[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 15



CHINA:

Prisoners on death row to get free legal aid


Convicted criminals on death row will be entitled to free legal representation 
under a new rule drafted by the Ministry of Justice, a ministry source told 
China Daily.

The ministry will assign lawyers to condemned prisoners who cannot afford one 
during the review of their sentences to ensure equal access to justice, 
according to the source.

The source said officials from the ministry and the high court are "finalizing 
some detailed implementation measures and the rule will be released in the next 
few months".

The source asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to discuss 
the draft plan with the media.

Under Chinese law, all death sentences must be reviewed by the Supreme People's 
Court before defendants can be executed. Currently, defendants who cannot 
afford to hire lawyers are not guaranteed representation during a death penalty 
review.

Che Xingyi, a lawyer at Beijing's Yingke Law Firm, which specializes in 
representing clients in death penalty cases, said the top court conducts 
reviews based on files from local courts and lawyers' previous defense 
statements.

This method has limitations and is not sufficient to ensure justice, Che said.

It is "more than necessary" to offer legal aid during a review of a death 
sentence, he said. "If the lawyers discover flaws in sentencing criteria or new 
evidence, they will fully defend the suspects and communicate with the judges 
quickly to stop imminent execution."

China does not reveal the number of prisoners on death row.

However, last year, Chinese lawyers provided free legal aid to nearly 40,000 
suspects facing life imprisonment or the death penalty, a year-on-year increase 
of 7 %, according to the ministry.

The new rule follows a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist 
Party of China Central Committee, which stressed the importance of legal aid 
and was attended by the country's top leaders.

Paul Dalton, team leader for the China-EU Access to Justice Program, which was 
created to strengthen equality of justice in China especially among 
disadvantaged groups, recommended that Chinese judicial authorities be cautious 
when imposing the death penalty.

The top court would better protect prisoners' rights by holding public hearings 
during a death penalty review, Dalton said.

This would enable judges to listen to defense arguments by defendants and their 
lawyers instead of just reading the files.

(source: ecns.cn)






INDIA:

Court gives convicts chance to defend the indefensible----Court asks defence to 
present its case as arguments begin in 7/11 blasts case.


As the arguments on sentencing of the July 11 train blasts started on Monday, 
the defence made an unusual request: that the probation officer and jail 
superintendent put on record the conduct of the convicts in the 9 years that 
they were in prison. This, they said, would help establish whether the convicts 
could be reformed and rehabilitated in society.

There was more. The defence also wanted a few witnesses to testify in court to 
demonstrate that the accused can be reformed.

However, as soon as the application was filed, special judge Yatin D Shinde 
responded: "How can I call for such a report?"

Orders on the both the applications will be passed on Tuesday.

The defence lawyers had done their homework well. As soon as the judge asked 
the defence to argue its case, Yug Chaudhry opened his arguments stating that 
if a convict had to be sentenced to death, the court has to arrive at a 
conclusion that there is no room for reform. "The court has to record a 
finding, based on hard evidence. I repeat, based on 'hard evidence'," he said.

Chaudhry argued that the jail records of the past nine years would bring out 
the character of the convicts and their chances of being re-integrated into the 
mainstream. "What better evidence than the report of a qualified officer, a 
government employee, to ascertain if there is any chance of reformation."

Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre opposed the application saying that such 
a report could only be called for by the state and not by the defence.

The convicts moved another application: that their medical files be put on 
record. The judge responded by asking them to 'keep it short'. Chaudry said 2 
of the accused -bomb planters Kamal Ansari and Naved Khan - were undergoing 
psychiatric treatment while another planter, Faizal Shaikh, was suffering from 
brain tumor.

When Chaudhry continued to list the ailments the accused had suffered during 
nine years in jail, he was directed by the court to restrict his arguments to 
'terminal illnesses.' To which he retorted: "I hope each person's life is 
unique in my lord's eyes." "Definitely," the judge said, adding: "However, 
restrict your arguments."

The prosecution opposed this application saying that the lawyer himself had 
suffered a bypass in these 9 years. "You weren't in jail," Chaudhry responded.

The court came to session at 12.30 pm and in a rare turn of events, the defence 
was asked to argue its case first. Usually, it is the prosecution which lists 
charges and asks for punishment commensurate with the crime. The accused, or 
convict, is then asked to make the final argument.

The court gave an opportunity to the defence lawyer to argue why his clients 
should be treated leniently. Almost all the accused had prepared their 
statements going by the probable severity of their sentence. Their answers 
ranged from ill health to social depravity to the amount of reform they 
underwent while still in jail. Convict no. 7, Sajid Ansari, said he had been 
falsely implicated by the ATS and that the court had failed to identify the 
false evidence. He further said that he sympathized with every single victim of 
the blast, stating that he was also a 'victim of the blast'. He was referring 
to how the arrest had destroyed his life.

Another convict, bomb planter Asif Bashir Khan, a civil engineer, said: "I 
forgive all those officers who continuously tortured my family during the nine 
years I was in custody and pray that their families don't have to suffer the 
same fate." He cited a clutch of other points, including reformation, that he 
wanted the court to consider before his sentencing.

Another convict, Naved Khan, started his defence in his 'impeccable' English 
and said that he was a responsible Indian and that his brother worked for the 
4th estate, but the judge couldn't quite comprehend what he was saying. One of 
the lawyers then said that Naved was trying to tell the court that his brother 
is a journalist.

When judge Shinde asked defence to open its arguments, Chaudhry protested 
saying there would be no need to argue on the death penalty for everyone in 
case the prosecution was not going to ask for it. But the judge refused, 
saywing the defence would be given an additional 5 minutes in case the 
prosecution asked for the death penalty.

Advocate Prakash Shetty, representing 4 of the accused, wrapped up his argument 
saying: "While in a serious offence like the one at hand, life imprisonment was 
a norm, death is only a rarity."

CONVICTS; THEIR DEFENCE

Kamal Ansari

-- Have 5 kids

-- Not convicted in any case earlier; no adverse report from jail authorities

-- Was an illiterate labourer

-- Not abandoned by friends and family which shows roots in society and can be 
reformed and rehabilitated

-- Under treatment for psychological illnesses; contracted glycoma in prison

-- Children had to drop out of school

Dr Tanvir Ahmad

-- Was Unani doctor and was working as a resident medical officer

-- Chosen critical care line to do charitable work in hospital

-- Enrolled in a mgmt course in medicine; made most of my time in jail

-- Not a danger to society

Faisal Shaikh

-- No intention of doing this again

-- Have brain tumour and developed advanced spondylitis because of which 
unable to sit and requires rubber balloon

-- No one to take care of old and ailing parents as brother also convicted in 
same case

Ehtesham Siddiqui

-- Used to publish books from home

-- Enrolled in various educational, self-help programmes to reform

-- Brother cannot run the house alone

Majid Ansari

-- A 'poor' shopkeeper; entire family is educated

-- Wife has arthritis, her kidneys have failed and is on dialysis

-- Have been counselling other inmates; enrolled in BA Urdu

-- Want to be transferred to a prison close to home

Mohammad Ali

-- Was hawking at the time of blast

-- Read 20 books on Mahatma Gandhi in order to reform himself

-- Was a social worker; stopped illegal activity of hooch making in my area

-- Father is paralysed and suffered heart attacks twice after the arrest

-- Mother died during detention, yet was not allowed to attend her funeral

-- Relatives help family

Sajid Ansari

-- I am also a victim of the blasts as I am innocent just like the accused of 
Malegaon blasts case of 2006

-- ATS has falsely implicated me

-- Have sympathy for all blast victims

Muzammil Shaikh

-- No case against me

-- No one to take care of old parents

-- Because of the 9 years in jail I have even forgotten what I used to do 
before my arrest

Suhail Shaikh

-- Have taught self in jail by reading books regarding bones, sprains, etc., 
and had acquired a skill in treating such ailments.

-- When I was out I served the society; do the same in jail.

-- Wife suffers from severe spondylitis and back-ache

-- Have 3 children - 2 sons and a daughter. Parents died after arrest

-- Should be sentenced to time already undergone in prison so far

Zamir Shaikh

-- Helped father with his key making business at his roadside stall. Also 
drove a taxi

-- Suffering from various psychiatric ailments; father has lost 1 eye and has 
cataract in the other eye

-- Brother's one leg is shorter than the other

Naved Khan

-- Was working in a multi-national company even as an undergrad

-- No contact with any illegal organisation

-- Unfortunate that I have been convicted but not disheartened and have full 
faith in the judiciary

-- Belong to a literate family. Father still works in Kuwait. Brother is a 
part of the fourth Estate. Pursuing a course in LLB, would like to complete it 
and join my advocate as a junior

-- Never was, still not and never will be a threat to society

Bashir Khan

-- Have read 27 books on Mahatma Gandhi to reform myself

-- Reading has increased the will to forgive

-- Forgive ATS officers for fabricating evidence against me and for worrying 
my family for 9 years. Pray that this never happens to ATS officers' families

-- Have full faith in the judiciary

-- Have parents and 3 kids to take care of

-- I am a Civil Engineer and before being arrested was working towards labour 
reforms

-- I sponsored education of children of labourers

-- Felt really bad about the blasts

-- Father died due to cancer in 2011. Mother has gangrene and cannot be 
treated due to lack of finances

-- Daughter's education dependant on charity

-- Mental state ruined because of solitary for 2 years

-- Have donated 12 times but could not do it later

(source: Mumbai Mirror)






PAKISTAN:

Pakistan Can Hang Paralyzed Prisoner, Says Court


A judge at the Lahore High Court has ruled that a disabled death-row inmate can 
be hanged, in a judgment that suggests that Pakistan's international 
obligations "should be kept aside."

In his ruling, handed last week to lawyers for Abdul Basit, 43, the judge 
dismissed the fact that there are no provisions in Pakistan's Prison Rules for 
the hanging of wheelchair users. It says that "as there is no rule declaring 
the hanging of a disabled person as illegal", the authorities should be allowed 
to execute Basit, and use their "discretion" to determine how to carry it out. 
Basit's lawyers had argued that his hanging would amount to cruel and unusual 
punishment, which is prohibited under Pakistani and international law. Basit is 
paralyzed from the waist down, and the relevant authorities have so far been 
unable to explain how they will practically carry out the execution.

The judge also states that "international laws should be kept aside" when 
considering whether prisoners on Pakistan's 8,500-strong death row should be 
executed. If this assertion is accepted, Pakistan would be in breach of its 
commitment to several tenets of international law, such as the prohibition on 
cruel and unusual punishment. Several UN experts have recently condemned 
Pakistan's current spate of executions - which has seen over 220 people killed 
since December - as a breach of international standards.

The ruling also contains a significant technical error, incorrectly asserting 
that Basit's lawyers at Pakistani NGO Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) had failed 
to challenge the dismissal of an earlier mercy petition for Basit. In fact, 
Basit's lawyers filed a mercy petition on 22nd July, on which to date, no 
decision has been made by the government.

Pakistan's Prison Rules provide that ill-health provides valid grounds for the 
commutation of sentences. Jail medical records for Basit outline how he is 
"bed-bound" and has "almost no chance of recovery", but it appears that the 
government has not considered the records as grounds to grant mercy.

Commenting, Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at human rights 
organization Reprieve, said: "This ruling gives an absurdly technical response 
to a question of fundamental rights and common decency. It's very clear that 
Abdul Basit's execution will amount to a grisly spectacle, and will have little 
to do with justice. It is outrageous to suggest that Pakistan should simply 
ignore its international obligations in order to carry out yet more hangings. 
The international community must now step in and urge a halt to all executions, 
including that of Basit, and ensure that Pakistan complies with the treaties it 
has signed up to."

(source: commondreams.org)






IRAN----executions

4 Prisoners Hanged In The Central Prison Of Karaj


4 prisoners were hanged in Karaj central prison.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), 
the death sentences of these 4 men, who were all charges with drug related 
crimes, were executed in the early hours of Wednesday 2nd September, in the 
yard of central prison of Karaj.

Mustafa Akhondzadeh, Majid Rezaei, Saeed Jalali and Hamid Faraj are 4 prisoners 
who were executed.

These prisoners had been transferred to the solitary confinements on Monday, 
31st August.

So far, none of the authorities and judicial offices has released information 
or has clarified regarding the process of detention and execution of these 
prisoners.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)