.

24 suspects are detained in Kuwait and the other 5 are to be tried in absentia, 
including 2 Saudi brothers who allegedly transported the explosives and are 
being held in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qabas said some of the suspects were also charged with joining a "terrorist" 
organisation fighting against the state.

2 of the suspects have been charged with premeditated murder and attempted 
murder.

2 others were charged with training in the use of explosives, 9 with assisting 
in the crime and the rest with knowing of the attack without informing the 
authorities.

An IS-affiliated group calling itself Najd Province claimed the bombing and 
also said it carried out suicide attacks on 2 Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia in 
May.

IS considers Shiites to be heretics and has targeted them across the region.

(source: Pakistan Today)