[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 4




CHINA:

Bus-torching murderer gets death penalty


A man who set fire to a bus in Yinchuan in January, killing 18 and injuring 32, 
was yesterday sentenced to death, Yinchuan City government said yesterday.

The man, Ma Yongping, launched an appeal after the verdict was announced at the 
Yinchuan Intermediate People's Court in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

According to the court, Ma, who had been involved in financial disputes, 
decided to vent his anger by setting fire to a bus.

Early on January 5, he got on the bus with 2 containers of gasoline and set 
them alight shortly afterwards. The blaze killed 17 people and injured 33 
others.

Ma climbed out a window and fled the scene, but was captured by police 10 hours 
later.

(source: Shanghai Daily)






INDONESIA:

British grandmother on death row for smuggling cocaine in Bali celebrates her 
60th birthday behind bars


A British grandmother on death row in Bali for smuggling cocaine has celebrated 
her 60th birthday after being warned she may be fast-tracked for execution.

Lindsay Sandiford held a party for fellow inmates and supporters as the 
Indonesia government prepares to send a group of foreign convicts to the firing 
squad this week.

The Mail on Sunday was given exclusive access to Sandiford's birthday party at 
the notorious Kerobokan prison, where the Yorkshire grandmother insisted: 'I'm 
not frightened of dying.'

Sandiford revealed that she had received a letter from Indonesia's Attorney 
General 6 weeks ago warning her to lodge a final appeal within 30 days.

If she didn't, it would be seen as acceptance of her sentence and she would be 
listed for execution.

But following legal advice, Sandiford refused to sign an official form 
acknowledging she had received the letter, saying: 'It would be like signing my 
own death warrant.'

She has been told she is not among the first batch of executions expected 
shortly after Ramadan ends on Tuesday, but could be included in the next group 
of prisoners.

Up to 16 prisoners have already been moved to Nusa Kambangan - known as 
Execution Island - where they will be taken into a jungle clearing and shot.

Sandiford has been on death row since 2012 after admitting trying to smuggle 
cocaine worth 1.6 million pounds through the holiday island's airport. She 
claimed a drugs syndicate had threatened the life of her son if she did not 
co-operate and helped police with a sting operation.

As she celebrated her birthday last Saturday with pizza, blueberry cheesecake 
and soft drinks, Sandiford told The Mail on Sunday: 'I want to make the best of 
the time I have left.'

She watched video messages from family members in Britain, and her wish as she 
cut her birthday cake was for a hug from granddaughter Ayla, 3. Ayla was born 
after Sandiford's arrest and visited her in prison with her parents last 
October.

Sandiford said: 'A lot of people don't get to see their grandchildren as they 
grow up, so I'm not alone in that.' After blowing out her candles, Sandiford 
joked to inmates: 'Thanks for coming. Your taxis are waiting outside.'

(source: Daily Mail)






PHILIPPINES:

Lacson: Death penalty for heinous crimes


Senator Panfilo Lacson has filed a bill that will make a wide range of heinous 
crimes, including drug-related offenses, treason, terrorism and human 
trafficking, punishable by death.

But while President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for death penalty by hanging, 
Lacson wants the use of lethal injection as mode of execution.

The death sentence shall be carried out not later than one year after the 
judgment has become final and executory, but without prejudice to the 
prerogative of the President to exercise executive clemency powers.

Lacson, who headed the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001, noted that 
the alarming surge of heinous crimes in recent years has shown that life 
imprisonment is not a deterrent to grave offenders.

"Hence, to reinstate public order and the rule of law, there is an impending 
need to revisit and re-impose the death penalty on certain heinous crimes," 
Lacson said.

Citing PNP data in 2015, he said 75 % of most heinous crimes were drug-related 
while 65 % of inmates in prisons were either accused or convicted of 
drug-related crimes.

The PNP's Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management has documented 
9,646 murder cases; 31,741 cases of robbery; and, 10,298 rape cases in 2015. 
These translate to an average crime incidence of a murder every 54 minutes, a 
robbery every 16 minutes, and a rape case every 51 minutes.

>From January to May 2016, Lacson noted the PNP recorded "a staggering number" 
of crime incidents, including 3,615 murder cases, 3,996 rape cases, and 9,971 
robbery cases.

Meanwhile, Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza urged Congress to push for reforms in the 
justice system instead of backing efforts to revive the death penalty.

"We should just concentrate on effectively suppressing rampant crime by 
stamping out endemic corruption in law enforcement, the prosecution service, 
the courts and in prisons. Instead of reviving the death penalty, it would be 
better for the new Congress to push for criminal justice system reforms - to 
ensure that every felon is instantly nabbed, successfully prosecuted, convicted 
and caged forever. This is our best strategy to fight crime - to dissuade other 
would-be offenders," Atienza said.

"Let us forget about reinstating capital punishment. The best criminologists 
around the world have long established that the death penalty does not serve 
any purpose that is not already being served by lifelong imprisonment," he 
added.

(source: The Standard)

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

'Hangings still to happen by 2022'


Even if the death penalty were restored by Congress, it would take 5 years 
before an actual hanging of convicts could take place, Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza 
said in a statement on Sunday.

Atienza said this would be "simply due to lack of material time," proposing 
instead that Congress focus on pushing for criminal justice system reforms "to 
dissuade would-be offenders."

"Based on our reckoning, even assuming the Congress railroads the revival of 
the death penalty so that it would take effect by early 2017, the initial 
convicts with final verdicts would start coming in only by the 1st half of 
2022, or toward the last 6 months of the President's term," Atienza said.

"5 years of waiting is actually a best case scenario that does not include such 
factors as potential lawsuits questioning before the Supreme Court the 
constitutionality of judicial executions by hanging," he added.

With this timeline, President Duterte himself would not be able to see any 
judicial killings carried out while he is in office.

Atienza proposed that Congress instead concentrate on improving the criminal 
justice system, such as by stamping out corruption in law enforcement, the 
prosecution service, the courts and prisons.

7 convicts

Atienza said the seven convicts put to death through lethal injection during 
President Joseph Estrada's term were executed 5 years after they committed 
their crimes.

Records showed that none of them were executed for drug-related crimes.

The executed - Leo Echegaray, Eduardo Agbayani, Dante Piandiong, Archie Bulan, 
Jesus Morallos, Pablito Andan and Alex Bartolome - were either convicted for 
rape or robbery with homicide.

There is widespread protest against the death penalty primarily because of 
questions of the country's judicial maturity. The law was abolished during the 
term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Anticriminality drive

President Duterte, ran and won on an anticriminality campaign.

He vowed death to criminals, especially those engaged in illegal drugs.

The President said death for criminals was not to deter crime but in 
"retribution."

"Let us forget about reinstating capital punishment. The best criminologists 
around the world have long established that the death penalty does not serve 
any purpose that is not already being served by lifelong imprisonment," Atienza 
said.

(source: inquirer.net)