[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 13




SINGAPORE----impending execution

Kho Jabing to be hanged next Friday----Family of Sarawakian convicted of murder 
in Singapore told to make arrangements for his body to be flown back to Miri 
after execution.


Sarawakian Kho Jabing is set to be executed by Singapore's prison authorities 
next Friday.

According to Malay Mail Online today, the convicted killer's sister, Jumai Kho 
said that they received a letter 2 days ago from Singapore, notifying them of 
the scheduled execution.

She said the letter, which was addressed to her mother Lenduk Baling, asked the 
family to make preparations to take Jabing's body back to Miri after the 
execution. Lenduk is in shock and unable to accept the news.

Jumai said the family was working with NGO "We Believe in 2nd Chances", to fly 
to Singapore, and are also assessing the options available.

She told the portal that the family had been under the impression that Kho 
would be spared the noose, pending a fresh clemency petition they had intended 
to push through last month.

Kho's 1st plea for clemency was rejected in October last year.

Kho, 31, from Ulu Baram, Sarawak, was found guilty of killing a Chinese 
construction worker with a tree branch in 2008 during a robbery attempt. He was 
sentenced to death in 2010.

In 2013, the Singapore government amended the mandatory death penalty that gave 
judges the discretion to choose between death and life imprisonment with caning 
for murder, as well as certain cases of drug trafficking.

In August 2013, following revisions to the mandatory death penalty laws, the 
High Court sentenced him to life and 24 strokes of the cane instead. It was 
then again revised to the death penalty after the prosecution challenged the 
decision before the Court of Appeal.

Kho was scheduled to be executed on Nov 6, but received a stay the day before 
after his lawyer filed a motion raising points of law about the case's 
handling.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)

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

Halt Kho Jabing's Execution


http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/singapore-halt-kho-jabing-s-execution-ua-10315

(source: Amnesty International USA)






BANGLADESH:

Turkey, Pakistan Protest Nizami Execution


Diplomatic fallout from Bangladesh's execution of the chief of the country's 
largest faith-based party grew Thursday when Turkey summoned home its 
ambassador to Dhaka after condemning the hanging.

The "Turkish Foreign Ministry has asked Turkey's ambassador to Bangladesh to 
report to Ankara for consultations in the aftermath of hanging of a senior 
Jamaat-e-Islami party leader in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka," Turkey's 
state-run Anatolia News Agency reported Thursday, citing an unnamed diplomatic 
source.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan escalated over 
Wednesday's hanging of Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes allegedly committed 
during the Bangladeshi war of independence in 1971, when the country was known 
as East Pakistan.

On Thursday Turkish ambassador Devrim Ozturk boarded a homeward flight, a day 
after Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the execution of 
Nizami, the chief of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party, 
Bangladeshi officials said.

"The Turkish ambassador left Dhaka at 6:20 a.m. Thursday on a Turkish airlines 
flight," Kazi Imtiaz Mashroor, the officer-in-charge of immigration at the 
Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, told BenarNews.

However, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told reporters that 
the Turkish government had not officially informed Dhaka about a recall of its 
ambassador.

"He [Ozturk] has informed us that he would be out of the country from May 12. 
And he also informed us who would be serving as ambassador in his absence," 
Alam said, without naming who would assume that role.

The statement from the Turkish foreign ministry pointed out that Turkey had 
abolished capital punishment.

"We strongly condemn the execution, since we do not believe that Nizami 
deserved such a punishment and wish God's mercy upon the deceased," the 
statement said.

"For the protection of social harmony and peace in Bangladesh, we have in the 
last three years repeatedly called upon the leaders of Bangladesh at the 
highest level to suspend the execution of death sentences and conveyed our 
concerns that the practice of capital punishment may cause new tension in the 
society due to its unjust nature," the ministry added.

Elsewhere, Pakistan on Thursday summoned Bangladesh's acting high commissioner 
in Islamabad, Nazmul Huda, to deliver a "strong protest" letter. Hours later, 
Bangladesh summoned Pakistan's envoy to Dhaka, Shuja Alam, and delivered its 
own protest letter.

"The attempts by the government of Bangladesh to malign Pakistan, despite our 
keen desire to develop brotherly relations with it, are regrettable," 
Pakistan's foreign ministry said a statement.

On Wednesday, the Pakistani parliament adopted a resolution denouncing Nizami's 
execution.

'Very tough'

Former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury described Ankara's 
apparent decision to recall its ambassador as an act of protest over Nizami's 
execution as extreme.

"Pakistan has not recalled its ambassador, but Turkey has. So, the events show 
that they are very tough on this issue," he told BenarNews.

He said Turkey also reacted angrily when Bangladesh executed its 1st convicted 
war criminal in December 2013.

"The current President [then Prime Minister] Recep Tayyip Erdogan telephoned 
our prime minister and expressed his frustration about the execution of Abdul 
Kader Molla," Chowdhury said.

The United States, where the death penalty is enforced, was among countries and 
organizations voicing concern about whether Nizami and other convicted war 
criminals like him had received a fair trial by the International Crimes 
Tribunal (ICT), the Bangladeshi court that has been trying and sentencing to 
death suspected war criminals from 1971.

Hours before Nizami's execution, the U.S. State Department on Tuesday called 
for improving the judicial process in Bangladesh while expressing misgivings 
about executions there.

"While we have seen limited progress in some cases, we still believe that 
further improvements to the ICT process could ensure these proceedings meet 
domestic and international obligations. Until these obligations can be 
consistently met, we have concerns about proceeding with executions," State 
Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.

"Again, we support bringing to justice those who committed crimes during the 
war of independence, but we also have remaining concerns about proceeding with 
executions under these conditions which we will raise with the Government of 
Bangladesh."

War crimes

JeI opposed the war of independence in 1971. The party sided with the Pakistan 
army even as civilians, including minority Hindus, were killed.

Bangladesh claims that 3 million people, including 300,000 women, were killed 
between March and December 1971, a figure rejected by Pakistan.

JeI formed armed auxiliary units to stop efforts for Bangladeshi independence. 
Nizami was the head of 1 such armed group, al-Badr that was held responsible 
for the extermination of leading Bengali intellectuals on Dec. 14, 1971 - 2 
days before the Pakistani army surrendered in Dhaka.

Nizami was hanged in Dhaka for the killings of intellectuals and "genocide" in 
his hometown Pabna. The JeI student front, Islami Chhatra Shibir, on Wednesday 
clashed with police in the cities of Chittagong and Rajshahi over holding of a 
gayebana janaza (funeral prayer in absentia).

JeI called for a countrywide general strike on Thursday, which passed without 
incident, according to authorities.

(source: BenarNews)






PHILIPPINES:

Rodrigo Duterte on crime and punishment


As mayor of the Philippines southern city of Davao, Rodrigo Duterte was known 
as "the punisher", whose profanity-packed speeches and death threats to drug 
gangs helped propel him to the Philippines presidency in the May 9 election.

Here are some of the things he's had to say about how he would deal with 
criminals.

"Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I 
will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and 
do-nothings, you better go out. Because I'd kill you."

"I'll dump all of you (criminals) into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish 
there."

- Final campaign rally on May 7 in Manila

"You talk about summary killings? I'm sorry, bad guys were killed. But what 
about the people who were abused? Who takes care of them?"

- Remarks to Reuters in Davao during the campaign.

"I say let's kill f5 criminals every week, so they will be eliminated."

- Vowing to revive the death penalty.

"Stop or leave. If you can not or will not, you will not survive. You can 
either leave vertically or horizontally."

- Telling criminals to avoid coming to Davao when he was mayor.

"If you are accusing me of killing people, then sue me and I will kill you as 
well."

- Remarks during the campaign.

(source: Reuters)






INDONESIA:

Death-Row Inmates Without the World Noticing


15 inmates will face the firing squad in Indonesia's next round of executions. 
5 are Indonesians. The rest, according to local media, are foreign - 4 Chinese, 
1 Pakistani, 2 Nigerians, 2 Senegalese and 1 Zimbabwean. The composition of 
execution lineup suggests an attempt to avoid the intense international 
attention and outcry that happened when Jakarta executed a total of 14 drug 
convicts last year - all but 2 of them foreign citizens. Then, there were 
rallies and social-media campaigns for the Australian Bali 9 ringleaders Andrew 
Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Filipina migrant worker Mary Jane Veloso and 
Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to pardon the 
condemned.


There is unlikely to be the same kind of uproar when the prison authorities in 
the penal island of Nusakambangan conduct the next round of executions, 
however.

7 of the 10 foreigners set to be executed came from countries that implement 
the death penalty (China, Pakistan and Nigeria). The remaining 3 foreign 
citizens came from poor African countries: Zimbabwe, which is moving toward 
eliminating capital punishment, and Senegal, which abolished death penalty more 
than a decade ago.

The 5 Indonesian inmates have been transferred to the Nusakambangan in the past 
month - 3 of them last Sunday - raising speculation that executions are 
imminent. The government hasn't announced the execution date and convicts' 
identities, however.

"The executions can take place any time, but there will not be a 'soap opera' 
about it this time," Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told journalists 
recently.

Todung Mulya Lubis, human-rights lawyer and anti-death-penalty advocate, 
believes there will be some public outcry over the executions. "But it won't be 
as much as last year," Todung, who represented Australian drug convicts Chan 
and Sukumaran, tells TIME.

Chan and Sukumaran were executed in April 2015, along with the mentally ill 
Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte and 5 other men. But, the government suspended 
Veloso's and Atlaoui's executions, pending their separate legal cases. The 
Filipina and the Frenchman are not among the inmates slated to be executed 
soon.

Several countries, including Australia, the Netherlands and Brazil, recalled 
their ambassadors in protest of the 2015 executions. German Chancellor Angela 
Merkel told Jokowi, who visited Berlin last month, of her opposition to capital 
punishment, but the Indonesian leader defended its use. "There are between 30 
and 50 people in Indonesia dying per day because of drugs," Jokowi said, once 
again quoting figures that are questioned by public-health experts.

Following public condemnation of a rape-murder of a schoolgirl last month, the 
government is also weighing the death penalty for rape offenders.

Indonesian Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo said that the present inmates to be 
put of death are all drug offenders "so they know we are really at war with 
drugs." But many rights activists say capital punishment does little to deter 
drug crime, with the number of drug convicts rising despite the executions last 
year.

(source: TIME magazine)



MALAYSIA:

2 soldiers, 3 others face death penalty over snooker parlour murder


2 soldiers and 3 others found themselves in the dock over the alleged murder of 
their friend at a snooker centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohamad Hairul Abdullah, Lawrance Anak Masing, and the 3 - security guard M. 
Yogesvaran, shop assistant Zaidi Zainal, and jewelry shop supervisor Chong Kai 
Weng - were calm when charged at the Magistrate's Court today.

Hairul, 33, Lawrance, 32, Yogesvaran, 23, Zaidi, 31, and Chong, 31, indicated 
they understood the charge read to them involving victim Mohd Yusof Abd Khalib, 
26. No plea was recorded.

The5 friends were accused of being part of an illegal gathering that led to 
Yusof's murder at the snooker centre at Taman Intan Baiduri here, between 
8.30pm and 11pm on May 1.

Police detained them on separate occasions after the incident: Yogesvaran on 
May 4; Hairul and Lawrance on May 5; and Zaidi and Chong on May 8.

> The5 men face the death penalty if convicted under Section 149 of the 
Penal Code, read with Section 302 of the same law.

Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamarudin did not grant bail and fixed July 22 for 
mention.

Deputy public prosecutor Nor Diana Nor Azwa prosecuted while counsel Afifuddin 
Ahmad Hafifi acted for Chong. The other four accused were unrepresented.

(source: New Straits Times)






TAIWAN:

Supreme Prosecutors' Office defends swift execution of Taipei metro killer


The judiciary followed proper procedure and defense lawyers filing an 
extraordinary appeal cannot be the basis for suspending procedures to carry out 
a death sentence, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said yesterday in response to 
controversy surrounding the execution of convicted Taipei MRT killer Cheng 
Chieh. Cheng's lawyers, Liang Chia-ying, Huang Chih-hao and Lin Chun-hung, 
tried to win a last-minute reprieve for their client by submitting an 
extraordinary appeal to the prosecutor-general on Tuesday night, seeking a stay 
of execution.

However, the document arrived at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office at 9pm, 13 
minutes after Cheng's execution, with the 1st gunshot fired by the executioner 
at 8:47pm.

The defense lawyers said in a statement that the judiciary had violated 
judicial procedure throughout the case and kept the decision to order Cheng's 
execution secret, adding that they were in the process of filing for an 
extraordinary appeal, seeking a retrial and wanted a constitutional 
interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices.

"The Ministry of Justice carried out the execution swiftly and did not contact 
the family of the accused or defense lawyers. This resulted in the accused not 
having sufficient time to allow the defense to initiate 'criminal special aid 
procedures,' and this is a deprivation of the accused right to life. It has 
violated international human rights conventions, and we regret what has taken 
place," the lawyers said.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said the proper judicial procedures for 
carrying out capital punishment had been followed and cited a need to maintain 
secrecy upon approval of an execution order.

It said that there are no legal requirements to contact the prisoner's family, 
or defense lawyers prior to an execution.

"Even if the extraordinary appeal was submitted before carrying out the 
execution, according to The Code of Criminal Procedure, it cannot serve as the 
basis to suspend the said procedure," it said.

Cheng left a will for his family, written after the Supreme Court's final 
verdict on April 22 upholding 4 death sentences.

He also reportedly wrote a short apology to his family.

The EU yesterday issued a statement urging the government to introduce an 
immediate moratorium on the death penalty following Cheng's execution. Saying 
that it recognizes the serious nature of the crimes and expresses sympathy to 
all those who suffered, it added that the "death penalty can never be justified 
as it has no deterrent effect ... [the EU] calls for its universal abolition."

(source: Taipei Times)






EGYPT:

Egyptian court rules death sentence for 2 Al-Jazeera journalists; Mohamed 
Mursi's verdict postponed


An Egyptian court on Saturday, May 7 ruled a death sentence for 6 individuals 
including 2 Al Jazeera journalists on charges of endangering national security 
by passing over important documents to Qatar during the administration of 
ousted president Mohamed Mursi.

According to Reuters, the 2 Al Jazeera journalists facing death penalty are 
Jordanian national news producer, Alaa Omar Sablan, and former director of Al 
Jazeera's Arabic channel, Ibrahim Mohammed Helal. The 2 were tried in absentia 
and so have the legal rights to appeal the verdict.

Al Jazeera posted on its website that it categorically denies allegations that 
it was collaborating with Mursi's elected government. The satellite channel 
describes the court's ruling as "an unprecedented assault on freedom of 
expression."

The 3rd individual who can also appeal after being tried in absentia and facing 
the same ruling is Asmaa Mohamed al-Khatib, a reporter for pro-Muslim 
Brotherhood Rassd news outlet.

Judge Mohammed Shireen Famy announced Saturday's ruling and said that a final 
decision including that of Mursi's verdict would have to wait until the Grand 
Mufti, the country's top religious authority, make their non-binding opinion on 
June 18.

Mursi, overthrown in 2013 by then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was already 
sentenced to death and life imprisonment in 3 other cases. He is now in jail 
together with thousands of Brotherhood members who are also facing death 
sentence in different cases. Sisi believes Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, which 
was what used to be the country's most organized political group, still poses a 
serious threat to the national security. Relations between Egypt and the Gulf 
Arab state of Qatar have turned sour since the ouster.

"I believe that this is a weak point in the Egyptian system, which might bring 
catastrophes to the whole country, especially when it comes to freedoms and 
human rights," Al Jazeera's Middle East analyst Yahia Ghanem said about the 
court ruling.

"The case's documents are devoid of any type of espionage or participation in 
it," a defense lawyer told Reuters.

(source: Christian Times)






BAHAMAS:

Woman Could Face Death Penalty If Convicted Of Killing


A woman who maintains she had no involvement in the murder of a web shop 
employee could be facing the discretionary death penalty if convicted by the 
Supreme Court jury.

Daphne Knowles, of Cartwright's, Long Island, was called on to answer to 
charges of murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery moments before jury 
selection took place in her trial yesterday concerning the death of Andrea 
Carroll in November 2014.

Knowles answered "not guilty" to all 3 allegations before a jury of 10 women 
and 2 men who were selected to hear evidence in the matter.

The accused is charged with murder under Section 291 (1) (a) of the Penal Code, 
Chapter 84, a charge that attracts the discretionary death penalty of the court 
if a conviction is reached.

In 2011, after a ruling from the London-based Privy Council, the Ingraham 
administration amended the death penalty law to specify the "worst of the 
worst" murders that would warrant execution.

Under the amended law, a person who kills a police or defence force officer, 
member of the Departments of Customs or Immigration, judiciary or prison 
services would be eligible for a death sentence. A person would also be 
eligible for death once convicted of murdering someone during a rape, robbery, 
kidnapping or act of terrorism.

The jury was asked to return to court on Tuesday, May 17, for evidence to be 
taken.

Knowles is alleged to have killed Carroll between November 28 and 29, 2014. 
Carroll was found lifeless with a head injury and her hands and feet bound.

It is further alleged that Knowles conspired with others for some 58 days to 
commit robbery and actually robbed Carroll of cash belonging to Bowe's Web 
Games Ltd.

The accused remains remanded to the Department of Correctional Services.

Knowles, who was previously unrepresented up until Monday, is now defended by 
attorney Sonia Timothy.

Cephia Pinder-Moss and Basil Cumberbatch are prosecuting the case.

Justice Bernard Turner is presiding over the trial.

(source: Bahamas Tribune)