[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 17



INDONESIA:

Bali drug accused De Malmanche escapes death penalty



Prosecutors say they will not be seeking the death penalty in the trial against 
Antony De Malmanche, the Kiwi accused of smuggling methamphetamine into Bali.

3 News reported prosecutors would not be seeking the death penalty, and instead 
argued he should be jailed for 18 years.

De Malmanche, 53, was arrested in December, when 1.7kg of crystal 
methamphetamine was found in his backpack at the airport.

His defence argues de Malmanche had been effectively brainwashed by hours of 
online chat with someone identifying as "Jessy Smith", whom he had fallen in 
love with.

They say the disability pensioner - who suffers mental illness and low IQ - was 
tricked into the Bali journey on the pretence of meeting Jessy.

Prosecutor Siti Sawiyah on Thursday submitted de Malmanche deserves 18 years 
jail.

The drugs had the potential to harm 1700 users as well as Bali's reputation, 
she said.

Ms Siti also argued much of last week's defence testimony, from 2 psychiatrists 
and a New Zealand pastor, should be considered irrelevant.

"They didn't explain the incident where the defendant was caught," she said. 
"With that, such testimony should be ignored."

She also wanted the court to disregard evidence from New Zealand barrister 
Craig Tuck, who told the court de Malmanche was not a trafficker, but a victim 
of trafficking.

"The defendant should not escape his responsibility for this crime ... He must 
be punished," she said.

The trial will continue later this month.

(source: New Zealand Herald)








CHINA:

Australian jockey Anthony Bannister to face death penalty in China



A former Australian jockey will appear in a Chinese court on Thursday to hear 
if he will receive the death penalty, after being charged with attempting to 
smuggle a commercial quantity of crystal methamphetamine to Australia.

Anthony Roger Bannister, 43, was stopped from boarding a China Southern flight 
to Sydney on March 11 last year after customs officers detected the drugs, also 
known as ice, stuffed in 8 ladies' handbags packed in his luggage. Chinese 
prosecutors have sought the death penalty.

His brother James conceded it was likely the court would deliver a guilty 
verdict on Thursday but said lawyers and Australian consular officials were 
hopeful Mr Bannister - who has maintained his innocence - would avoid 
execution, and instead be handed a suspended death sentence which is usually 
commuted to life imprisonment after a period of good behaviour.

"It makes you a bit numb, that's all you can think about ... it's completely 
out of your hands," James Bannister told Fairfax Media via telephone.

He added they would appeal any guilty verdict given the court had not been 
provided a trail of emails which corroborated his brother's version of events - 
that he was an unwitting victim of an elaborate scam.

"I do believe that I have been set up ... in this drug smuggling scheme," 
Anthony told the court during his trial in October. "They've used me as a 
mule."

Mr Bannister is one of 11 Australians awaiting trial or verdict in China on 
serious drug charges that potentially attract the death penalty. The cases 
centre around southern Guangdong province, increasingly favoured by 
international trafficking syndicates as a major manufacturing hub for synthetic 
drugs due to its international transport links and ready access to precursor 
chemicals.

A number of other Australians in drug trouble in Guangzhou have also claimed 
they have been scammed by international drug rings, including Sydney man Peter 
Gardner, who told a court last month that he was tricked into thinking he was 
carrying performance-enhancing peptides, and not crystal meth.

Mr Bannister, who showed promise as a young jockey in Adelaide, told the court 
in October that three men he identified as "Justin", "KC" and "John Law" had 
convinced him he was entitled to a lucrative divorce settlement, having split 
from his ex-wife, a Filipino woman he met while living in Japan.

But in a process that became increasingly convoluted, he was told that a series 
of documents needed to be signed in person in Guangzhou, which resulted in him 
travelling to the city five times in the space of four months, usually only for 
a few days at a time.

Each time he would be told that another signature - and therefore another trip 
to Guangzhou - was required, while the promised "settlement" ballooned from an 
initial $US60,000 ($78,000) to more than $US1 million.

On his fateful last trip to Guangzhou, Mr Bannister was informed by "John Law" 
that his money had arrived, and to bring forward his flight back to Australia.

Mr Bannister said "KC" helped reschedule his flights, but inserted a detour to 
Sydney at the last minute. In a taxi in Guangzhou the night before his flight, 
"KC" asked Mr Bannister to bring a suitcase with him as a favour. He said he 
never looked in the suitcase, which contained the drug-filled handbags.

"I had no knowledge of the drugs," he said. "I had no knowledge of the suitcase 
until March 10 ... until the night before I left."

But prosecutors said Mr Bannister's account was "conflicting and illogical", 
and that he chose to smuggle drugs because he was unemployed. They recommended 
the death penalty to be carried out promptly.

(source: Sydney Morning Herald)








BANGLADESH:

SC upholds Mojaheeds death penalty



The Supreme Court (SC) upheld Tuesday the death penalty of Ali Ahsan Muhammad 
Mojaheed for killing intellectuals during Liberation War in 1971, report 
agencies.

Jamaat-e-Islami called 24-hour countrywide hartal for Wednesday protesting the 
verdict of the SC.

A 4-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by chief Justice SK Sinha, 
delivered the short order of the verdict in a crowded courtroom amid tight 
security in and around the apex court.

The other judges of the bench are Justice Najmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed 
Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foyez Siddique.

Mujahid will file a petition to review the Appellate Division verdict that 
upheld his death sentence for war crimes.

His counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain told reporters Tuesday that they think 
that the prosecution failed to produce adequate witness and evidence against 
the defendant.

"We will file a review petition within 15 days of the publication of the full 
verdict," he said. Hossain claimed that the top appeals court has 'partially 
accepted' their appeal.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha-led 4-member bench acquitted the Jamaat 
leader from the 1st charge brought against him, in which the tribunal had 
ordered the death penalty. It also commuted the death sentence given to him on 
the 7th charge to life imprisonment, but upheld death for the 6th charge 
related to the murder of intellectuals.

The Supreme Court has upheld the tribunal's life in prison on the 5th charge 
and 3-year jail term on the 3rd charge.

The appeal hearing began on April 29.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the Appellate Division has given the stay 
order only on the charge of killing intellectuals, a genocide which had been 
committed as per blueprint of Al Badar. That Mojaheed had been an Al Badar 
leader was something commonly known in the then media, he said further.

The Appellate Division has stayed his death sentence taking all these into 
consideration, he added. The attorney general informed journalists that the 
process of the execution of the verdict will start once the complete copy of 
the verdict is published.

Meanwhile, Makbul Ahmad, acting ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, announced 24-hour 
hartal (strike) for today (Wednesday) on its website in protest against the 
death sentence of its secretary general Mojaheed for killing intellectuals 
during Liberation War in 1971.

The 24-hour shutdown will start from 6.0 am Wednesday and end at 6.0 am 
Thursday.

(source: The Financial Express)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia: 100 Executions Since January 1 ---- Nearly 1/2 for Nonviolent 
Drug Crimes



Saudi authorities have carried out 100 executions since January 1, compared 
with 88 in all of 2014. Of the 2015 executions, 47 were for nonviolent drug 
offenses.

"Saudi authorities have been on a campaign of death this year, executing more 
people in 6 months than all of the previous year," said Sarah Leah Whitson, 
Middle East and North Africa director. "It's bad enough that Saudi Arabia 
executes so many people, but to execute people convicted in nonviolent drug 
offenses shows just how wanton these executions are."

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Saudi Arabia???s state news agency, said in news 
releases that only 14 of the 100 prisoners executed so far in 2015 were 
convicted of Hadd ("limit") crimes for which Islamic law mandates a specific 
punishment, including the death penalty, while 30 were sentenced under the 
Islamic law concept of Qisas, or eye-for-an-eye retribution for murder. Judges 
based their sentences for the other 56, including the 47 for drug-related 
crimes, on judicial discretion. Saudi Arabia has no penal code; thus for many 
crimes for which people are convicted, what constitutes a crime, the proof 
required to prove it, and the sentence it carries are entirely up to a judge to 
decide.

Of the 100 executed, 57 were Saudi citizens. Pakistanis - 14 of them convicted 
on heroin smuggling charges - formed the largest group among the foreigners. 
International standards, including the Arab Charter on Human Rights, ratified 
by Saudi Arabia, require countries that retain the death penalty to use it only 
for the "most serious crimes," and in exceptional circumstances. In 2012, the 
United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary 
executions stated that where used, the death penalty should be limited to cases 
in which a person is intentionally killed and not used to punish drug-related 
offenses.

Human Rights Watch has documented longstanding due process violations in Saudi 
Arabia's criminal justice system that makes it difficult for a defendant to get 
a fair trial even in capital cases. In cases Human Rights Watch has analyzed, 
authorities did not always inform suspects of the charges against them or allow 
them access to evidence, even after trial sessions began. Authorities generally 
did not allow lawyers to assist suspects during interrogation and often impeded 
them from examining witnesses and presenting evidence at trial.

The Death Penalty Worldwide Database, which collects information on executions 
across the globe, shows that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution 
rates in the world, and applies the death penalty to a range of offenses that 
do not constitute "most serious crimes," including drug offenses, adultery, 
sorcery, and apostasy. Saudi Arabia trails only Iran in the Middle East for 
executing the most people each year. Since the start of 2015 Saudi Arabia's 
neighbor, Iran, has reportedly executed more than 340 prisoners, with as many 
as 98 hanged between April 9 and 28 alone, according to UN rights experts.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all 
circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it 
is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.

In 2013, following similar resolutions in 2007, 2008, and 2010, the UN General 
Assembly called on countries to establish a moratorium on the use of the death 
penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offenses for which 
it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. UN 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also called on countries to abolish the death 
penalty.

(source: Human Rights Watch)



MALAYSIA:

PGA M'sia to play pivotal role in death penalty abolishment----Its secretary 
says PGA Malaysia will promote and advance the abolition of the death penalty 
in Malaysia.



The Malaysian chapter of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) will play a 
pivotal role to spearhead the people???s campaign to banish the death penalty.

PGA Malaysia secretary and DAP's Ipoh MP M Kula Segaran said the chapter's 
meeting held in the Parliament House committee room in Kuala Lumpur on June 11 
had adopted the stance.

He said PGA Malaysia sensed that there was a strong undercurrent movement in 
the country to end the death penalty.

However it also acknowledged that stronger public pressure and discussions with 
all stakeholders were required to bring real and long term changes.

"The meeting decided that PGA Malaysia will play the role of the promotion and 
advancement of abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia," said Kula.

PGA is a non-profit, non-partisan international network of committed 
legislators that informs and mobilises parliamentarians in all regions of the 
world to advocate for human rights and the rule of law, democracy, human 
security, non-discrimination, and gender equality.

Currently it consists of over 1,100 legislators in more than 140 elected 
parliaments around the globe.

PGA Malaysian Chapter is headed by Tourism and Culture Minister and Padang 
Rengas MP Nazri Aziz while its deputy chairman is Minister in Prime Minister's 
Department and Batang Sadong MP Nancy Sukri.

PGA's Human Rights Committee chairman, Italian MP Mario Marazziti and its 
secretariat representative Maia Trujillo attended the meeting.

Other members present were Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him, Lanang MP Alice Lau 
Kiong Yieng, Bukit Katil MP Shamsul Iskandar, Ipoh Timur MP Thomas Su and Kapar 
MP G Manivannan.

Kula, the DAP national vice-chairman said Nazri reaffirmed his stand at the 
meeting that the death penalty must be abolished.

However Nazri acknowledged that in view of current public pressure, PGA 
Malaysia must first focus on repealing the mandatory death sentence.

Kula said Nancy, who had raised the issue many times with the federal 
government, revealed that the Attorney-General in a June 9 reply to her written 
enquiry said his chamber's study on the matter was still ongoing.

Marazzitti also briefed the PGA Malaysia about his experience in getting the 
people and elected representatives to support the abolishment of the death 
penalty. He has written books on the subject and been instrumental in pushing 
for it in various countries.

In 2010, Nazri, then Law Minister, said the federal government intended to 
abolish the death penalty while the AG in a statement in 2012 said that laws 
would be introduced to abolish it.

"Although the above are positive developments, real changes into the 
abolishment have yet to materialise.

"In essence, Malaysians were not against the abolishment of the mandatory death 
penalty," said Kula.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)








PAKISTAN----executions

Pakistan hangs 7 death row prisoners



7 prisoners on death row have reportedly been executed across jails in 
Pakistan's Punjab.

7 prisoners on death row have reportedly been executed across jails in 
Pakistan's Punjab. 3 murder convicts: Nabeel Ahmed, Muhammed Saleem and 
Muhammed Rashid were hanged amid high security at the Faisalabad Central Jail, 
reported The Express Tribune.

Another 2 prisoners were executed in Sahiwal Central Jail while, a man 
convicted for the murder of 2 people was hanged in Mianwali Central Jail. The 
capital punishment handed down to the 7th inmate for a murder committed 15 
years ago was carried out in Gujrat.

The country has already executed 150 death row prisoners since a moratorium on 
death penalty was lifted late last year. Pakistan has however, decided to pause 
hanging of prisoners for 30 days, in the month of Ramazan.

(source: The Financial Express)

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

Execution: 3 murder convicts hanged



3 murder convicts were hanged at Central Jails in Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi 
Khan on Tuesday. The execution of another prisoner was withheld following a 
settlement with the family of the deceased.

The Faisalabad Central Jail superintendent said Muhammad Younus, a resident of 
Jaranwala's Chak 272-GB, had shot dead Amanat Ali, Farzana Bibi and Saira Bibi 
in 2000. He was awarded death penalty on 3 counts on December 28, 2004.

The superintendent said superior courts had upheld the sentence. The president, 
too, had turned down Younas' mercy petition.

Allah Ditta, a resident of Malkhanwala in Faisalabad, was awarded death 
sentence on February 7, 2007, for killing Zeenat Bibi in 1999.

Asghar Ali was hanged at the Dera Ghazi Khan Central Jail. He had shot dead his 
nephew, Yasin, on April 16, 2000.

The Layyah district and sessions judge had awarded him death sentence. Superior 
courts had upheld the sentence. The president had turned down his mercy 
petition.

Ali is survived by 2 wives and a 15-year-old daughter.

The execution of Zulfiqar Ali, a resident of Chak No 74-JB, was stopped after 
he reached a settlement with the family of the deceased.

He was awarded death sentence on 2 counts by Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Ishtiaq 
Ahmad on December 31, 2001, for killing Safiya Bibi in 1999.

Zulfiqar's parents reached a settlement with Safiya's legal heirs a few hours 
before he was scheduled to be hanged.

Death penalty

Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Raja Parvaiz Akhtar has awarded death penalty on 2 
counts to a convict and life term on 2 counts to his accomplices in a murder 
case.

According to the prosecution, Rashid Naeem and Qamar Adnan had shot dead a 
trader, Arshad, in Chak 51-GB on January 2, 2004, on his refusal to pay them 
Rs200,000 as protection money.

The judge awarded death sentence on 2 counts to Naeem and life imprisonment on 
1 counts to Adnan. They were also handed down 15-year imprisonment and a Rs1.3 
million fine each. They will be imprisoned for another 2 1/2 years each in case 
they fail to pay the fine.

(source: The Express Tribune)