[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 27



INDONESIA:

No clemency for death row convict



Indonesia's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a Filipina on death row for a 
judicial review of her case, bringing her closer to being executed along with 
several other foreign drug convicts.

But in a bid to save the life of Mary Jane Veloso, Vice President Jejomar Binay 
renewed his appeal to Indonesian President Joko Widodo for the commutation of 
the death sentence of Veloso who was caught carrying a suitcase containing 
illegal drugs in Indonesia.

Binay and the Department of Foreign affairs vowed to exert all efforts to save 
the life of Veloso whom they believe was innocent of the crime and was a mere 
victim of a drug smuggling syndicate.

"I am once again appealing to President Widodo's good heart for the commutation 
of the death sentence of our kababayan, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, who is 
scheduled be executed in Yogyakarta," Binay said in a statement.

Veloso's request for clemency was among the 16 rejected by Indonesia's newly 
elected leader, President Widodo, on January 9.

"I ask this, with the deepest bond of brotherhood and friendship of our 
peoples, a bond that I am confident will only grow stronger in the years to 
come," Binay said.

"We are saddened that the Indonesian Supreme Court has chosen not to grant Mary 
Jane's lawyers' request for a judicial review of her case. Nonetheless, we 
reiterate the Philippines' full awareness and respect for Indonesia's laws and 
legal system," the Vice President said.

In their appeal for judicial review, Veloso's lawyers argued that the Filipina 
was not provided with a capable translator during her trial.

"It should have been court appointed translator. Maybe he is not qualified 
during that time. That might have had an impact on the proceedings that 
happened before in relation to the accuracy of the translation," Jose said.

Binay stressed that Veloso, a widowed mother of 2, was not part of any 
organized drug syndicate, saying she, too, was a victim.

"She was unwittingly taken advantage of by a person whom she gave her complete 
trust and confidence when the latter asked her to hand carry a piece of luggage 
containing illegal drugs," Binay said.

The vice president previously wrote Widodo earlier this month to "convey to 
Widodo the Filipinos' hope and prayer that the Supreme Court of Indonesia will 
look kindly and with compassion on the circumstances surrounding the case of 
Veloso."

The United Nations human rights office has previously called on Indonesia to 
refrain from executing convicted drug smugglers, saying the death penalty won't 
stop the trafficking of illegal drugs.

Last January 18, 6 drug convicts - 5 foreigners and an Indonesian - were 
executed, the 1st under Widodo's term.

Veloso was earlier included in the next batch of death-row convicts scheduled 
to be executed in Nusakambangan Island. The list reportedly includes 3 
Indonesian murder convicts, and convicted drug traffickers from Indonesia, 
Brazil, France, Ghana and Spain.

Jakarta plans to execute all 10 of the convicts - including Veloso - at the 
same time, but said it will wait for any outstanding legal appeals to conclude.

3 Australians who are known as part of the Bali 9 drug-traffickers group had 
earlier been transferred to the island.

The cases of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, leaders of the 
so-called "Bali 9" drug syndicate, are currently on appeal.

(source: Manila Standard Today)

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

Indonesia prepares to transfer Philippines drug convict for execution



Indonesia is preparing to move a Filipina death row inmate for execution after 
she lost her appeal in the Supreme Court earlier this week, the attorney 
general's spokesman said on Friday.

The planned executions of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso and nine other mostly foreign 
drug traffickers has drawn international criticism after repeated pleas for 
mercy from the United Nations and various governments have gone unheeded by 
President Joko Widodo.

Veloso will be moved from the city of Yogyakarta to the maximum security prison 
on Nusakambangan Island in Central Java, where the rest of the group awaits 
execution by firing squad.

"We can say that (Veloso's) case is done," the attorney general's spokesman 
Tony Spontana told reporters.

"There will be preparations to move her soon because the plan to execute all 
(10 convicts) at once hasn't changed."

The attorney general's office has yet to announce a date for the executions.

4 other foreign nationals in the group have also lodged last-minute appeals 
against their death sentences, forcing the attorney general to hold off on the 
executions until all legal processes are seen through.

2 Australian prisoners are among those appealing their sentences. The 
Australian government has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save their 
lives, but Widodo has refused to budge, ramping up diplomatic tensions between 
the neighbors.

Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 
2013 after a 5-year gap.

(source: Reuters)








ENGLAND:

If British democracy worked, we would have had a referendum on the death 
penalty



Nice to know, isn't it, that public attitudes are finally catching up with 
MPs'. It seems, from the Social Attitudes survey, that finally, half a century 
after parliament suspended the death penalty, 48 % of people no longer want the 
death penalty reintroduced. Opinion has been stubbornly in favour of it ever 
since 1965, and that was also true in 1998 when the Human Rights Act forbade 
capital punishment outright. In other words, until now, MPs have been wildly at 
odds with the opinion of most voters on an undeniably important issue.

I'm unsure exactly where I stand on the issue myself, though I've always felt 
the guillotine would have been my own choice of method if it came to it. I'm 
instinctively squeamish about state executions, though I'm sympathetic to the 
case for executing police killers. In fact the case for and against has rarely 
been better put than in Dead Man Walking - that movie with Susan Sarandon as a 
nun with a mission to death row - where the grimness of the execution was 
paralleled by matching footage of the murder that elicited the sentence. It was 
miles more powerful than what would have been the British equivalent: a 1-sided 
depiction of the horror of the lethal injection.

But the point is that MPs have not just been apologetically at odds with public 
opinion on this one; they've rather congratulated themselves that they occupy a 
higher moral plane than most voters. Whenever anyone has raised the possibility 
of having more recourse to referendums rather than democracy at one remove, the 
knockout argument has been, you can't possibly - people would only want hanging 
back.

Well, I don't buy it. In Switzerland, the constitution forbids capital 
punishment but there have been a couple of attempts to reintroduce it in 
limited circumstances by recourse to a referendum - efforts which failed. Which 
is rather the point. At least there had to be an attempt on both sides to win 
over public opinion, rather than simply assuming that MPs would ensure that the 
views of the morally unwashed never got into law. But then Switzerland, where 
you can have referendums if there is sufficient demand for them, is a country 
that comes as close as you can get to the direct democracy of ancient Athens. 
Electoral reform pundits talk endlessly and tediously of a citizens' democracy. 
But only, it seems, so long as the views of the citizens chime with those of 
the political class. The non-representation of the majority view on capital 
punishment in parliament for the last 50 years just goes to show the 
limitations of democracy as it operates in Britain - representative but only up 
to a point.

(source: Commentary, Melanie McDonagh----The Spectator)








THAILAND:

Thailand among group in Southeast Asia not abolishing death penalty: UN report



Thailand ranks somewhere in the middle among nations in Southeast Asia when it 
comes to abolishing the death penalty, with the Kingdom criticised for a "lack 
of tangible advancement" towards abolishing executions in a United Nations 
report released yesterday (Fri).

Although Cambodia, the Philippines and East Timor have abolished the death 
penalty, Thailand still maintains it, although no execution has taken place 
since 2009 and the country is regarded as a "retentionist state".

As of June 30 last year, there were at least 612 people on "death row" in the 
Kingdom and the year 2013 alone saw 294 people sentenced to death.

Crimes punishable by death in Thailand include offences against royalty, 
internal and external security, and liberty, and offences relating to sexuality 
causing death.

The 44-page report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' 
regional office for Southeast Asia, titled "Moving Away from the Death Penalty: 
Lessons in Southeast Asia", noted that Thailand, in its most recent review by 
the Committee against Torture, had stated that it would consider a moratorium 
on the death penalty.

"Abolition of the death penalty was included in the draft of [Thailand's] Third 
National Human Rights Action Plan (2014-2018), but there has since been a lack 
of tangible advancement in abolishing the death penalty, and a high number of 
death sentences were passed in 2013, almost half of them [for] drug-related 
offences," the report stated.

It said recommended that Thailand impose a moratorium on the death penalty with 
a view to abolition, as outlined in the current National Human Rights Action 
Plan.

The outlook in Southeast Asia is mixed, as the report stated that of the 11 
countries in the region, Cambodia, East Timor and the Philippines had 
consistently voted for UN General Assembly resolutions on moratoriums on the 
use of the death penalty. But Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore have 
consistently voted against such resolutions.

Thailand voted against the moratorium in 2007 and 2008 but changed its position 
by abstaining from voting in 2010 and 2012. Despite this, the report noted that 
Southeast Asia is generally part of the global trend against practising the 
death penalty.

All countries in Southeast Asia have legislation that ensures exceptions to the 
death penalty for children, pregnant women, and people with mental or 
intellectual disabilities.

The report also noted that while some 160 countries had either abolished the 
death penalty, observed a moratorium or ceased practising it, a minority of 
countries still execute people.

"In some of these countries, the death penalty is mandatory for drug-related 
offences. The mandatory death penalty is problematic because it goes against 
the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life and violates the right to 
fair trial."

(source: The Nation)








PAKISTAN:

LHC converts death penalty of 6 convicts into life imprisonment



A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Friday converted death penalty of 6 
convicts into life imprisonment.

The division bench headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan passed the orders on 
appeals filed by the convicts Muhammad Shahid, Hassan Nazir, Malik Shahid, 
Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad kamran and Bilal Ahmad.

Earlier, petitioners' counsel submitted that the trial court had awarded them 
death penalty despite differences in statements of the witness and lack of 
solid evidence in a kidnapping for ransom case. He pleaded the court to set 
aside the sentence.

However, Deputy Prosecutor General Khurram Khan opposed the request and 
submitted that the trial court awarded sentence on basis of evidence against 
the convicts, He pointed out that 60 million ransom amount as well as cars used 
in crime were recovered from the convicts.

He said that the convicts were identified by the witnesses during the 
identification parade. He pleaded the court to dismiss their appeal.

But, the bench after hearing arguments of both parties converted death penalty 
of convicts into life imprisonment.

ATC-III Lahore awarded death penalty to the convicts in a case registered 
against them at Town Ship Police Station for kidnapping Chairman High Tech 
Industries Dr Muhammad Arshad and his driver for ransom in 2010.

(source: brecorder.com)