[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 18



GLOBAL:

Innocent people around the world are on death row after being tricked by 
organised drug gangs.


Mary Jane Veloso is not alone as a victim of unscrupulous smuggling racketeers.

In recent times heartless and well-organised criminal groups have been 
targeting vulnerable people, building up a high level of trust and then 
tricking them into acting as drug mules. The effort and sophistication employed 
into this dangerous deception is quite extraordinary. If one such innocent mule 
is caught the organisation then simply replaces him or her with the next victim 
without the slightest care for the fate of the last one.

"Senior Government officials have told ABC 7.30 that crime syndicates with 
their roots in West Africa have scammed or pressured scores of vulnerable 
people - the frail, elderly, brain-damaged, mentally ill and juvenile - into 
couriering drugs into Australia through countries with the death penalty.

The 7.30 team has unravelled the inside story of these syndicates, analysed 
evidence and spoken to drug couriers who say they were scammed into undertaking 
dangerous journeys through China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

A total of 26 Australians are detained in China on drug smuggling charges."

Apart from those languishing in foreign prisons a number of these naive drug 
mules have been arrested on their return to Australia. 39 such people have been 
arrested in the last 2 years. 2/3 of those who have had their cases finalised 
have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Email scam victim to drug mule

Donald Clay had more than $80,000 stolen in a Nigerian email scam and later was 
tricked to collect a "long-overdue payment" which instead made him a drug mule.

The 58 year old was contacted by the scammers again years later and promised 
that he would receive a large sum of money by way of compensation and more.

"They were going to walk me through, take me to the bank, help me get a bank 
account.

"So then, when I get to the Philippines, that's when he hit me up with this: 
you give them a gift, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to get shoes and you 
give those to the officials.

"I wanted to believe so bad that common sense left me.

"Why someone would do this to somebody who has a family and whose life has been 
destroyed enough, now you're going to put me in harm's way by making me a 
heroin trafficker?"

After a year in an Australian jail, Mr Clay is back at his home in Indonesia.

2 months ago after a trial, he was released and deported when a jury accepted 
his incredible tale and found him not guilty of drug smuggling.

Mr Clay has been forced to sell off his family's belongings. The scammers have 
bled him dry.

"This has destroyed my life. They're just cowards," he said.

"They get innocent people to do their dirty work for them, you know."

(source: the-newshub.com)






MIDDLE EAST:

Death penalty in the Middle East: Here are the most blood-thirsty MENA 
governments


The Middle East is a notoriously unforgiving place, a quality that is nowhere 
more apparent than in how it executes prisoners. In Saudi Arabia, public 
beheadings and stonings are the favored method of applying the death penalty, 
and the condemned are often sedated beforehand. In Egypt, over 500 people were 
sentenced to death in a single day last year. In Iran, ethnic minorities, 
non-violent drug offenders and even children are killed in staggering numbers.

(source: albawaba.com)






JAMAICA:

Senate passes Jury Act


Senators yesterday voted to amend the Jury Act, paving the way for what Justice 
Minister Mark Golding said will be "a significant improvement for the justice 
system and the way the jury system works".

The bill provides for the enhancement of the jurypselection process by 
modifying the rules concerning the number of peremptory challenges allowed. It 
also provides for the trial by the judge alone, where the prosecution and 
accused so agree; and the statutory protection of employees summoned to serve 
as jurors against adverse action from their employers.

Golding, in piloting the bill through the Senate a week ago, said the Jury 
Amendment Act seeks to address the continuing problem of a shortage of jurors 
to serve the Circuit courts. The inadequate number of jurors has contributed 
significantly to the delays in the disposal of criminal cases.

If approved by the House of Representatives, the amended Jury Act will allow 
for the production of an expanded list of potential jurors from a combination 
of the voters' list and the list of persons with Taxpayer Registration Numbers 
issued under the Revenue Administration Act, and an array of 7 jurors for all 
jury trials other than for treason or murder, where, on conviction, the death 
penalty may be imposed.

(source: Jamaica Glelaner)



PAKISTAN:

Pakistan joins list of top executioners


As Pakistan hanged the murderer of a former Punjab chief minister, it joined 
the likes of China and Iran as 1 of the top 3 executioners of death-row 
prisoners in a calendar year.

Zaman, who was convicted of killing Haider Wyne, was hanged in Central Jail 
Multan on Thursday, bringing Pakistan's tally to 260 since the government 
lifted a moratorium on capital punishment following the Army Public School 
massacre in December last year.

Executions so far this year are the highest for Pakistan in a single calendar 
year over the past decade, and already outstrip the 179 executions carried out 
in the country from 2007-2014.

According to data gathered from Amnesty International and the ministry of 
Interior, Pakistan has sent at least 432 condemned prisoners to the gallows 
since 2007, while awarding death sentence to 2,196 prisoners in that time. 
While there were no executions for nearly 5 years from 2009-2013, when an 
unofficial moratorium was in effect, courts went on to sentence at least 2,196 
people to death during this time.

China and Iran top the list of countries for the most executions since 2007 
with 2,727 and 2,635 executions, respectively. They sentenced at least 8,863 
and 407 people to death in this time. Saudi Arabia comes in 3rd with 671 
executions and 114 death penalty awards. Iraq is 4th with 615 executions and 
1,574 sentences. America is 5th on the list with 337 executions and 733 death 
penalty convictions.

"Developments around the death penalty in Pakistan since December last year 
have been extremely alarming," says Olof Blomqvist of Amnesty International."

Zohra Yusuf, the chairperson of Human Right Commission of Pakistan, observed 
that there were few prisoners who were hanged involved in terror-related 
crimes.

However, a former Punjab police chief and a caretaker interior minister Malik 
Habib justified the hangings as executions are important for Pakistan's 
existing security environment. "It will bring a positive impact to our fight 
against terrorism," Malik told The Express Tribune.

(source: The Express Tribune)

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

Qadri Verdict a 'Victory over Terrorism'


The apex court in Pakistan has kept intact the death sentence of a man who 
murdered the former governor of the Punjab for seeking reforms in the blasphemy 
law and supporting Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death for 
allegedly committing blasphemy.

The governor, Salmaan Taseer, was shot and killed by Mumtaz Qadri, a member of 
his own security detail, in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on 4 January, 2011. 
26-year old Qadri shot the governor 27 times without being intercepted by other 
police officers present at the crime scene. Then he threw down his AK-47 
sub-machine gun and reportedly pleaded to be arrested so that he could explain 
his intentions.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on 7 October upheld the decision of the trial 
court and the Islamabad High Court and rejected the appeal against Qadri's 
death sentence. Qadri's lawyers had maintained that because the governor called 
the blasphemy laws "black law", Qadri had the right to kill him. A day before, 
Supreme Court Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, while discussing the case, remarked 
that "criticizing blasphemy laws does not amount to committing blasphemy" and 
that Qadri had no legal justification to take the law into his own hands.

(source: crossmap.com)






SINGAPORE:

6 arrested after 1.7kg of heroin and other drugs worth $179k seized in CNB 
operation


6 Singaporeans were arrested after a total of about 1.7kg of heroin, 214g of 
'Ice', 250g of ketamine and other drugs estimated to be worth more than 
$179,000 were seized in a Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) operation on Saturday.

The CNB said in a release that a couple travelling in a car was stopped at a 
police roadblock along Bedok North Road early Saturday morning, and about 350g 
of heroin, 10g of 'Ice', 81 tablets of Erimin-5, and other drug paraphernalia 
were recovered from the car. The driver, a 27-year-old male, and the passenger, 
a 25-year-old female, were placed under arrest and referred to CNB.

After establishing the identities of the drug associates of the 2 suspects, CNB 
officers arrested 2 more couples in the vicinity of Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 on 
Saturday evening. The 1st couple, a 39-year-old male and a 31-year-old female, 
were arrested at a HDB block. CNB officers seized about 450g of heroin, 4g of 
'Ice', 8g of cannabis, a bottle of methadone, a digital weighing scale and 
$15,275 in cash from the male suspected trafficker.

The 2nd couple, a 29-year-old male and a 32-year-old female, were arrested 
after CNB officers spotted their car entering a carpark in the same vicinity. 
They seized about 900g of heroin, 200g of 'Ice', 250g of ketamine, 100 Erimin-5 
tablets, a digital weighing scale, numerous empty plastic sachets and $6,700 in 
cash.

Investigations into the drug activities of all the suspects are ongoing, said 
the CNB. The Misuse of Drugs Act provides for the death penalty if the amount 
of diamorphine (or pure heroin) trafficked exceeds 15g.

(source: Straits Times)






SRI LANKA:

Hang him not jail him for lifeWhere would YOU put the comma?


The nation can already hear the sound of nails being driven into the 
scaffolding by the prison governor to hang the man who raped and killed little 
Seya following President Sirisena's announcement last month that the death 
penalty would be carried out next year if Parliament is of the same opinion as 
he is.

In anticipation of the sudden work load that may fall down upon his department 
soon, the Prison Commissioner has also hired 2 new promising hangmen to 
officially perform a 'little light administration duty' starting with the 1st 
condemned man brought to swing. In the best traditions of the scout's motto, he 
announced on Wednesday: "We should be prepared."

He may well be ready. And his conscience - the fact that he is dutifully 
performing his most unenvied task of being the lawful commander of Lanka's 
official killer squad in the most efficient and competent manner - may well be 
sate and clear. But is the nation prepared to have blood on its hands, even if 
it's gloved in velvet and clasped in prayer. Aghast, horrified and angered as 
the people are over the brutal murder of a little girl, is highly charged 
emotion roused by a gruesome killing the best base to decide a question of life 
and death of another human being, howsoever vile and unfit to breathe earth's 
blessed air? Does any crime justify man's right to play God?

5 days after little Seya's body was found raped and dumped near a canal, 
President Maithripala Sirisena released the trapdoor and let the controversial 
issue of the death penalty swing before the public gaze.

Speaking at the National Drug Prevention Programme in Galle on September 18, 
the President said: "Following the rape and murder of the little girl this 
week, a public outcry has risen for the imposition of the death penalty. Again 
in the last few years when such incidents occurred, public opinion clamoured 
for the death penalty to be imposed. Even at the funeral of the little girl, I 
saw people asking the president to enforce the death penalty. But this entails 
human rights issues and human rights organisations are opposed to it. However, 
capital punishment is still in use in powerful nations such as China and the 
United States. Therefore I am not averse to imposing the death penalty. Though 
I have the power to give effect to the death sentence imposed by the courts, I 
will place the issue before Parliament, not for a resolution - for that is not 
necessary - but for their opinion and if there is a consensus in Parliament, 
then I hope to carry out the death sentence from next year."

President Maithripala was correct when he said that a new act of parliament is 
not necessary to give effect to hang convicted murderers. The death penalty for 
1st degree murder has always existed in Lanka's penal code and does not need a 
Parliamentary re-enactment. The last judicial execution took place in 1976. Why 
it has remained in limbo for the last 39 years was because President J. R. 
Jayewardene never signed the final death warrant, opting instead to commute the 
death penalty to life imprisonment. Having ridden to power in 1977 with a 
solemn pledge to usher in a 'Dharmishta Society', even as Maithripala rode to 
the presidency this year with a promise to dawn a 'Maithree era', President 
Jayewardene stopped short of exercising his discretion to decide on a matter 
which lay beyond his earthly province. Perhaps he was a better Buddhist than he 
is given credit for he must have known that the natural law of karmic action 
does not recognise motive as a mitigating or absolving factor in its operation, 
even as one reaps what one sows regardless of the motive, as distinct from 
intention, involved in the act of sowing.

Intention is indispensable to constitute the karmic act of killing. Motive, be 
it either good or bad is not. Whether a motive is good or evil depends on one's 
own cultural conditioning and religious brainwashing. What maybe an evil motive 
to a Buddhist may be a good motive to a Muslim and vice-versa. Who is to decide 
who is right and who is wrong?

Motive is generally considered good when the act benefits oneself or one's 
loved ones or one's community. It may also change with time and what was 
perceived as good a hundred years ago may today be condemned as evil. The 
karmic law, like nature's physical law of gravity and the law of motion, 
operates solely on the basis that each act accompanied by the vital constituent 
of intention or mens rea in legal terms, will have an equal and similar 
reaction.

The concept of duty is man made and though one may be justified in the eyes of 
his fellow men and stand absolved of any legal wrong if one acts in pursuance 
of such a legal duty and sanctions murder by proxy, it cuts no dice in the 
natural operation of karmic law. Man made courts may order it on the basis of 
man made laws and a man made constitution which governs the petty affairs of 
men and nations may well impose upon the highest in the land with a duty to 
ensure that the punishment so ordered is meted out on the convicted doer of the 
crime. Cloaked with immunity from the due process of man made laws, such a 
person exercising his discretionary powers may well acquit himself with honour 
and receive the highest accolade from the people he represents in whose 
interests he has acted. As far as the citizenry is concerned, his motives are 
beyond question and his act may well be hailed as one inviting the highest 
merit. But in the realm of karma, such man made concepts and justifications 
hold no place. Thus when a president signs the death warrant that will give 
final effect to the will of man made courts and judgments delivered by men, he 
participates in the act of killing by proxy however far removed he may consider 
himself to be from the execution and snuffing of human life, strangulating 
another human being with a noose round his neck even as Seya was strangled with 
her own T shirt by her executioner.

Perhaps to J.R. Jayewardene, who proclaimed himself as a follower of India's 
greatest son Gautama the Buddha, the concept of karma may have appeared in more 
intuitive light than to those who hold the Mahavamsa view that Dutugamunu was 
born in Thusita heaven after his death for the merit earned flaying the 
Dravidian King Elara, unifying the land under the Sinhala Buddhist banner and 
building the great thupa thereafter.

Perhaps all those presidents who succeeded J.R. Jayewardene also felt a moral 
repugnance to sign the death warrant and wisely abstained from authorising the 
killing of another. Perhaps this is why even the present incumbent President 
Maithripala who holds the same unquestioned legal power as his predecessor held 
but did not use, falters to bear the burden alone and seeks moral comfort in a 
body representing the masses, namely, Parliament to share the load with him by 
collectively agreeing to judicial murder.

But alas Parliament is not made up of Arahants who may well have discoursed on 
karmic properties nor even of Greek Gods who, holding in their pantheon 
Nemesis, the Goddess of Divine Retribution, could have cast their celestial 
light on the cap[ital issue.

Nay, even if the entire populace were to cheer on the President to sign the 
death warrants and undertook to collectively bear the responsibility, the 
karmic law could not have spared the holder of the highest office in the land 
if he deemed it fit to exercise his people given power and order the 
premeditated judicial killing of another human being. For karma is deaf and 
blind to the reasons proffered by mortal men as justifications for their 
actions.

The laws of earth may condone his actions. The laws of heaven will condemn, 
irrespective of his motive to safeguard his people by acting in their best 
interest and inflicting such a heinous and absolute punishment with permanent 
consequences intended to serve as a deterrent for other would be murderers.

But would it be a deterrent? A common reason cited for the vast increase in 
murder in the last few years is the suspension of the death penalty. But can 
the correlation be ever proved beyond mere conjecture? Could it be that the 
vast increase in drug use, and the dehumanisation of Lankan society as a result 
of the brutal barbaric 30 year terrorist war, greatly contributed to devalue 
the sanctity of human life? Consider the following cases:

CASE 1: A person kills in the heat of the moment due to sudden anger, hatred, 
jealousy or intoxication. At the time of killing his thoughts are commandeered 
by rage or by intoxicants which effectively eclipses all rational thought. In 
such a situation will the death penalty serve to deter him?

CASE 2: Take a serial killer, like England's Jack the Ripper or New York's Son 
of Sam or Lanka's own Kahawatte Hacker who has preyed on older women for the 
last 8 years and struck again only weeks ago claiming his 18th victim. These 
are pathological killers. They may also suffer from schizophrenia and have 
split personalities like a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As Dr Jekylls they may be 
respected members of society. When their Mr. Hyde character takes over they 
become murderous psychopaths and no threat of capital punishment can serve as a 
deterrent.

CASE 3: There have been many drug related murders in recent years. This is 
where a drug addict in search of money to finance his daily fix resorts to 
burglary. He is ruled not by reason but driven by his body's craving for the 
daily fix. There are many instances of addicts attacking their parents when 
refused money. To them capital punishment is no deterrent. They will do 
anything to feed their addiction. They may even confess to blue murder in a 
remand cell in return for an immediate fix. All that matters is the present. 
Not the consequences of actions.

CASE 4: This involves Seya's murder, the worst of murders imaginable that has 
sparked off public opprobrium and brought the issue of reactivating the death 
penalty and putting murderers to death. Such murders are committed by the 
sickest of minds, perverted sadistic paedophiles who derive warped pleasure 
through rape and murder of little children. No doubt they deserve death by 
hanging or worse but the question here is whether the death penalty would be a 
deterrent to others similarly bent and beyond the pale. The truth is that they 
may even welcome death as a small price to pay for a moment of perverse 
gratification of their depraved lust.

CASE 5: This involves the planned premeditated murder. It can be done for many 
reasons. But often than not, the killer planning the murder also plans his 
getaway; he acts in the belief that he will never get caught. As for contract 
killers, for each one who gets caught and is hanged, the godfather will find 
another who too believes in the fool proof nature of his plan to commit the 
perfect murder. The only effect capital punishment will have is it will enable 
them to command even higher fees in proportion to the higher risk as their 
charges for murder.

CASE 6: Murder as result of terrorism. Terrorists fight for a cause, a cause 
they believe it is worth to die for. Take the case of Tamil Tigers. They did 
not wait for any hangman's noose to claim their last breath. They just 
swallowed the cyanide pill even before achieving their murderous aim. Judicial 
executions will only make these cowards martyrs in death. Take a look at the 
Tigers' Hall of Fame.

If its deterrence value is so insignificant to justify its deployment, then is 
execution to be used as a means of revenge to gratify a people's temporary 
blood lust and balance the scales with an eye for an eye policy which in the 
words of Mahatma Gandhi only serves to make the whole world blind. Can it 
coexist with the moral armoury of a government committed to dawn an era of 
maithree or loving kindness to all beings, even to its most demonic enemies?

Does it not clash with the noble stanza of the Buddha 'nahe verena verani' 
hatred does not cease by hatred, quoted by Maithripala Sirisena on November 20 
last year as his opening line in the speech announcing his candidature to 
contest the presidential election when he declared that revenge was not his aim 
but it was justice that he sought. Should such a personal moral creed be 
negated when it comes to pandering to a society's natural inclination to 
revenge?

The Catholic Church has for long held that the death penalty was a form of 
'lawful slaying'. But even at the Holy See, the passage of time has wrought 
change and much water has flowed under Venetian bridges since the days of 
medieval popes. In 1999, Pope John Paul II appealed not for general agreement 
to continue the enforcement of the death penalty but for a consensus to end it 
on the ground that it was "both cruel and unnecessary." 3 weeks ago addressing 
the American Congress, Pope Francis made an unequivocal call for the death 
penalty to be abolished worldwide.

With world winds blowing in the direction of the Buddha's message of loving 
kindness to all, what makes Lanka, the self-proclaimed bastion of Theravada 
Buddhism in its pristine form, fly against the flow? And will it not smack of 
official hypocrisy when with lips we make our daily pledge to refrain from 
killing but with hands we clap when the 'kill' is made on our behalf? Will it 
not further dehumanise this society, already made insensate to mass murder as a 
result of the 30-year-old terrorist war?

Today there are 1,116 convicts on death row in Lankan jails, 1,117 exactly when 
you count last week's death sentence passed on Wele Suda. If the executions 
were to begin this coming January 1, even with one scheduled hanging per day, 
it will take an execution every day for the next 3 years to complete the 
backlog of 1,117 killings on the official death list.

That would mean the two hangmen recruited by the Prisons Commissioner to do a 
'little light administrative duties' will be called upon to hang a human being 
every day, with Poya days possibly declared off days since humans, no doubt, 
will be added to the list of animals whose slaughter is banned in government 
abattoirs on that hallowed monthly day. And you the public will watch on TV, 
hear on radio and read in the newspapers every day for the next 3 years that a 
human being has been executed by hanging that day and that the Government is on 
track with its 1,117 day official execution programme. And if that won't 
dehumanise you and make you insensitive to the premeditated, albeit judicial, 
murder, tell me what will?

Imagine the President's inner turmoil when he rises each morning for the next 
three years and knows that before the sun goes down that day another human 
being would have been executed on his signed orders?

And to those who clamour from their armchairs demanding the Government to carry 
out capital punishment, pray, further say, will you do the job yourself and 
pull the lever to release the trapdoor to make a fellow human swing and then 
watch his death throes as the noose inexorably tightens round his throat? Or 
will you shrink away from the task and let another do the dirty work for you, 
and think no sin stains your soul?

So consider the above headline 'Hang him not jail him for life'. Where would 
you place the comma? Will it be: 'Hang him, not jail him for life' or will it 
be 'Hang him not, jail him for life'? Consider it well before you place the all 
deciding punctuation mark. For when it comes to taking moral responsibility for 
judicial murder by proxy, there is no possibility of passing the moral buck and 
escaping the concomitant karmic consequences.

(source: Column; Don Manu, Sunday Times)






CHECHNYA:

'ISIS was created against Russia' - Kadyrov


Islamic State was "created first of all against Russia" said the president of 
Russia's Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, warning of the threat that the 
militant group and the conflict in Syria pose to Russia's security.

"If we think that the Syrian issue will be resolved quickly and will not affect 
the security of our country, it is not true. I am sure they will show up. ISIS 
was created primarily against Russia," Kadyrov said during a press conference 
in Grozny.

The Chechen leader has also offered to impose capital punishment on terrorists 
and those who "recruit, distort the [Muslim] religion, and misinterpret the 
Quran."

"The death penalty should be introduced for those who recruit, distort the 
[Muslim] religion, misinterpret the Quran, and terrorists. These people even in 
prison have a connection, and they continue to recruit," said the head of the 
region.

Kadyrov has also advised the Russian government to not fear the condemnation of 
the world community, RIA Novosti reported.

"Many countries have imposed sanctions against us anyway. The West and Europe 
do not need a strong state. They need a state that can be ruled. My deep 
belief: If necessary, the President will submit to the State Duma a draft law 
and the deputies will support him."

However, the State Duma has already previously said that it is not considering 
overturning the death penalty moratorium that Russia imposed in 1999 as it 
sought Council of Europe membership.

At the present moment the issue of introducing the death penalty, including the 
death penalty for terrorism, is not being considered in Russia," MP Raphael 
Mardanshin (United Russia) told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Earlier this week a key member of the Communist Party caucus in the State Duma 
also proposed the death penalty for terrorists as an extraordinary measure and 
"a supreme measure of social protection," adding that it could help to bring 
down the threat of terrorism that could increase in connection with Russia's 
active participation in the operation against Islamic State in Syria.

(source: rt.com)






TANZANIA:

EU sticks to anti-death penalty guns


The European Union Council (EUC) has reaffirmed its strong opposition against 
death penalty saying it is inhuman and degrading treatment which is short of 
deterrent effect and paves way for irreversible fatal judicial errors.

In its statement provided to The Guardian on Sunday in Dar es Salaam yesterday, 
EUC urged all European states to ratify protocols to the European Convention on 
Human Rights which aim at abolishing the death penalty.

EU Ambassador to Tanzania Filiberto Sebregondi suggested Tanzania to give 
stronger signal towards a resolve to abolish the penalty by revising mandatory 
nature of the law like in the neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Malawi.

He also expressed his views over the weekend on a visit to Ukonga high security 
prison in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

His remarks came amid EU global campaign to lobby against death penalty, saying 
EU considers capital punishment to be cruel and inhuman.

"It fails to provide deterrence to crime and it is irreversible, therefore 
leaving no possibility for correcting the miscarriage of justice which 
inevitably occurs," he said.

Executive Secretary of the Commission for Human Right and Good Governance, Mary 
Massay echoed the Ambassador???s view, saying death penalty is a violation of 
fundamental human rights because it violates the right to life and the right 
not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

"The commission strongly recommends that Tanzania should ratify the second 
optional protocol and immediately abolish the death penalty," she said.

The CE and the EU note with concern that the number of executions of persons 
for drug offences has increased during the last year in the few states that 
apply the death penalty to those offences, she said, adding; "both 
Organizations are particularly alarmed when this involves the execution of 
minors, which is contrary to international law."

"It is all the closer to heart because some European citizens have been 
executed in 2015 and others are still on death row for drug-related offences," 
she said.

But she commended Tanzanian civil society organizations working towards the 
abolition of death penalty for their relentless efforts in raising awareness.

"Tanzania is strongly encouraged to consider the abolishment of the death 
penalty in future reviews of its legal framework," she said.

But the officer in-charge of Ukonga Prisons, Stephen Mwasabila said Tanzania 
has however, not carried out an execution for more than a decade despite having 
scores in death row.

His jail holds 81 prisoners condemned to death in 5 compartments with an 
authorized capacity to accommodate 25 death-rowed inmates, in a facility that 
holds only 1,443 prisoners well below its capacity of 1,500.

(source: The Guardian)






INDIA:

Desecration of scripture: J&K BJP MLC demands death penalty


A BJP lawmaker from Jammu and Kashmir today demanded "death penalty" for those 
responsible for recent incidents of desecration of a holy book in various 
places of Punjab.

"The people who are responsible for the desecration... must be handed over 
death penalty," BJP MLC Charanjeet Singh Khalsa told reporters here today.

Condemning the police action in which two Sikh protesters were killed and 
several others were injured in Faridkot, Khalsa demanded action against the 
policemen who were responsible for firing on the "peaceful protesters".

He said the recent incidents of desecration of scripture was a ploy to disturb 
the "hard earned" peace in the state.

"There are forces that don't want peace in the state of Punjab and they are 
responsible for such actions, such forces should be identified and punished 
strictly," Khalsa said.

Khalsa said Punjab Government should identify the culprits and make sure that 
they are punished so that no such incident is repeated in future.

(source: Press Trust of India)

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

Death Penalty for Those Who Slaughter Cows: BJP Lawmaker Sakshi 
Maharaj----BJP's Sakshi Maharaj also backed Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal 
Khattar's controversial "Muslims should quit eating beef" statement, saying 
there was nothing wrong in it.


Controversial BJP lawmaker Sakshi Maharaj today pitched for a law that provides 
for death penalty for cow slaughter and defended his party MLAs beating up 
Sheikh Abdul Rashid in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly as a "natural reaction" 
to the independent legislator's action.

Strongly advocating protection of cows, the BJP MP said, "A strong law should 
be put in place to hang people responsible for cow slaughter."

He also backed Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar's controversial 
"Muslims should quit eating beef" statement, saying there was nothing wrong in 
it.

Defending his partymen's action in Jammu and Kashmir's Assembly, Sakshi Maharaj 
said, "J&K independent MLA's assault was just a reaction. His action hurt the 
masses and he was beaten up."

"Leaders need to change their mindset or get beaten up by the people in full 
public view," the BJP MP from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh said addressing an event 
organised by International Hindu Mahasangha.

Mr Rashid was recently assaulted in the state assembly after he allegedly 
hosted a beef party in Srinagar. On the Ram temple issue, Sakshi Maharaj said 
the temple would be built during the tenure of the Narendra Modi government.

"It may not be today or tomorrow, Sri Ram Mandir will certainly be built during 
Modi government's tenure. We have completed just 1 year in office, 4 more years 
are to go," he said.

(source: NDTV)