[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 8




AUSTRALIA:

Names of nearly 2000 drug suspects handed over----Australian Federal Police 
defend referring a bulky list of names to foreign agencies.


1 of the lawyers for 2 men executed in Bali in April has called for independent 
monitoring of the names of criminal suspects referred to death penalty 
jurisdictions.

Julian McMahon, who represented Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, said an 
independent regulator should be established to oversee who was referred to 
foreign police by the Australian Federal Police.

The call came as Fairfax Media revealed the AFP shared the names of 1847 
suspects with foreign agencies between 2009 and 2014.

About 95 % were for drug offences, risking death in countries where execution 
was imposed as a penalty.

"International co-operation is an essential part of the AFP doing their job to 
combat serious crime, and they must be able to continue to do that," Mr McMahon 
told The Age.

"But, where it's a matter of life and death, there is a very heavy burden of 
responsibility on the AFP and our government to act in accordance with our 
national policy to oppose the death penalty, torture and so on.

"Where so many lives may be at risk because of positive steps taken by a busy 
police force, an independent monitor or a review mechanism is in everybody's 
interest."

An AFP spokesperson said the agency's work with law enforcement agencies in 
other countries had been "very successful" in solving crime.

"The AFP cannot limit its co-operation to countries that have similar legal 
systems as Australia ... [and] without the ability to work with all of its 
international partners, the AFP simply could not function," the spokesperson 
said.

Following the execution of Bali nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran 
Sukumaran, AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin said the agency opposed the death 
penalty and carefully managed the number of reports made to foreign police.

"A dozen Australians, including 2 grandmothers, are on death row, including 
nine in China, where they are among 26 in custody in that country on drug 
charges," The Age reported.

"Police have said in the past that none of the 12 on death row were there 
because of AFP intervention."

(source: The New Daily)






MALAWI:

Malawi to have referendum on death penalty


Barely days after Malawi Presdient Peter Mutharika said hw will call for a 
referendum on whether to legalize same sex marriage, the government says it 
also wants to conduct a referendum on whether to abolish the death penalty in 
the penal code or not.

According to the country's Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale, government could 
not make a judgment on its own on the matter saying that is why it wants the 
citizens of the country to make a ruling on whether the penalty should be 
eliminated in a referendum or let the members of parliament mark the way 
forward.

Reacting to the development, Executive Director of Centre for Human Rights and 
Rehabiliation (CHRR), Timothy Mtambo, was quick to say that the penalty needs 
to be abolished as it violates the rights of the people.

Mtambo said Malawi is a democratic country and it could sound awkward to 
maintain the death sentence in the penal code.

Over the past 2 decades, both international and local human rights defenders 
have pressurised the giovernment to abolish the death penalty.

Since attaining democracy in 1994, Malawi has never executed a death sentence 
on any convict despite the penalty in the country's Penal Code.

(source: malawi24.com)






NIGERIA:

Kidnappers to die in Cross River----A bill recommending the death penalty for 
convicted kidnappers has been signed into law by Cross River state governor, 
Prof. Ben Ayade.


The governor signed the bill, along with 9 others at the state executive 
chambers.

Accounts and properties belonging to the kidnappers and anyone who aids them 
can be frozen and seized too, according to the law.

One of the bills also passed was the Social Housing Law, which was made to 
provide shelter for the state's poorest.

"The most emotional bill to me is the Social Housing Law which seeks to provide 
housing for the poorest of the poor in the state.

"Various researches have linked corruption in civil service to housing. It has 
also been proven that given the salaries of average civil servants, if they 
don't originate memos that give them extra money, if they don't comprise, they 
is no civil servant in Nigeria that will be able to build a house."

"So by virtue of our salary structure, you have already created a catalyst for 
corruption to thrive."

"By this bill, housing in Cross River State is now a right to the citizenry, it 
may not be justiciable at this point in time but we have created a legal 
stimulus to drive the structure that we can achieve housing for everybody, and 
in the process, stamp out all mud and thatch houses in Cross River State."

(source: 360nobs.com)


BARBADOS:

Court order----Mandatory death penalty questioned


The Barbados Government has appeared before the Costa Rica-based Inter-American 
Court of Human Rights (IACHR) over its failure to comply with a six-year 
binding order to abolish the mandatory death penalty.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Charles Leacock, QC, who was the lead 
representative for the Government via a video conference when the court held a 
compliance hearing last Thursday, said this country has to adhere to the order 
because it accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the IACHR since June 4, 
2000.

Leacock, who appeared in association with Solicitor General Jennifer Edwards, 
QC, told Barbados TODAY this afternoon that the court convened the sitting to 
determine the Government???s adherence to orders it made in 2007 and 2009 in 
the murder cases of three Barbadian men, Lennox Boyce, Jeffrey Joseph and 
Tyrone Cadogan, who turned to that tribunal after exhausting all other legal 
channels.

The IAHRC ruled in those cases that Barbados' mandatory death penalty was 
contrary to the Organization of American States' (OAS) Convention on Human 
Rights because it was cruel and inhumane and that Section 26 of the 
Constitution must be amended or repealed since that section protects the 
existing laws.

"Those decisions were given . . . Boyce and Joseph . . . by the Costa Rican 
court in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Now we are in 2015 and the court had asked 
periodically for updates by Barbados on our compliance with the order," Leacock 
explained.

"Now, why Barbados has to comply with the order? On June 4, 2000 Barbados 
accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court which means 
that all of the rulings of that court are binding on Barbados and must be put 
into effect," the DPP added.

Defence lawyers, Barbadian Andrew Pilgrim QC and Britain's Saul Lehfreund, who 
were in Costa Rica for the hearing, questioned a number of issues regarding the 
death sentence. One issue was related to the meaning of a life sentence for 
death in the Barbadian context.

"That is one of the provisions of the (proposed) bill that if the mandatory 
death sentence is removed, the judge will now have a discretion to impose a 
life sentence, and, or further, there is a prison release board proposed which 
would then be able to provide for release of a prisoner after 2/3 of the time," 
Leacock explained.

The other queries of Pilgrim and Lehfreund were whether Clause 2 of the 
Offences Against the Person Act only provides for the penalty of life 
imprisonment for murder, timelines for parliamentary action and implementation 
of the new legislation, whether the proposal for Section 26 of the Constitution 
was adequate and the reason for delay in complying with the court order.

While the Costa Rica-based court called Barbados to account for the long delay 
in honouring its ruling, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), 
which was also represented at the hearing, expressed frustration that despite 
assurances from Government, no action had been taken for 6 years.

Part of the DPP's answer was that if the legislation was passed, the judge 
could impose a death sentence after fully considering the sentencing 
guidelines. "If a man is convicted of murder, if this legislation is passed, 
the judge can say the death penalty is not merited on these facts and could 
give you 15 years, just like what we normally give you for life imprisonment," 
he further explained.

Leacock was unable to give the court any assurances as to when Parliament would 
debate the legislation except to say that sittings were scheduled to resume on 
October 10 and the bills would be looked at some time after that.

He also said that Section 26 of the Constitution had serious implications for 
governance in Barbados and must be dealt with carefully.

"However, the amendment as proposed in the Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks 
to add flexibility to the existing realities and also allow the Attorney 
General, within 5 years of the passage of the amendment, to bring such specific 
legislation to address any particular issue like corporal punishment or 
anything like that," he said.

The Solicitor General explained that the delay in complying with the court 
order was due to the fact that Barbados was seeking to address all of the 
issues for compliance in a holistic manner, because it had to pass several 
pieces of legislation as the bills provided for.

She said, however, that on hindsight Barbados should have first passed the 
Offences Against the Person Bill 2014 which deals with the mandatory death 
penalty.

(source: Barbados Today)


PAKISTAN:

Hearing today on execution of mentally-ill Pakistani


A Pakistani court will decide today (8 September) whether the government should 
be allowed to execute a severely mentally ill man.

At a hearing in Lahore, lawyers for Khizar Hayat - who has been diagnosed with 
schizophrenia, and is detained in a hospital cell - will argue that his hanging 
would be illegal. In June this year, the courts halted an initial government 
plan to execute Khizar after seeing jail records documenting his severe mental 
illness. The documents include comments from doctors that Khizar - a former 
police officer sentenced to death for murder in 2003 - "is suffering from 
active symptoms of severe psychosis". (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21796)

The execution of mentally ill people is prohibited under Pakistani and 
international law, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, 
Dainius P???ras, has condemned plans for Khizar's execution.

The hearing comes days after the Lahore High Court ordered prison authorities 
to explain how they would go about hanging Abdul Basit, a prisoner who is 
paralysed from the waist down, and who permanently uses a wheelchair. The 
Punjab Home Department, which oversees the jail, refused to provide the court 
with details of its plans. Pakistan's jail manual gives no instructions for the 
hanging of disabled prisoners, and lawyers for Basit believe that his hanging 
would constitute cruel and unusual punishment - violating the fundamental right 
to human dignity enshrined in Pakistan's Constitution. The Court has yet to 
issue its judgment. ( http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/22030)

Pakistan's 8,500-strong death row is the largest in the world, and the 
government has hanged over 220 prisoners since resuming executions in December 
2014. The authorities' claims to be targeting only 'terrorists' has been 
repeatedly called into question, most recently by a Reuters investigation which 
found that the vast majority of those already killed had no links to terrorism.

Commenting, Harriet McCulloch, Deputy Director of Reprieve's Death Penalty 
Team, said: "Khizar Hayat is a severely mentally ill man - so much so that he 
is being held in a hospital cell. It is outrageous that the authorities are 
trying to rush through his execution, along with so many others. It's 
abundantly clear that this wave of executions has little to do with combatting 
terrorism, and will do nothing to make Pakistan more secure. The government 
must recognise this, and stop these killings."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)






IRAN----executions

Iran regime hangs 10 prisoners en masse


Iran's fundamentalist regime on Monday hanged en masse 10 prisoners in the city 
of Karaj, north-west of the capital Tehran.

The 10 prisoners were hanged at dawn in the notorious Qezelhessar Prison. They 
had been transferred to solitary confinement a day earlier.

Following its July 14 nuclear accord with the world powers, the mullahs' 
regime, dubbed by the Iranian people as the "Godfather of ISIS," has found its 
only solution in confronting its many escalating internal and international 
crises in ratcheting up suppression and executions.

Amnesty International said on Monday that "the Iranian authorities must end 
their unprecedented killing spree - more than 700 people have been executed so 
far this year."

A statement by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on August 5 said: "Iran has reportedly executed 
more than 600 individuals so far this year. Last year, at least 753 people were 
executed in the country."

(source: NCR-Iran)

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

11 Prisoners Executed for Drug Offences in Iran


Iranian authorities hanged 11 prisoners charged with drug offences early Monday 
morning, according to the Iran Human Rights (IHR) sources in Ghezelhesar prison 
of Karaj (west of Tehran).

One of those executed was a school teacher identified as Mahmood Barati who was 
sentenced to death on false charges, according to an IHR source. Barati was 
arrested 10 years ago and sentenced to death based on false charges. The 
authorities sentenced Mahmood barati to death only based on the testimony by an 
individual who was also charged with drug offences. There were no other 
evidence against Mr. Barati besides the testimoney. The key witness, who was 
later executed for drug charges, had withdrawn his testimoney twice. Mahmood 
Barati didn't have any previous criminal record and at that time worked as 
teacher in Taybad (eastern Iran).

The family of Mr. Barati didn't get the opprotunity to visit him for the last 
time.

The other prisoners who were hanged today included "Ali Tafreshi", "Mehdi 
rahimi" from the Unit 2 of Ghezelhesar prison, "Hossein Rostami" from Fasha 
prison (south of Tehran), five prisoners from the "Great tehran Central Prison" 
and one unidentified prisoner.

So far in 2015, Iranian authorities have executed more than 700 prisoners, 
including more than 400 prisoners charges with drug offences.

Iran Human Rights strongly condemns today's executions. IHR's spokesperson 
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: "Mahmood Barati is only one of many innocent 
prisoners who are executed for drug charges by the Iranian authorities. The 
international community must put pressure on Iran to stop the arbitrary 
executions under the pretext of fighting the drug trafficking".

(source: Iran Human Righs)






MALAYSIA:

Kenyan woman escapes the noose for trafficking


A 34-year-old Kenyan woman escaped the gallows when the Court of Appeal 
overturned her conviction and death sentence for trafficking 3,747.63 grammes 
of syabu and sentenced her to 20 years' jail instead on a lesser charge of 
possession.

Justice Dato' Hj Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Dr. Prasad 
Sandosham Abraham allowed Judith Achieng Odoyo's appeal Monday.

In its decision the court held that there were some serious misdirection made 
on the part of the trial judge.

The court, however, held that after reviewing the entire evidence, they were 
satisfied that there were some evidence to support a conviction under a reduced 
charge.

"However in the circumstances of the case, we are of the firm opinion that this 
is a proper case for the court to exercise its discretion to substitute the 
conviction under Section 39B (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 to 
one Section 39A(2) of DDA," held Mohd Zawawi.

Judith appeared calm upon hearing the decision.

Trafficking drugs under Section 39B(1)(a) of the DAA 1952 carries the death 
penalty while Section 39A(2)(r) of the same Act provides imprisonment for life 
or for a term of not be less than five years, and whipping of not less than ten 
strokes.

The appellate court ordered Judith to serve the 20 years imprisonment from the 
date of her arrest on Sept 13, 2011. The court also told Judith that she was 
very lucky to have her conviction substituted. "We welcome foreigners as 
tourists in Malaysia but if they commit an offence they will be dealt with 
according our law," said Mohd Zawawi, who also told Judith to thank her 
counsel.

Judith, a former college student in Nairobi, Kenya was on August 13, 2012 
sentenced to death by the High Court here after she was found guilty to 
trafficking the drugs at 8.45am on Sept 13, 2011 at the passenger examination 
special unit in Terminal 1 of Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), here.

Earlier, counsel Hamid Ismail representing Judith raised 5 grounds of appeal 
which were grouped into four, among others, were that the failure by the trial 
judge to subject the prosecution's evidence to maximum evaluation; the breach 
of the double presumption rule; the improper treatment of the appellant's 
defence and the failure by the trial judge to make finding whether the 
appellant had rebutted the presumption of trafficking at the end of the trial.

Meanwhile, during mitigation Hamid requested for a sentence of 20 years jail 
while Deputy Public Prosecutor Tetralina Ahmad Fauzi urged the court to impose 
the maximum sentence of 30 years taking into consideration of the drug's weight 
and that Judith was not eligible to whipping being a woman.

(source: Daily Express)






PHILIPPINES:

No funds from PNoy for OFWs in distress?


The Aquino administration has not allotted even a single centavo for legal 
assistance for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in distress in 2016, a 
party-list lawmaker claimed on Monday.

Citing budget documents, Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon noted the 
"conspicuous absence" of any particular item of appropriation for the Legal 
Assistance Fund (LAF).

The LAF was created by virtue of Republic Act No. 10022, or the amended Migrant 
Workers Act. Under this law, the government is mandated to provide P100 million 
every year for legal assistance for OFWs. Around P30 million should be sourced 
directly from the national budget.

"However, no such allocation can be found under the DFA [Department of Foreign 
Affairs] budget, nor is there a special provision that mentions the LAF," Ridon 
said.

"The practical consequence of this move is that there is no separate budget for 
OFW legal assistance. Instead, OFWs need to beg Philippine embassies and 
consulates for help each time they need legal assistance," he added.

"This is primarily the reason why OFWs like Mary Jane Veloso fall victim to 
human traffickers and abusers, and end up in the death row despite their 
innocence. How can our government provide legal protection for overseas 
Filipinos if it cannot allot even a single centavo for such service?" he asked.

However, the budget briefer submitted by the Department of Foreign Affairs 
(DFA) to the House Appropriations Committee said that as of June 30, 2015, the 
Legal Assistance Fund had a balance of P55,878,233.63 valid until December 31, 
2016.

The original allotment is P100,051,893.79, of which P44,173,660.16 was 
obligated.

The LAF is used for legal expenses, DSA and airfare, retainer fee, translation 
service, filing fee among others.

The DFA also has an Assistance to Nationals Fund (ATN). As of June 30, 2015, it 
had a balance of P206,283,965.33 valid until December 31, 2016.

This pays for repatriation, basic necessities, medical expenses, immigration 
fees/overstay penalties, travel to visit OFW conduct consulate 
assistance/attend hearing, payment for translation services, medico legal, and 
authentication fees/visa financial assistance among other expenses.

>From January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 , 20,939 Filipinos overseas were 
provided with ATN assistance while 10,139 were assisted from January 1 to June 
30, 2015. A total of P143.71 million of the P350 million budget for this in 
2015 has been used.

>From January 1 to June 30, 433 OFWs were recipients of the LAF. The DFA 
assisted 70 Filipinos with pending death penalty cases. Meanwhile, 18 former 
death penalty convicts were spared from execution.

The DFA pitched to lawmakers the approval of a P20.55 billion budget for 2016. 
Around P7.387 billion will go to new or expanded programs and projects.

(source: abs-cbnnews.com)