[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 16



INDONESIA:

Police arrest 8 for selling illegal guns


The Jakarta Police have arrested 8 men suspected of selling illegal firearms in 
areas across the city.Jakarta

Police general crime director Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti said that officers had 
arrested the 8 in 5 separate spots after receiving reports from residents of 
trade in illegal guns in their neighborhoods.

"Our investigation was also spurred by several recent cases involving illegal 
guns," he said on Sunday as quoted by tempo.co, adding that the police had 
confiscated hundreds of airsoft guns and dozens of firearms in the 5 raids.

2 men, identified as KS and WH, had been arrested in Pasar Baru, Central 
Jakarta, Krishna said, where the police seized 12 firearms and a haul of 
ammunition.

1 suspect, identified as HRA, meanwhile, was arrested at Graha Cijantung Mall 
in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, according to Krishna.

"1 suspect, identified as KMR, was arrested in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java," 
he said, adding that the police had arrested 4 other suspects, identified as 
MS, AS, KV and HR, in separate raids in Depok.

He said the 8 men had been arrested on suspicion of selling unregistered guns 
and ammunition.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal said that the 
suspects would be charged with Article 1 of Law No. 12/1959 on illegal firearms 
with a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment.

(source: thejakartapost.com)






MALAYSIA:

Abolishing the mandatory death penalty a welcome step


Amnesty International Malaysia welcomes attorney-general Apandi Ali's intended 
proposal to the cabinet to scrap the mandatory death penalty as it signals 
progress in one area of human rights in the country - the right to life.

"In light of this development, we call on the Malaysian government to impose an 
immediate official moratorium on the use of the death penalty until Cabinet 
reviews this proposal and laws which carry the death sentence can be reviewed 
and changed," AI Malaysia executive director Shamini Darshni said in a 
statement.

"Half of over 1,000 people on death row in Malaysian prisons are awaiting 
results of appeals or clemency, thus as the government studies the AG's 
proposal, these individuals need to know that they will not yet meet the noose. 
So it goes for any new case which carries the death penalty," she added.

However, abolishing the mandatory death penalty, though welcomed, must be 
considered a first step towards total abolition, she said.

"Through our work globally, we have seen the death penalty - mandatory or 
discretionary - imposed on those below 18, people with mental health issues, 
the poor and minority groups. There is also a sore lack of proof that the death 
penalty is able to reduce crime rates or prevent new criminals from emerging."

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty at all times, regardless of who 
is accused, the crime, guilt or innocence or method of execution. Most 
countries which practice executions have unfair legal systems and commonly 
justify its use as a crime-control measure. The application of the death 
penalty is discriminatory and in some countries used as a tool to punish 
political opponents.

Amnesty International has been working to end executions since 1977, when only 
16 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Today, the 
number has risen to 140 - almost two-thirds of countries around the world.

"In many countries, including Malaysia, people on death row are imprisoned for 
many years in solitary confinement before an execution, causing severe mental 
torture not just to an inmate, but to their families who are innocent of any 
crime," she said.

"For almost 40 years, Amnesty International has worked to see this cruel and 
inhumane punishment abolished worldwide. As the years pass, anti-death penalty 
advocates have become more successful. Now, there are only some 30 countries 
that retain the death penalty in their law books, including Malaysia."

Malaysia uses the mandatory death penalty for drug offences, murder, treason 
and certain firearms offences.

In May, Prisons Department director-general Zulkifli Omar reported some 1,043 
prisoners are on death row and that 46 % of those awaiting their execution were 
convicted for drug offences.

Not meeting 'most serious crimes' threshold

Hundreds of executions are carried out worldwide annually for drug-related 
offences despite the fact that such offences do not meet the threshold of the 
'most serious crimes' to which the use of the death penalty must be restricted 
under international law.

"The death penalty is a blatant denial of human rights. Sentencing someone to 
death denies them the right to life as enshrined in the Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights. It is irreversible and mistakes have happened. As long as the 
death penalty remains, the risk of executing an innocent person will never be 
eliminated," she said.

AI Malaysia is currently running campaigns on Kho Jabing, a Malaysian on death 
row in Singapore; and Shahrul Izani Suparman, local man who has maintained his 
innocence of a drug trafficking charge for 12 years.

(source: malaysiakini.com)






MALDIVES:

Maldives adopts automatic appeal of death sentences


Maldives top court issued new guidelines Sunday allowing death sentences and 
public lashing rulings issued by lower courts to be appealed automatically at 
the High Court.

In a circular, the Supreme Court said if the defendant fails to appeal death 
sentences and public lashing verdicts within 10 days, the court that had 
initially issued the verdict should forward the relevant documents to the High 
Court. The appellate court would have seven days to notify both the defendant 
and the prosecution of the appeal and during that period should take the 
necessary steps to begin appeal proceedings, it added.

The new rules follow similar guidelines issued by the apex court last week.

Supreme Court issued new guidelines on November 8 giving a month-long window 
for the last chance to appeal death sentences and public lashings backed by 
High Court.

According to the guidelines, if a defendant fails to appeal a High Court 
verdict in favour of death sentences and public lashing rulings within a 30-day 
period, the appeal can then only be filed at the Supreme Court by the 
prosecution.

The guidelines, included in a circular signed by Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, 
did not specifically mention sentences of death and public lashing. However, it 
says that High Court rulings that need to be reconfirmed by the Supreme Court 
had to be appealed within 30 days, including public holidays.

Under local laws, the only sentences that need to be reconfirmed by the Supreme 
Court are death sentences and public lashing verdicts.

Judicature Act earlier granted a 90-day period, excluding public holidays, to 
appeal rulings by any court.

However, the Supreme Court had in January annulled that clause and issued new 
guidelines under which rulings issued by lower courts had to be appealed at the 
High Court within 10 days and appeal over High Court verdicts needed to be 
filed at the Supreme Court within 60 days.

Meanwhile, government has included funds in the proposed state budget for next 
year to establish an execution chamber at the country's main prison to carry 
out the death penalty.

The proposed budget for next year, which is currently being reviewed by the 
parliament, includes MVR4 million to build an execution chamber. However, the 
correctional service was not immediately available for comment.

Maldives adopted a new regulation last year under which lethal injection would 
be used to implement the death penalty.

However, over mounting pressure from human rights bodies, companies have been 
refusing to supply the fatal dose to countries still carrying out capital 
punishment.

Home minister Umar Naseer had earlier said the correctional service would be 
ready to implement the death penalty by the time a death sentence is upheld by 
the Supreme Court.<>P> There are around 10 people on death row at present, but 
none of whom has exhausted the appeal process thus far.

(source: haveeru.com)






AUSTRALIA:

Terror death penalty debate needed: Qld MP


A Queensland MP has renewed calls for Australian governments to consider the 
death penalty to deal with terrorists in the wake of the Paris attacks, which 
have claimed at least 130 lives.

Moggill MP Dr Christian Rowan sparked controversy last week when he used a 
debate about counter-terrorism laws in parliament to call for considering the 
reintroduction of the death penalty for "certain or specified terrorist acts".

Dr Rowan stood by his speech on Monday, insisting Queensland and the rest of 
Australia needed to take "the strongest possible action ... in relation to 
extremist criminal ideology".

The former Australian Medical Association Queensland president made it clear 
that although he wasn't necessarily advocating for the death penalty himself, 
he was saying it needed to be considered for serious terrorism-related 
offences, including treason and "crimes against humanity".

Those responsible for the Paris attacks would likely be put to death under 
those circumstances, he said.

"These mass-casualty events that we've seen potentially could qualify," Dr 
Rowan told AAP.

Dr Rowan insisted the majority of feedback he'd received since his speech in 
parliament had been supportive.

He rejected civil libertarians' assertions that the death penalty would risk 
creating martyrs and prompting risk further radicalisation.

"If civil libertarians want to defend terrorist actions and actions that 
threaten free people around the world - these mass casualty events - let's see 
what basis and justification they want to put forward for that," he said.

Meanwhile, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Commissioner Ian Stewart informed 
her on Monday morning that police were not aware of any threats in Queensland.

But she said police would be adding extra resources at the annual Schoolies 
celebrations on the Gold Coast.

"We do take any event of significance very seriously in this state, but just to 
re-emphasise - there is no known threat in Queensland," she said.

Brisbane's French community will hold a vigil in the city's King George Square 
at 6pm on Monday, which will include a minute's silence for the victims of the 
Paris attacks.

(source: 9news.com.au)






INDIA:

SC rejects Delhi govt plea seeking death for Nitish Katara's killers


The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Delhi government plea seeking death 
sentence for the 3 convicts in Nitish Katara murder case, including cousins 
Vikas and Vishal Yadav, saying that it did not fall under the "rarest of rare" 
category warranting the extreme penalty.

A Bench comprising justices J.S. Khehar and R. Banumathi said that it had 
already dismissed a similar petition of complainant Neelam Katara, mother of 
Nitish, on the issue.

The court, however, said that it will need the assistance of Delhi government's 
lawyer in deciding the petitions filed by the 3 convicts, including Sukhdev 
Pehalwan, on the "limited questions" as to whether the high court was justified 
in awarding jail term of 30 years to Yadav cousins and 25 years to Pehalwan.

The Bench has now posted the matter for final hearing in February next year.

Last month, the Supreme Court had rejected the plea of Neelam who had also 
sought death penalty for the convicts.

Vikas (39), Vishal (37) and Sukhdev (40) are serving life term awarded by the 
lower court in May 2008 for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive 
and son of a railway officer, on the night of February 16-17, 2002, as they 
opposed the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician 
D.P. Yadav.

The apex court had on August 17, upheld the conviction of Vikas Yadav, his 
cousin Vishal and Sukhdev Pehalwan in the case.

The court, which upheld the findings of the trial court and the Delhi High 
Court without issuing notices on the appeals of Vikas and Sukhdev, had agreed 
to consider the limited aspect relating to enhancement of quantum of sentence 
of the 3 convicts by the high court.

The high court had termed the award of life term "simplicitor" to the convicts 
as inconsequential and enhanced the life term of 3 convicts - Vikas and Vishal 
Yadav to 30 years imprisonment and 25 years incarceration to Sukhdev Yadav 
alias Pehalwan - without the benefit of remission.

The high court had on April 2, 2014, upheld the verdict of the lower court in 
the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a 
"deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system.

(source: tribuneindia.com)

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

Prosecution dept's 'success rate' : 8,773 convictions in 4 months - death to 8, 
life term for 977

Uttar Pradesh Police's Prosecution Department claimed its best ever achievement 
with district courts in the state pronouncing capital punishment to 8 and life 
imprisonment to 977 accused during the last four months.

As per data produced by the prosecution department, 8,773 persons have been 
convicted by different district courts of UP between July and October. The 
maximum number of persons convicted for 10 years and more come from 
Shahjahanpur and Ghaziabad districts. In Kanpur and Bareilly, maximum number of 
persons have been convicted below 10 years of imprisonment.

Director General, Prosecution, Surya Kumar Shukla said, "The prosecution 
department achieved the target through regular hard work by government 
counsels, policemen who relentlessly pursued the cases and the public 
prosecutors. Recently, the department started a drive to ensure that 
prosecution witnesses and the victims did not face any harassment at the hands 
of the accused." He said there were complaints regarding the accused "harassing 
and pressuring the witnesses to give statements in their favour" before the 
court. Directions were issued to all public prosecutors and government counsels 
to help such witnesses. Counsels have been directed to immediately bring to 
notice such cases before the local police or the prosecution directorate in 
Lucknow, he added.

The prosecution department has felicitated some 300 witnesses in various 
districts for appearing before the court and recording their statement 
fearlessly, said Shukla.

"A direction has also been issued to all police stations in UP to appoint a 
nodal officer (of sub-inspector rank) who would help witnesses and tell the 
counsels about important and heinous cases that were required to be supervised 
on priority basis," he added.

The courts of Ghaziabad, Lalitpur, Shamli and Firozabad districts awarded death 
sentence to 8 persons facing murder charges. While 4 accused were sentenced by 
a local court of Ghaziabad on October 28, 1 was awarded death sentence on 
August 13 by a Lalitpur court; on July 31 Shamli court sentenced 2 while 
another 1 was given death penalty by Firozabad court on July 13.

In the last 4 months, as many as 179 persons were sentenced to 10, 14 and 20 
years of imprisonment in 121 cases.

As per records, the court convicted 6,341 persons in 331 murder cases and 
accused are sentenced to either over 10 years or life imprisonment. In 34 cases 
of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the court sentenced 
39 persons to 10, 14 and 15 years of imprisonment.

In cases of dowry death, the court sentenced 163 persons who were accused in 68 
criminal cases. Accused are sentenced to 10, 14 and life term.

However, in last 4 months, one person each was sentenced under Goonda Act and 
UP Gangsters Act in Hardoi and Lalitpur, respectively.

A programme 'Bina Dare, Bina Bikey' has been organised by the prosecution 
department to felicitate witnesses of heinous crimes who fearlessly recorded 
their statement in the court. The DG said that history-sheeters of different 
districts have been identified and efforts were on to ensure their conviction.

(source: Indian Express)

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

Godse is a murderer, doesn't deserve respect: RSS ideologue


The RSS on Sunday opposed the move by some Hindutva organisations to 
commemorate the 66th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi killer Nathuram Godse 
as "Shaurya Divas" on the grounds that he was a "murderer" who deserved no 
respect.

On November 15, 1949, Godse was hanged in Ambala Jail 7 days after he was given 
death penalty by a court for killing Gandhi on January 30, 1948, in the 
national capital.

The Hindu Mahasabha, Hindu Sena and the Maharana Pratap Battalion held 
different programmes to observe "Shaurya Divas" in Maharastra on Godse's 
hanging.

"I don't know which organisation it is. But I am against honouring and giving 
respect to Nathuram Godse. He is a murderer. The fight of thoughts should be 
fought with thoughts only. It is not right to kill anyone as was done by 
Godse," RSS ideologue M G Vaidya told a news agency.

The RSS continues to face political charges of killing the Father of the 
Nation. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had 
slammed the RSS for the killing of the Mahatma. The RSS had denied the charges.

"Some people think that by doing so (killing Gandhi), they have encouraged 
Hindutva, but that is wrong. In fact, they have insulted Hindutva. I think it 
was an evil act to kill Gandhi who was such a respected figure in India," 
Vaidya added.

The Hindu Mahasabha and the Sanatan Sanstha, which had come under the scanner 
for the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare, were among the Hindutva outfits 
that reportedly participated in the "Shaurya Diwas" ceremony held at Panvel 
near Mumbai to eulogise Godse.

(source: daijiworld.com)