[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 29



INDIA:

Yug's killer moves HC


One of the perpetrators in Yug Chandak case - Arvind Abhilash Singh (23) - 
moved the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court challenging the death sentence 
awarded to him while praying for leniency.

A division bench comprising Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Atul Chandurkar 
on Monday admitted the case for final hearing, which will commence from April 
25. The judges also directed its registry to complete formalities like 
preparing paperbook of the case related to the cold blooded murder of an 
innocent child before April 17. Singh's plea was clubbed with another regarding 
confirmation of his death sentence along with prime accused Rajesh Dhanalal 
Daware (19).

Both the convicts were awarded a rare double death penalty on February 4 for 
the diabolical murder of 8-year-old Yug on September 1, 2014, that sparked off 
huge outrage and candle light protests in the city. This was 2nd such verdict 
after a Yavatmal sessions court sent labourer Shatrughan Masram to gallows for 
brutally raping and murdering a 2-year-old girl on August 14 last year.

The court would simultaneously hear both cases on April 25, according to 
Chandak's family counsel Rajendra Daga, who assisted the prosecution. Mehroz 
Pathan represented the government.

(source: The Times of India)

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

Bihar to provide for death penalty to enforce liquor ban; The state minister 
said the poorest of the poor were consuming liquor, leading to family problems, 
domestic violence and affecting their children's education.


Ahead of phased ban on manufacture and sale of liquor in the state, the Bihar 
government has decided to bring an amendment bill in the assembly on Wednesday 
to provide for death penalty for people found violating it. "The state 
government will bring an amendment bill to include provision of death penalty 
for manufacturing illicit country liquor after ban comes into effect in the 
state from April 1," Bihar Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan 
told media here on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last week announced the government in the ongoing 
budget session of the assembly would amend law to include provision of death 
penalty for manufacturing and sale of illegal liquor. Mastan said in the 1st 
phase, manufacture and sale of country and spiced liquor would be banned 
followed by Indian-made foreign liquor later this year. Last year, during 
campaigning for the 2015 Bihar assembly elections, Nitish Kumar announced an 
alcohol ban to be implemented from April 1.

The state minister said the poorest of the poor were consuming liquor, leading 
to family problems, domestic violence and affecting their children's education. 
"Women are suffering more than anyone else due to increasing liquor 
consumption." According to officials, the ban decision was expected to impact 
the state government's financial health. Bihar earns an annual revenue of 
around Rs.3,650 crore from liquor sale. To provide the livelihood of those 
involved in the liquor business, the government has offered them to sell 
products of the state-run Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation Ltd. under 
the brand name "Sudha Dairy".

(source: india.com)

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

Gallows for minor's rapist


The session's court of Mumbai awarded death penalty to one Nazir Shaikh on 
Monday for sexually assaulting and killing a minor in 2012.

In 2012, a 4-year-old girl fr-om Mumbai's Sakinaka area had gone missing and 
her body was later found dumped. She was brutally murdered after being 
assaulted sexually.

Upon investigations, the police arrested Nazir Shaikh, the nei-ghbour of the 
deceased girl. As the investigation was not moving ahead and the police could 
not gauge apt evidence against Shaikh, the victim's father then had approached 
the Bombay High Court, seeking the case be transferred to higher authorities 
for further probe.

After hearing the petition, the Bombay High Court had directed the Mumbai 
Police to transfer the case to a higher rank office and complying by the 
court's orders the Mumbai Police had then handed over the case to the then 
Assistant Commissioner of Police Shantilal Bhamare. ACP Bhamare then again 
investigated the case from the beginning and successfully collected enough 
evidence against Shaikh. Finally after a total of 4 years, the session's court 
convicted Shaikh and awarded death penalty to him.

"My daughter has finally got justice," was the only thing the victim's father 
who is a driver by profession, expressed. When asked if would also fight in the 
High Court as Shaikh has the option to move to High Court to challenge the 
lower court's judgement, he said, "I'm ready to fight in each and every court 
to get justice for my daughter. I will fight legally till the last breathe of 
my life."

(source: Free Press Journal)

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

MPHC stays hanging of rapist-murderer


The Madhya Pradesh High Court today stayed, for a period of 3 months, the 
execution of a death warrant vis-a-vis a convict who raped and murdered a 
3-year-old.

Sachin Singrah, a driver hailing from Satna District's Maihar, was to be hanged 
on Wednesday. On February 23 last year, he targeted the minor who used to go to 
school in his vehicle. On the basis of Singrah's confession, the body was 
seized from a well a couple of days later. In August, an additional district 
judge awarded the death penalty and the High Court placed its seal of approval 
on March 3.

The convict wrote to the Chief Justice seeking time for appealing to the 
Supreme Court. Justices SK Seth and Rajendra Mahajan stayed the execution.

(source: webindia123.com)






MALAYSIA:

Alternative charges for 2 accused in Morais' case


2 of the 7 men charged with the murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk 
Anthony Kevin Morais have been given an alternative charge each by the 
prosecution.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Abdul Razak Musa told High Court judge Justice 
Azman Abdullah that the prosecution had preferred an alternative charge to 
college student S. Nimalan and jobless A.K. Thinesh Kumar.

Nimalan was alternatively charged under Section 201 of the Penal Code with 
assisting to hide a body and destroy a vehicle bearing plate number WA 6264 Q 
with the intention to prevent six other co-accused from being prosecuted.

The offence was said to have been committed between Jalan Dutamas 1 and an oil 
palm plantation in Kampung Sungai Samak, Hutan Melintang, Hilir Perak, Perak, 
between 7am on Sept 4 and 2am on Sept 5, last year.

Thinesh Kumar was alternatively charged with causing the death of Morais, 55.

Thinesh Kumar, allegedly committed the offence during the journey from Jalan 
Dutamas 1 to No. 20, Desa Mentari in Petaling Jaya between 7am on Sept 4 and 
11.30am on Sept 5, last year.

However, Nimalan and Thinesh Kumar, both 22, pleaded not guilty to the 
alternative charges.

Justice Azman said the 1st day of trial which was fixed for Apr 6 earlier would 
remain.

After the court proceedings, DPP Abdul Razak told the media that the 
alternative charges were preferred based on the facts of the case and their 
role in the case.

On Jan 27, this year, army pathologist Col Dr K. Kunaseegaran, 52, is charged 
with abetting in the High Court with the murder of Morais under section 109 of 
the Penal Code, read together with Section 302 of the same Code.

Apart from Nimalan and Thinesh Kumar, 4 others were charged with the murder of 
Morais which was committed between 7am and 8pm from Jalan Dutamas Raya to Jalan 
USJ 1/6D on Sept 4 last year.

They are G. Gunasegaran, 47, R. Dinishwaran, 23, M.Vishwanath, 25, and debt 
collector S. Ravi Chandaran, 44, They face the mandatory death penalty, if 
convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

(source: The Star)

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

Death penalty violates right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and 
degrading punishment - Suhakam


The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (the Commission ) notes the execution 
of Gunasegar Pitchaymuthu, Ramesh Jayakumar and Sasivarnam Jayakumar on 25 
March 2016 under section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with section 34 
of the same Code.

The Commission expresses regret in this regard as only recently in November 
2015, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, YB Hajah Nancy Shukri 
announced that the Government was in the midst of finalising amendments to 
remove the mandatory death penalty in relevant laws. The Bill was expected to 
be tabled at the current (March 2016) Parliamentary session. Today, over 2/3 of 
the world's nations have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

The Commission is concerned because the mandatory imposition of the death 
penalty violates the basic right to life, as enshrined in international human 
rights laws as it constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life, as well as 
denies judges the possibility of taking into account the facts of the offence 
or the characteristics of each individual offender. Instead, each offender is 
sentenced to death regardless of any mitigating circumstances that may apply.

While discussions on abolishing the mandatory death penalty in the country 
continue, the Commission cautions that any miscarriage or failure of justice in 
the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable. 
Further, the rationale that the death penalty acts as a deterrent has been 
discredited and dismissed on several occasions.

The Commission therefore recommends that a moratorium on the use of the death 
penalty be put in place that will at the very least, contribute to the respect 
for human dignity and to the enhancement and progressive development of human 
rights in Malaysia.

This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not 
necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.

(source: themalaymailonline.com)






BANGLADESH:

Death penalty for one in Shipon murder

A Khulna court Monday handed down death penalty to a woman for killing her 
beloved Emdadul Haque Shipon on March 8 in 2014. Judge of Additional 
Metropolitan and Session Court of Khulna Dilruba Sultana gave the verdict in 
presence of the convict after examining records and witnesses of the case.

The convict is Fatema Akter Sonali, 21, a madrasa student, daughter of late 
Khabir Gazi, residence at Joykhali Koiyabazar area under Harintana Police 
Station in the city.

The judge also acquitted Mehedi Hasan Anik, a close friend of Sonali as the 
prosecution could not proved against him.

According to the prosecution, the convict killed Shipon, 23, a final year 
student of Medical Institution of Science and Technical College of Khulna, son 
of Mohiuddin Sheikh, residence at police line area under Khulna Kotwali Police 
Station on March 8 in 2014. On information, police recovered Shipon's beheaded 
body from the residence of Abu Bakkar, maternal uncle of Shipon, at Zoragate 
Public and Works (P&W) colony area in the city.

His brother Babul Mian filed a case with Sonadanga Police Station in the 
connection on March 9 accusing unidentified criminals.

On March 15, Police arrested Sonali and her boy friend Mehedi Hasan Anik in 
this connection. Later, Sonali confessed her involvement into Shipon murder 
before the CMM court. SI Showkat Hossain started investigation and pressed 
charge sheet against Sonali and Anik on April 30 in 2014.

Narrating causes behind the killing, the charge sheet was described, Shipon was 
a part time lift operator of Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) engaged 
with love affair with Sonali before killing. At one stage, Sonali knew that her 
lover Shipon has developed sex relationship with 4 to 5 girls which became her 
very hurt and cruel.

"Sonali designed a plan to kill her lover and waiting for an opportunity. She 
went to the residence of Shipon's uncle with sleeping medicine mixed soft drink 
on the fateful day as she become to know that his uncle will stay at Magura 
from March 6 to March 9, 2014. After completing her killing mission she managed 
to flee with taking laptop and mobile phone of her lover," according to 
charge-sheet.

After examined the documents and witnesses the judge handed down the verdict, 
according to BSS.

(source: The Financial Express)

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

Death penalty for 3 for killing minor


A speedy tribunal here on Tuesday convicted 4 men and sentenced 3 of them to 
death and the other life term imprisonment for killing a schoolboy after 
abduction in Sherpur on 2 August 2015.

The condemned convicts are Abdul Latif, uncle of the victim boy, Aslam Babu and 
Rabin Hossain while the lifer is Imran Hossain.

All the 4 were fined Tk10,000, in default, to serve 6 months more in jail.

According to the prosecution, the convicts abducted Arafat Islam Rahat, son of 
Shahidul Islam, a resident of Girja Narayanpur area of the district town on 2 
August 2015.

They also demanded Tk2 lakh as ransom from the victim's father for his 
(Rahat's) release.

Later Shahidul filed a case with Sadar Police Station against them on 7 August.

The police arrested the 4 after the case was filed.

Following the arrestees' statement, police recovered the body of Rahat from 
Madhutila Eco Park in Nalitabari upazila on 8 August.

After examining the evidence and witnesses, Saidur Rahman Khan, judge of the 
Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, handed down the verdict 
within its nine working days.

(source: Prothom Alo)






CHINA:

Australian meth smuggler to learn if he will face death by firing squad in 
China


Dual national Australian and New Zealander Peter Gardner, who was accused of 
transporting 30 kilogrammes of methamphetamine - or "ice" - from Guangzhou in 
2014, is awaiting a decision on whether he will receive the death penalty in 
April.

He was arrested in 2014 at Guangzhou airport along with his then-girlfriend, 
Kalynda Davis, who has since been freed and returned to Australia. However, 
Gardner remained in prison.

Peter Gardner, arrested in China with Kalynda Davis and 30kg of ice in 2 
suitcases, is about to find out if he will face a firing squad.

He was found guilty of trafficking drugs last May. Gardner had argued that he 
thought he was transporting bodybuilding peptides and denied that the drugs 
were his. According to Chinese law, smuggling drugs can result in the death 
sentence.

Gardner's 30kg of drugs was reportedly the largest ever single bust of ice, 
according to Chinese local media.

(source: Hong Kong Free Press)






TAIWAN:

Taiwan far from reaching consensus on scrapping capital punishment


Premier Simon Chang said Tuesday that there must be a high degree of public 
consensus before capital punishment can be scrapped, and that he believes 
society is far from reaching that high degree of consensus.

The premier noted that a lot of people want to scrap the death penalty, but 
pointed out that it is a punishment stipulated under the law and that to change 
the law will need "a very, very high degree of consensus among the public."

He noted that since a random killing on a Taipei metro train in 2014, the issue 
has been repeatedly debated. But it is still very far from reaching a 
consensus, he said.

His words came as the nation was gripped in shock and anger by yet another 
random killing of a young victim, a 4-year-old child in Taipei, Monday, and the 
debate raged again on whether it is right to push for the scrapping of the 
death penalty, a goal that the nation is heading toward.

Chang has instructed his deputy, Duh Tyzz-jiun, to convene a series of meetings 
to come up with short-, middle- and long-term contingency plans within one 
month to address the incident, in a meeting held Tuesday afternoon, Cabinet 
spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said.

In the short term, the Ministry of the Interior has to step up campus patrol 
and social security. In the mid-term, the Ministry of Health and Welfare must 
strengthen mental education, pinpoint high-risk mental patients and follow 
their conditions, and revise relevant laws if necessary.

In the long term, the Ministry of Education must deal with the issue on the 
family and education fronts.

Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou, accompanied by Chang, went to the victim's 
home in Neihu District to extend condolences to her family.

Ma has instructed the National Police Agency to step up security to put the 
nation, as well as the parents of children, at ease following the gruesome 
killing.

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen laid flowers and a card at the scene of the murder 
Tuesday.

She said that the nation is in sorrow and feels uneasy.

"This is the time for us to show determination," she said, noting that when the 
social security net is not sufficient or has holes, the government needs to 
strengthen it or plug the holes.

"People in Taiwan have the right not to live in fear," Tsai said, adding that 
"the government must shoulder the biggest responsibility."

(source: focustaiwan.tw)



SAUDI ARABIA:

Report: Saudi authorities seek death penalty for coming out


A published report indicates that people who come out online in Saudi Arabia 
could face the death penalty.

Oraz, a Saudi newspaper, reported on Saturday that prosecutors in the city of 
Jiddah have proposed the penalty in response to dozens of cases they have 
prosecuted over the last 6 months. These include 35 people who received prison 
sentences for sodomy.

Okaz reported that Jiddah authorities have prosecuted 50 cases in which men 
allegedly dressed as women. A doctor who lives in the port city on the Red Sea 
has been released on bail after officials arrested him for allegedly raising an 
LGBT Pride flag over his home.

A gay Saudi man who lives outside the kingdom told the Washington Blade on 
Monday during a telephone interview the enhanced penalties that Jiddah 
prosecutors have proposed would apply to the entire country. The man, who 
operates a Twitter account that publishes LGBT-specific news and other 
information from Saudi Arabia, said the proposal has caused fear among LGBT 
people in the country.

Social media users in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere have begun to use the hashtag 
"You will not terrorize me. I'm gay" on Twitter to express their opposition to 
the proposed penalty.

Saudi Arabia is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual 
activity remains punishable by death.

The State Department's 2014 human rights report notes it is illegal for men "to 
behave like women" or cross-dress. It also says the Committee for the Promotion 
of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - the so-called "religious police" that 
enforces Sharia law in Saudi Arabia - uses undercover agents to target owners 
of social media accounts that distribute "pornographic content or served as 
social networking tools for LGBT persons in the kingdom."

The man behind the Saudi LGBT Twitter account told the Blade on Monday that 
agents with the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of 
Vice use people they arrest as "bait" to entrap LGBT people who are online.

"It's happened so many times," he said.

The State Department report notes that police and agents with the Committee for 
the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice arrested 35 gay men - many 
of whom were wearing women's clothing - at a Jiddah party in 2014. A judge in 
the holy city of Medina in the same year sentenced a man to 3 years in prison 
and 450 lashes for "soliciting sex with other men" on Twitter.

Media reports indicate that authorities in the city of Taif arrested a man late 
last year at a shopping mall who was wearing an abaya, a black cloak that women 
in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries wear.

The man behind the Saudi LGBT Twitter page told the Blade that the sentences 
that judges impose upon those found guilty of LGBT-specific offenses are 
"completely random."

"It depends upon the judge," he said.

Death penalty proposal highlights country's 'horrific reality'

2 Saudi YouTube personalities last month posted a video in which they called 
for the execution of gay people after police reportedly raided a same-sex 
wedding in the kingdom's capital of Riyadh. YouTube removed the clip after it 
sparked widespread outrage.

"We thought that this was a big step forward," a source in Saudi Arabia told 
the Washington Blade on Sunday.

The source, who asked the Blade not to publish their name because of safety 
concerns, said reports that Jiddah authorities are seeking the death penalty 
against those who come out online highlights "the horrific reality of the 
situation" in the country.

"We can???t do a thing about it, but try to make some noise so activists from 
other countries would hear about it and talk to their politicians to pressure 
Saudi to change its policies," said the source. "The Internet is the only safe 
haven to LGBT individuals in the Middle East. If this is taken from us, we 
won't have anywhere else to go."

The man behind the Saudi LGBT Twitter account agreed.

"It's their only outlet," he told the Blade. "There's no other actual space for 
LGBT people to meet outside the Internet."

U.S. has not done 'enough' to challenge human rights record

Saudi Arabia remains a key U.S. ally, especially in the fight against the 
so-called Islamic State.

The U.S. gives more than $1 billion in aid to the kingdom each year.

The State Department told the Blade earlier this year that it continues to urge 
Saudi Arabia to "respect" human rights. Then-spokesperson Jen Psaki in July 
2014 declined to say whether Secretary of State John Kerry raised the kingdom's 
LGBT rights record during his meeting with then-Saudi King Abdullah in Jiddah.

"I don't think they've done nearly enough," said the man behind the Saudi LGBT 
Twitter account.

"I want to see an actual punishment against people who preach hatred," he 
added. "I want them to know they cannot leave the country."

The State Department has yet to respond to the Blade's request for comment.

(source: Washington Blade)