[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 5




INDONESIA:

Australian resident facing possible death penalty in Indonesia denies poisoning 
murder


The woman accused of being the 'coffee killer' is a permanent Australian 
resident who is facing the possibility of the death penalty after allegedly 
lacing her friend's iced coffee with cyanide on a holiday in Indonesia.

Jessica Kumala Wongso, 27, was charged with premeditated murder earlier this 
week over the death of her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, 27, on January 6.

If found guilty, the charge carries a minimum jail sentence of 20 years and a 
maximum penalty of life in prison or death.

Mirna died in Jakarta, Indonesia after having an iced coffee with Jessica and 
another friend, Hani, at the Olivier cafe in Grand Indonesia shopping mall 
earlier this month.

Police have accused Jessica of lacing Mirna's drink with cyanide after the 
newlywed reportedly sipped the iced coffee then started convulsing. She was 
rushed to hospital and died that day.

Jessica, who denies involvement in Mirna's death, was the one who ordered the 
drink that killed Mirna, according to police.

News.com.au can exclusively reveal that Jessica, her parents and 2 siblings 
have been permanent residents of Australia since emigrating from Indonesia 
about 8 years ago.

The family resides in Sydney.

A source close to the family told news.com.au that Jessica was on holidays in 
Indonesia with her parents and was due to return to work as a graphic designer 
in Sydney just weeks after her arrest.

"She's innocent," the source, who is in contact with Jessica, said. "She's just 
a common Australian; a 27-year-old young lady who was having a coffee then got 
into trouble for something she didn't do.

"She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and (now) she could die."

NSW Ambulance confirmed Jessica was employed with the service until just a few 
months ago.

"Jessica Wongso was employed as a temporary agency contractor in an 
administrative position within NSW Ambulance from July 2014 until her 
resignation in November 2015," a statement issued to news.com.au from NSW 
Ambulance read.

"As this is a matter under police investigation, NSW Ambulance is unable to 
comment further."

The Jakarta Post reported the Australian Federal Police was contacted by 
Jakarta Police "to look into the relationship between Mirna and the friends 
during their time studying together", reportedly at Sydney's Billy Blue College 
of Design and Swinburne University of Technology.

Wayan Mirna Salihin died from suspected cyanide poisoning. Her friend Jessica 
Kumala Wongso has been arrested in relation to Mirna's death.

The AFP confirmed "it has been approached by the Indonesian National Police 
(INP) in relation to this matter".

"The AFP is currently considering this request in accordance with normal 
police-to-police assistance processes and policies," an AFP spokesman said.

"It is not appropriate for the AFP to comment on an INP investigation.

"As this is a matter for Indonesian authorities, further questions should be 
directed to the Indonesian authorities."

Indonesian chief detective Krishna Murti said police have gathered about 20 
witness statements, including evidence from experts, and conducted a 
re-enactment.

"Jessica's statement is highly inconsistent with the facts we have gathered," 
Mr Murti told reporters. "We will confirm whether her statement as a suspect is 
still consistent with her one as a witness or if she will give another 
statement."

Indonesia National Police Commission member Edi Saputra Hasibuan said the 
cafe's CCTV footage allegedly shows Jessica moving "the coffee drink ... 
twice".

Jessica's lawyer Yudi Wibowo said the evidence was "legally insufficient" and 
fails to show "her physically pouring poison into the coffee".

Yudi said Jessica was innocent.

"She is not afraid. She is tough because she has done nothing wrong in relation 
to the case," he said earlier this month.

Yudi has questioned the autopsy process undertaken on Mirna's body, saying he 
did not believe she died from cyanide poisoning, as her friend Hani had sipped 
coffee from the same cup.

Police confirmed they found cyanide in Mirna's stomach and in the coffee she 
drank before her death.

Yudi has called for a 2nd autopsy to be conducted in another hospital, after it 
was first completed in Kramat Jati Police Hospital on January 10.

Mirna recently married her partner, Arief Soemarko.

Yudi also denied rumours there was a love triangle between his client and 
Mirna's husband.

"There is nothing like that. Jessica has a boyfriend overseas," he said, 
according to local media reports.

(source: The Cairns Post)






MALAYSIA:

Hundreds of Indonesian Workers Face Death Penalty in Malaysia


A total 126 Indonesian Migrant Workers are facing the death penalty in 
Malaysia, according to Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, director for the protection of 
Indonesian nationals and legal aid at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"The government is looking for solutions to address the issue," Iqbal said at 
the Ponorogo Legislative Council (DPRD) on Thursday, February 4, 2016.

Iqbal suggested that issues with Indonesian migrant workers could be addressed 
by consultation, legal and diplomatic efforts. Institutions involved in 
conducting the efforts include the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Manpower 
Ministry and non-governmental organizations (NGO).

Over the last few years, the institutions had been cooperating to save migrant 
workers from the capital sentence. Iqbal revealed that a total of 282 migrant 
workers in Malaysia had been saved from the death penalty in the period of 
2013-2015.

Migrant Institute Executive Director Adi Candra Utama said that drugs cases 
entangling migrant workers were caused by domestic issues. Based on 
investigations, Adi added, age manipulation cases were commonly found. "The 
[data] manipulation occurs starting from the lowest level (from the village)," 
Adi said.

The internal factor had resulted in 80 % of migrant workers' issues. Meanwhile, 
the external factors accounted for 20 % of migrant worker cases.

"We need to reform the system from the top to provide better protection for 
migrant workers," Adi suggested.

(source: tempo.co)






THAILAND:

Murder and rape reignites death penalty campaign


A horrific murder and rape in southern Thailand has sparked a campaign to 
prevent death sentences from being overturned for those convicted of deadly 
sexual assaults.

Spearheaded by actress-turned-activist Panadda Wongphudee, its supporters call 
for an end to the right of convicted murderer-rapists to seek sentence 
reductions or pardons, which campaigners said allow the perpetrators to leave 
prison too soon and go on to repeat their crimes.

The petition comes in reaction to a group of men accused of holding a young 
woman in a jungle hut in Phatthalung province for 3 days before sexually 
assaulting her in front of her boyfriend, who they then killed, and leaving her 
for dead.

Although none of the 4 suspects arrested Monday is known to have been convicted 
of such acts or received early release from prison, the horror of the crime has 
again tapped into a well of anger over violence against women and the 
perception that the law does not take it seriously.

"They confessed and they are minors, so they will certainly get a reduced 
sentence, but they don't look repentant [on TV]at all," Panadda said. "So what 
can we do to make sure that they will really change their way?"

(source: thaivisa.com)






PAKISTAN:

Death penalty: Convict to be executed on Feb 9


On 9th February 2016 death sentence of a criminal will be carried out in 
Central Jail Bahawalpur.Superintendent Central Jail Bahawalpur District and 
Session Judge Bahawalpur Rana Masood Akhtar issued a letter setting the date of 
the execution of Haider Shahzad. Shahzad was involved in a murder case 
registered in Hasilpur police station.

(source: The Express Tribune)






INDIA:

Death penalty: 'Rarest of rare' cases are not so rare in India now


A West Bengal court's verdict awarding death penalty to 11 convicts, including 
a Trinamool Congress leader, for the murder of a woman has raised questions 
over the doctrine of 'rarest of rare' propounded by the Supreme Court.

Aparna Bag, a resident of Ghughurgachi of Nadia district of West Bengal, was 
murdered by a group of people on November 13, 2014 over a land dispute. On 
Thursday, a court in Krishnanagar handed death sentence to the 11 accused.

Death penalty in India

In India, death penalty is prescribed for murder, gang robbery with murder, 
abetting the suicide of a child or insane person, waging war against the 
government and abetting mutiny by a member of the armed forces. Capital 
punishment is also awarded under some anti-terror laws for those convicted of 
terrorist activities.

Murder convicts get life imprisonment

Generally, courts award life imprisonment to convicts in a murder case. Only in 
"rarest of rare" cases, murder convicts are given death penalty.

Death sentence is imposed on the convict only when the court comes to the 
conclusion that life imprisonment is inadequate having regard to the facts and 
circumstances of the case.

Section 354(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which was added to the 
Code in 1973, requires a judge to give "special reasons" for awarding death 
sentences. Capital punishment can be inflicted only in gravest cases of extreme 
culpability and in choosing the sentence the condition of the convict is also 
to be taken into account.

What is "rarest of rare"?

In 1980, in the Bachan Singh case, the Supreme Court propounded the "rarest of 
rare" doctrine and since then, life sentence is the rule and the death sentence 
the exception.

There is no statutory definition of "rarest of rare". It depends upon facts and 
circumstances of a particular case, brutality of the crime, conduct of the 
offender, previous history of his involvement in crime, chances of reforming 
and integrating him into the society etc.

Test for "rarest of rare"

The generally applied test while sentencing a convict to death is whether the 
survival of an orderly society demands extinction of life of the person who has 
committed the offence and whether failure to impose death sentence on him would 
bring to naught the sentence of death provided under Section 302 of IPC.

Pre-planned, brutal, cold-blooded and sordid nature of a crime, without giving 
any chance to the victim, are generally taken into account to decide whether a 
particular case falls within the parameters of "rarest of rare".

What does Supreme Court say?

"Death penalty should be imposed when collective conscience of the society is 
so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to 
inflict death penalty irrespective of their personal opinion as regards 
desirability of otherwise of retaining death penalty," said the Supreme Court 
in Bachan Singh Vs. State of Punjab.

The crime has to be viewed from various angles - manner of commission of 
murder, motive for commission of murder, anti-social or socially abhorrent 
nature of crime and magnitude and personality of victim of murder.

Are trial courts following "rarest of rare" doctrine"?

But the manner in which death penalty is being given in a large number of cases 
raises a serious question. Are trial courts in India giving a go by to the 
'rarest of rare' doctrine?

The question becomes all the more relevant because not all convicts awarded 
death penalty are executed in India.

The number of death sentences pronounced has been very high despite the "rarest 
of rare" doctrine that limits the scope of awarding capital punishment.

According to an Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) report - The State of 
Death Penalty in India 2013 - Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 370 death 
sentences, followed by Bihar (132). But sentences for 4,321 convicts were 
commuted from death penalty to life imprisonment during this period. This, of 
course, included many convicts who were given death penalty before 2001.

The highest number of commutation - 2,462 - happened in Delhi, followed by 
Uttar Pradesh (458). But thousands of convicts still remain on the death row.

Huge gap between death sentence and actual execution

Data show there is a huge gap between death sentences pronounced and actual 
executions. According to an ACHR report based on National Crime Records Bureau 
(NCRB) data, there have been several death sentences between 2001 and 2011, but 
only a few of these have actually been carried out.

Indian courts awarded death penalty to 1,455 convicts from 2001-11, an average 
of around 132 convicts per year. But an overwhelming number of death sentences 
were commuted to life imprisonment during this period.

The only convict to be executed during this period was Dhananjoy Chatterjee 
(2004) who was hanged for the murder and rape of a 14-year old girl in Kolkata. 
This was the country's 1st execution since April 27, 1995, when Auto Shankar, a 
serial killer, was executed in Salem, Tamil Nadu.

Thereafter, there have been only 3 executions - Mumbai terror attack case 
convict Ajmal Kasab in 2012, Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru in 2013 
and Mumbai serial blasts case convict Yakub Memon in 2015.

Is SC becoming averse to death penalty?

The president and governors are exercising the power "to grant pardons, etc., 
and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases", given to them, 
under Articles 72 and 161, to save a fairly large number of convicts from the 
gallows.

While the executive have been refusing mercy pleas of only terror convicts, 
judiciary is not following the same.

Of late, the Supreme Court has refused to impose capital punishment in cases in 
which one would have expected it to send the convicts to the gallows. Many were 
surprised when the SC declined to award death sentence to the convicts in the 
Graham Staines, Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder cases on the 
ground that these did not fall within the category of "rarest of rare".

It commuted the death penalty of Rajiv Gandhi's killers to life imprisonment in 
February 2014 on the ground of inordinate delay in deciding their mercy pleas. 
A month later, it also commuted the death sentence of 1993 Delhi terror convict 
Devender Pal Singh Bhullar to life imprisonment on the grounds of delay in 
deciding his mercy petition and that he suffered from a mental illness.

Punishment is natural response to crime

This principle is almost universally accepted and that letting off criminals 
can result in vigilante justice. Also, the punishment has to be proportionate 
to the degree of wrongdoing and mitigating circumstances have to be considered 
while deciding the quantum of punishment.

Should India abolish death penalty?

India has been voting against a UN resolution calling for a moratorium on the 
death penalty. But in effect, there has been a near moratorium on the death 
penalty in India.

According to Amnesty International, in India, at least 100 people in 2007, 40 
in 2006, 77 in 2005, 23 in 2002, and 33 in 2001 were sentenced, but not 
executed, to death.

India's figure is minuscule compared to China which executed thousands, Iran 
(1,663), Saudi Arabia (423), the US (220) and Pakistan (171) during 2007-12.

ACHR director and coordinator of the National Campaign for Abolition of Death 
Penalty in India, Suhas Chakma, says: "The sanctity of the rarest of rare 
doctrine has been eroded considerably and awarding death penalty has become 
routine for courts in India.

"India should abolish death penalty altogether and join the comity of civilised 
nations that have done away with this extreme form of punishment," says Chakma.

(source: Hindustan Times)