[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 16



SWAZILAND:

Swazi lawmakers want death penalty to stay


While the African Union's Commissioner on Human and People's Rights Pansy 
Tlakula wants Swaziland to abolish the death penalty, parliamentarians want 
murderers to be killed, APA learnt on Wednesday.While on a visit to Swaziland 
last week, Tlakula recommended that the Swazi government scraps the death 
penalty.

Swazi lawmakers however say the high prevalence of cases of gender-based 
violence demand that the death penalty remains in force.

They further argue that parents no longer raise their children the right way, 
hence there is an issue of moral decay.

According to the Royal Swaziland Police Service's performance report, cases of 
violence against women and children, most of which are fatal, increased by 8 % 
this year.

Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini says the solution to this problem is the 
passing of the Gender-Based Violence Bill which is now in Parliament, and not 
the death penalty.

(source: StarAfrica.com)






SINGAPORE:

Man, 68, charged in Changi General Hospital with murder of wife in Compassvale 
flat


A 68-year-old man was charged in Changi General Hospital on Tuesday (March 15) 
afternoon with the murder of his wife at Sengkang on Sunday.

No plea was taken from Kong Peng Yee, who is believed to have been injured.

He allegedly caused the death of his wife, Madam Wong Chik Yeok, 63, at their 
Compassvale Crescent home between 11am and 4.35pm on Sunday (March 13).

The housewife was found motionless in the living room of their 5-room flat. She 
was pronounced dead at about 5pm by paramedics at the scene.

Kong, who has 2 daughters, will be remanded for psychiatric evaluation until 
his next appearance in court on April 5.

If convicted of murder, he faces the death penalty.

(source: Straits Times)

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

Nearly 2kg of cannabis, other drugs seized during 2 CNB raids----According to 
the Central Narcotics Bureau, the drugs seized are estimated to be worth more 
than S$64,000. Three suspected drug traffickers were also arrested.


A total of nearly 2kg of cannabis and other drugs were seized on Tuesday (Mar 
15), following 2 separate raids led by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).

In a press release on Wednesday, the CNB said the drugs seized are estimated to 
be worth more than S$64,000. Supported by the Singapore Police Force, 3 
suspected drug traffickers were also arrested during the raids.

The 1st raid was conducted on Tuesday afternoon at a unit in Marsiling. 2 
suspected drug traffickers, both Singaporean males aged 41 and 42, were 
arrested within the unit. About 940g of cannabis and small amounts of "Ice" and 
heroin were recovered from the unit.

The 2nd raid was at Woodlands on the same day. Officers arrested a suspected 
drug trafficker, a 29-year-old Singaporean male, at one of the units. About 1kg 
of cannabis and an assortment of other drugs were recovered from that unit.

Those convicted of trafficking in more than 500g of cannabis may face the death 
penalty.

Investigations into the drug activities of the arrested suspects are ongoing, 
said CNB.

(source: channelnewsasia.com)






PAKISTAN:

Climber killer among 13 sentenced to death by Pakistan military


Military courts in Pakistan have sentenced 13 militants to death for 
terrorism-related offences including the 2013 massacre of 10 foreign 
mountaineers, the army said Tuesday.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) member Irfan Ullah was sentenced for the 
attack on the base camp at Nanga Parbat, Pakistan's second highest mountain, 
which shocked the world and scarred the country's climbing tourism industry.

Gunmen dressed in police uniforms stormed the camp and shot dead 10 foreign 
mountaineers -- including 1 American with dual Chinese citizenship, 2 other 
Chinese, three Ukrainians, 2 Slovakians, 1 Lithuanian and 1 Nepalese and a 
Pakistani guide.

"Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another 13 
hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating 
to terrorism, including killing of foreign tourists at Nanga Parbat," the army 
said in a statement.

The other 12 had been charged with various severe crimes from attacking schools 
and an airport, to killing security officials, civilians and damaging 
helicopters. Pakistan has hanged more than 300 people since lifting a 
moratorium on the death penalty in December 2014, many of them convicted in 
closed military courts which critics say fail to meet fair trial standards.

The nuclear-armed South Asian nation lifted the 6-year moratorium and amended 
the constitution to allow military courts to try hardcore militants after 
Taliban gunmen killed more than 150 people, most of them children, at an 
army-run school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

In June 2014, the army launched an operation in a bid to wipe out militant 
bases in North Waziristan tribal area and end the bloody decade-long Islamist 
insurgency that has cost thousands of lives.

Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more a decade 
following its decision to side with the US-led coalition against the Taliban in 
Afghanistan.

(source: Agence France-Presse)