[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worlldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 21




ISRAEL:

Israel plans death penalty for Palestinian militants


Israel is poised to introduce the death penalty for Palestinian militants after 
Binyamin Netanyahu invited an ultra-nationalist party to join his coalition 
government.

The rightwinger Avigdor Lieberman made capital punishment a key demand in 
negotiations this week for his party to shore up Mr Netanyahu???' coalition, 
with Mr Lieberman handed the defence portfolio. Sources from Mr Lieberman's 
Yisrael Beiteinu party and the ruling Likud said that the prime minister had 
agreed.

It would be a major policy shift for Israel, which has only ever executed one 
person: the Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, who was hanged in 1962 for genocide.

(source: The Times)






MALAYSIA:

Does the death penalty benefit society?


Singapore's decision to go ahead with the execution of Sarawakian Kho Jabing 
has been met with mixed reactions on both sides of the Causeway, which is not 
surprising, given that the question of whether to abolish the death penalty has 
been hotly debated in recent years.

However, the debate tends to flare only when there is a high profile case. It 
dies down when another issue starts to dominate the news.

Perhaps one reason for the intense public interest in Kho's case is that it 
involves a Malaysian condemned to death by a foreign court. He was found guilty 
of killing a Chinese national during a robbery attempt in 2008.

Parliament heard this week that 1,041 people are on death row in Malaysia. It 
is unlikely that all 1,041 will get as much media attention as Kho has.

Regardless of how one feels about capital punishment, it is important for us as 
a nation to discuss the issue of capital punishment and whether it serves any 
good.

Supporters of the death penalty have always cited it as a deterrent for crimes, 
but there has been no conclusive proof that it indeed serves as a deterrent.

Another aspect of the question is whether capital punishment truly delivers 
justice. If someone on death row happens to be the sole breadwinner for his 
family, are we being just to his family if we execute him?

The question also has an economic aspect. Taxpayers have to foot the bill for 
the inmate's upkeep until the day he is executed. How does this serve justice? 
This aspect of the issue, of course, covers all prison inmates, not just those 
on death row.

This is not to say that criminals should not have to pay their debt to society, 
but we should talk about different ways of making them pay. There are many 
ideas that have been put to practice in several countries.

There are some projects in which prisoners are made to work in farms or prison 
bakeries. Their farm produce or breads and cakes are consumed inside prison. 
This reduces the food bill that the public has to foot. In some cases, the 
output is donated to charity. In still other cases, it is sold to the public 
and the income channelled to the prisoners' families.

These ideas are especially worth considering if we're thinking of replacing the 
death penalty with life imprisonment. Until we start discussing these ideas, 
it's unlikely that the discourse on capital punishment will get anywhere beyond 
the short-lived debates occasioned by high-profile cases.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)






INDONESIA:

Third round of executions to probably take place after Idul Fitri: AG


Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo always has his own way of explaining the 
reasons behind the continual delays of the 3rd round of executions of death row 
inmates despite the already well-managed preparations at the execution site on 
the Nusakambangan prison island in Central Java.

>From late last year until recent times, the former grandee of the progovernment 
Nasdem Party cited a number of reasons, including the slowing economy, the need 
to maintain bilateral harmony and ongoing legal processes, for delaying the 
executions. On Thursday he argued that it was unethical to conduct the 
executions within the next 2 months because of the preparations being made by 
the country to observe Ramadhan, which is scheduled to begin on June 6. 
Ramadhan will run until July 7, after which Muslims nationwide will celebrate 
Idul Fitri on July 8 and 9 to mark the end of the holy month.

Prasetyo assured the public that no executions would be done before or during 
Ramadhan, with the most probable firm date of execution to be decided after 
Idul Fitri.

"If it is before Lebaran [Idul Fitri] then it means during the fasting month. 
Conducting executions during the holy month will not sound right," Prasetyo 
told reporters, adding that he did not yet know when after Idul Fitri the 
Attorney General's Office ( AGO ) would officially set the execution date.

Although the government has announced that the 3rd round of executions is on 
the way, the schedule and list of those to be executed are not yet available, 
causing anxiety among inmates, their lawyers and anti-death-penalty 
campaigners. The only available information on the executions comes from the 
Central Java Police, which has claimed to have readied 150 executioners to 
shoot 10 foreigners from China ( 4 ), Nigeria ( 2 ), Pakistan ( 1 ), Senegal ( 
2 ) and Zimbabwe ( 1 ), in addition to 5 Indonesians, on the isolated Island.

However, Prasetyo did not clarify nor confirm the figure, stating that his 
office had yet to officially issue the date of the executions and the names as 
well as number of death row inmates who will face the firing squads.

"Well, what I can say is that on [May] 25th there will be another inmate who 
will file for a case review," Prasetyo said of another possible barrier that 
may cause a delay for the 3rd round of executions.

AGO spokesman Amir Yanto emphasized that Filipino drug convict Mary Jane 
Veloso, who at least temporarily escaped execution last year when her alleged 
boss was arrested in the Philippines and the local authorities requested the 
Indonesia government reopen the case, and Indonesian drug kingpin Freddy 
Budiman would not be on the list that would be announced by the AGO.

"Mary [Jane Veloso] is needed by the Philippine authorities to solve a human 
trafficking case [involving her], while the case review hearing of [Freddy] is 
ongoing," Amir said.

Recently, the Supreme Court rejected case review pleas filed by 4 Chinese 
nationals: Chen Hongxin, Jian Yuxin, Gan Chunyi and Zhu Xuxiong. It remains 
unclear whether the 4 were the Chinese nationals mentioned by Central Java 
Police.

The 4 Chinese men were found guilty of drug trafficking following a 2005 police 
raid on what was dubbed at the time Southeast Asia???s largest illicit drug 
factory in Banten, along with Frenchman Serge Areski Atlaoui, who also escaped 
execution last year because of an 11th-hour attempt by his lawyer to file for a 
case review, which was eventually rejected by the Supreme Court.

Veloso's lawyer Agus Salim said his client was scheduled to be questioned by 
the Philippine authorities for the human trafficking case in the near future.

"I don't know when the interrogation will take place, but both the Indonesian 
and the Philippine governments have arranged the questioning session for my 
client," he told The Jakarta Post.

Supreme Court spokesman Suhadi said he did not know how many death row inmates 
had appealed for clemency from the President.

(source: The Jakarta Post)






PAKISTAN:

Against military court's order: SC issues notices over militant's conviction


The top court has issued notices to the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) and 
the Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch - the legal department of Pakistan Army 
- on the handing down of a death sentence by a military court to a young 
prisoner, Aksan Mehboob.

Convicted by a military court, Mehboob was one of the nine terrorists whose 
death sentence was ratified by army chief General Raheel Sharif on January 2.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Mehboob, son of Asghar 
Ali, was an active member of al Qaeda. He was involved in attacks on 
law-enforcement personnel and military installations which claimed several 
lives.

"He admitted to his offences before the magistrate and the trial court. He was 
tried on 4 charges and awarded the death sentence," the ISPR had said.

The Supreme Court's 3-judge bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim on Friday 
took up the plea, wherein the death penalty of Mehboob was challenged.

Representing the convict's family, Col (retd) Muhammad Akram argued that 
Mehboob's family was unaware of the reasons for which he was handed down the 
death sentence.

Justice Amir Hani Muslim observed that those who take the lives of others 
should be hanged. He also observed that the application was filed 38 days after 
expiry of the 30-day period.

The counsel responded that since the father of the convict lived in a far-flung 
area he there was a delay in the filing of the plea. After hearing the 
arguments, the bench issued notice to the AGP and the respondents and adjourned 
the hearing for 1 week.

(source: Express Tribune)






BELARUS:

Halt Execution of Siarhei Khmialeuski


see: 
http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/belarus-halt-execution-of-siarhei-khmialeuski-ua-12216

(source: Amnesty International USA)

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

EU chides Belarus over recent increase in death penalties


The European Union is complaining to Belarus about what it calls an upsurge in 
death sentences over the past months.

The 28-nation EU also joined the United Nations in criticizing Belarus for 
reneging on its international commitments, including a moratorium on the use of 
the death penalty. The EU said Belarus courts had already passed 3 death 
sentences so far this year.

The statement said the EU nations "expect Belarus, the only country in Europe 
still applying capital punishment, to join a global moratorium on the death 
penalty as a 1st step toward its abolition."

Belarus is not part of the EU.

(source: Associated Press)



SINGAPORE:

'Disgraceful', Amnesty International says of Kho Jabing's hanging


Amnesty International condemned today the execution of Sarawakian Kho Jabing in 
Singapore that was carried out hours after his appeal against the sentence was 
rejected.

"It is disgraceful that Kho Jabing was executed, particularly with such 
indecent haste, after his final appeal was denied this morning," said Josef 
Benedict, deputy director of Amnesty International's South East Asia and 
Pacific Regional Office, in a statement.

"Clemency should have been granted, more so given the uncertainty and divided 
opinion surrounding Kho Jabing's fate over the past 6 years. Singapore is at a 
crossroads.

"It must decide whether it wants to join most of the world by protecting human 
rights and ridding itself of the death penalty, or remain among the minority of 
countries that insist on the implementation of this cruel and inhumane 
punishment," he added.

International newswire AFP reported Singapore police as confirming that 
32-year-old Kho was hanged today, 6 years after he was sentenced to death in 
2010 for murdering a construction worker.

Kho's case had sparked a renewed debate on the death penalty as he was 
re-sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013 after Singapore amended its mandatory 
death sentence for murder, but the prosecution appealed and the Malaysian's 
death sentence was reinstated in 2015.

Kirsten Han from Singapore anti-death penalty group We Believe in Second 
Chances said death row inmates should be seen as people who have made mistakes, 
bad decisions, and who might have been cruel but have families and struggles.

"The government says it kills people like Jabing to keep us safe.

"I don't know how Jabing's death has kept me safe; it's simply made me feel 
more hurt, more outraged and more fearful of a cold state machinery that knows 
no compassion, that would rush a man to his death out of procedural 
efficiency," Han wrote on Facebook.

The Star reported Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy 
Shukri as saying in a written parliamentary reply Tuesday that Putrajaya has 
yet to decide on whether to amend the mandatory death penalty. Capital 
punishment in Malaysia is imposed on offences like murder and drug trafficking.

(source: themalaymailonline.com)

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

Amnesty International urges S'pore to abolish death penalty----The risk of 
executing an innocent person can never be eliminated as long as the death 
penalty is kept on the law books.


Amnesty International (AI) has urged the authorities in Singapore, in a 
strongly-worded statement, to immediately halt all executions and commute all 
death sentences, as 1st steps towards the full abolition of the death penalty.

The execution of Kho Jabing marks a huge step backwards for Singapore which has 
reduced the implementation of the death penalty in recent years, added the 
statement. "Following the official moratorium on executions established in 
Singapore from 2012 to 2013, at least 13 people have had their death sentences 
reviewed and eventually commuted."

"New sentencing discretion has resulted in several individuals being spared the 
gallows."

AI was "strongly condemning" the sudden execution of Kho Jabing, undertaken 
with "shameful haste" on Friday. "The rushed execution, that occurred mere 
hours after his final appeal was rejected, marked a cruel and inhuman end to 
Kho Jabing's life after a 6 year legal battle in the courts."

In this instance, said AI, it also has strong concerns around the basis on 
which the death sentence of Kho Jabing was re-imposed, after a split decision 
in the courts. "In modern day Singapore, the answer to crime does not lie 
within the hangman's noose."

"Moreover, there's no evidence that the death penalty was more of a deterrent 
to crime than life imprisonment."

AI opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the 
nature of the crime. "The taking of another's life by execution is the ultimate 
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," said the statement. "The risk of 
executing an innocent person can never be eliminated as long as the death 
penalty is kept on the law books."

"Such practices violate the right to life, a fundamental right of every human 
being."

Furthermore, said AI, under international law and standards the use of the 
death penalty must be restricted to the "most serious crimes" which has been 
interpreted to mean intentional killing.

Kho Jabing, a Malaysian national, was executed at 3.30pm on 20 May 2016. Kho 
Jabing and a co-defendant were convicted of murder on 30 July 2010 and both 
were sentenced to the mandatory death penalty.

However, after the 2012 review of the mandatory death penalty laws, on 14 
August 2013, the High Court found the murder to be non-intentional and 
resentenced Kho Jabing to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

On 14 January 2015, the Court of Appeal re-imposed the death penalty on Kho 
Jabing in a 3-to-2 split decision.

An appeal admitted on 3 November 2015, 3 days before his scheduled execution, 
was dismissed on 5 April 2016.

Another last minute application by his lawyers, granted on 19 May 2016, 
resulted in a temporary stay of execution.

On the morning of 20 May 2016, Kho Jabing appeared in Court, hoping for a 
chance of reprieve. However, he was executed not long after this appeal was 
dismissed.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)






INDIA:

Death by injustice----The poor and vulnerable form 74 % of the total number of 
death row convicts in India


A couple of weeks ago, I found myself on stage with the eminent Supreme Court 
(SC) lawyer, Nitya Ramakrishnan, and one of the sitting SC justices, Madan 
Lokur. We were discussing the death penalty - to be more precise, the contents 
of a painstaking report brought out by the project on the death penalty at the 
National Law University, Delhi (NLUD). India is one of the few countries in the 
world that still retains the death penalty, and although there is debate on the 
issue - whether it relates to people like Afzal Guru or the assassins of Rajiv 
Gandhi - very few of us have actual details on those who end up on death row. 
The "celebrity" prisoners though are not a representative sample, even if they 
are what we talk about.

It took 3 years to complete the report. The research was conducted by NLUD 
students under the guidance of Dr Anup Surendranath, director of the death 
penalty project. When I mean research, I mean "search". There is no centralised 
database on death penalty prisoners. As they are housed in state prisons, the 
Central government doesn't have up-to-date information on who is in which jail, 
what condition they are in, the status of their appeals, if any, or even if 
they are dead or alive. Considering there are only 385 prisoners on death row - 
something the project discovered - this should not be that difficult a number 
to track. But we do not do this. Though the death penalty is supposed to be 
used in the "rarest of rare" cases, we seem to care little about what happens 
to them.

In his presentation at the launch, Surendranath, in no uncertain terms, said 
that our criminal justice system - as shown by the findings of the project - is 
underperforming, if not broken. Part of the reason behind this is found in the 
report itself. As part of the documentation on socio-economic profiles of the 
prisoners, it was found that 74 % of the prisoners are economically 
disadvantaged. More than 85 % had not finished secondary school. Surendranath 
added that the SC confirmed only 4.5 % of the sentences awarded by district 
courts. In at least 30 % of the cases the prisoner was acquitted, while the 
rest were commuted.

As these statistics make clear, it is the poor and uneducated - unable to 
defend themselves - who are sentenced to death. Justice Lokur mentioned how, 
quite often, such defendants fail to understand the case being presented 
against them, and cannot even give correct answers. It also became clear that 
many of the lawyers representing the prisoners did not explain the case to the 
client or provide updates on the same. In other words, the government routinely 
sentences people to death, and the poorest and most vulnerable among them 
disproportionately pay the heaviest price.

Fundamentally, a system that punishes the poor for being poor is an unjust 
system. From the details that emerge from the report - including that of 
custodial torture on a wide scale, a topic that Ramakrishnan has documented in 
her book - it is clear that the criminal justice system of India does not 
really dispense justice when it comes to death penalties. That is a fairly 
terrible indictment of 1 of the pillars of the state.

I asked Justice Lokur about where we go from here. His response is worth 
reflecting upon, not merely because he is a sitting SC judge, but because of 
its importance to the idea of a Republic built on logical argument.

"I remain an optimist," he said, and pointed out that such a study is the way 
that change happens. Nothing can transform without research, without data or 
discussion. Research by universities, NGOs and other institutions have brought 
these issues to light. "You have a few more such reports," he said, "and you'll 
see how things correct themselves."

Too many of us believe that an institutional democracy - one where an 
individual is allowed to vote freely and fairly - is good in itself. It is not. 
Democracy is a means to a good, and that good can only be achieved if democracy 
is informed by facts, by research, and by options. Our republic gives us the 
framework to debate, but we must fill it with the data necessary to move 
forward, and much of that data will be of injustices. It is only by uncovering 
them, discussing them, and finding solutions to them that a democracy becomes 
valuable, otherwise we can reduce the Parliament to an arena for shouting 
matches full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Omair Ahmad is the Asia Editor for The Third Pole; thehindubusinessline.com)






PHILIPPINES:

NPC won't support Duterte's death policy


Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) will not support death penalty just yet 
even if the party already signed a coalition deal with presumptive President 
Rodrigo Duterte's Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP)-Laban that regards the 
restoration of the capital punishment as a priority.

Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, the spokesman for the NPC, noted that they backing 
discussions on the revival of the death penalty, but they are not committed to 
a favorable vote for it now.

"For now, our position is that we are willing to give it (death penalty) a 
chance to see the light of day in Congress. We are willing to subject it to 
debates...for it to be discussed by the members of Congress, because we don't 
know to what degree the death penalty will be imposed," Enverga told the Manila 
Times.

Duterte won an overwhelming mandate of 16 million votes because of his bold 
promise of drastic change by killing criminals, as well as killing those 
resisting arrest, to eradicate crime in three to six months. He later 
backtracked that he can only suppress it.

NPC, on the other hand, is the second largest political party in the country 
headed by food and brewery tycoon Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, Jr.

"Would it be for drug traffickers; for heinous crimes? We are yet to identify 
the magnitude of the crimes that will be punishable by death penalty. If the 
proposal takes shape, then we can consult among each other if it would be 
helpful for our country in terms of maintaining public order and safety," 
Enverga pointed out.

The Philippines abolished the death penalty for heinous crimes in 2006.

"Before [in 2006], we had no party stand on the matter. It was left to the 
choice of the of the NPC members during that Congress. But now, it is different 
because there is an overwhelming majority of people in favor of President 
Duterte and his policy [on death penalty]. That says so much about the 
sentiment of the public so we want to give it a chance to be deliberated," 
Enverga said.

"But as of the moment, everything is vague. Until we see the final version, we 
can't decide. For now, we want it deliberated upon so we can also hear the 
opposition to it," he added.

Earlier in the day, the NPC committed to support the Duterte administration and 
its policies through a coalition agreement signed by the leaders of both 
parties.

"This is to support President Rodrigo Duterte and congressman Pantaleon Alvarez 
as the next Speaker of the House. It binds as well the entire apparatus of the 
party in support of their programs," NPC president and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi 
Aggabao said.

PDP-Laban president and Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel 3rd, underscored that the 
NPC-PDP-Laban coalition will manifest beyond the ceremonial signing of 
documents.

"The legislative agenda of the President could be captured and determined in 
these phrases: support for federalism, all-out search for peace; all-out war 
against crime, drugs and corruption; expansion of the middle class; tax reform, 
addressing the concerns of the common man and inclusive growth, so that 
economic growth will be felt at the lower level. We expect the NPC siding to 
this core legislative agenda which are not objectionable," Pimentel said.

"This is not a cosmetic agreement. This is based on substance. As the President 
of the NPC mentioned, this is a support not only for the personalities but also 
to the agenda of President Duterte. Maybe the NPC can start adjusting their 
perspective on federalism, give it a chance to be adopted," he added.

Alvarez of Davao del Norte declared that the restoration of the death penalty 
is as good as done.

"We will be going for the reinstatement of death penalty, definitely. I am 
confident that it will be passed," he said.

(source: Manila Times)

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

Clamor vs death penalty reimposition mounts


Reviving death penalty would be an international embarrassment for the 
Philippines, Amnesty International (AI) said on Friday even as it pointed out 
that the country is a signatory to various covenants on human rights, including 
the protocol to abolish the capital punishment.

AI Philippines vice chair Romeo Cabarde Jr. said there is also no logical 
connection between imposing death penalty and reducing crime rate, citing the 
increase in the country's crime rate in 1999 when 7 convicts were executed by 
the Estrada administration.

"We call on the incoming president to carefully think about the policy 
proposals under his administration in order to ensure that none of his proposed 
measures will contravene the very commitment we made before the world," Cabarde 
said in a media forum in Quezon City.

The group presented a program of action to be submitted to presumptive 
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to ensure that human rights is made a priority 
and embedded in all government agencies and programs.

"Putting an end to extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret 
detention, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment is 1 of our 
non-negotiables for President Duterte," AI Philippines chair Ritz Lee Santos 
III said.

In a news conference after the May 9 elections, Duterte said bringing back the 
death penalty would be a central part of his war on crime.

Breaking promise?

Cabarde noted that the Philippines is a state party to the Second Optional 
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which aims 
for the worldwide total abolition of death penalty.

"What kind of face are we going to show the rest of the world, having promised 
at a certain point that we will eradicate death penalty and here comes a new 
leader who wants to reimpose death penalty just because he wants to curb 
criminality," Cabarde said.

Based on the Commission on Human Rights report cited by Cabarde, the crime rate 
in 1999 even increased by 15.3 % or a total of 82,538 compared with the 
previous year's 71,527 cases despite the executions of death row convicts.

Meanwhile, European diplomats and civil rights advocates have also raised 
concern on the reimposition of death penalty in the Philippines, saying it is 
anti-poor and will not deter crimes.

Numbers game in Congress

German Ambassador to the Philippines Thomas Ossowski said the reimposition of 
death penalty is contrary to the human rights principles that the Philippines 
is known for in the world.

"Germany is very adamant in that (the reimposition of death penalty). We are 
against death penalty," said Ossowksi in an interview Thursday night at the 
Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) anniversary in Makati.

Former Deputy Speaker Lorenzo "Erin" Tanada III, who espoused the bill to 
repeal the death penalty, expressed hopes that lawmakers will vote against the 
proposal to reimpose it.

"It's going to be a numbers game in Congress and those who voted for the repeal 
of death penalty in 2006 have been reelected and hopefully they will maintain 
their position and vote against its reimposition," said Tanada in an interview 
at the sidelines of the FNF event.

Jules Maaten, outgoing country director of FNF, said "state killing" through 
capital punishment sends a wrong signal "that every person can also commit 
killings."

(source: inquirer.net)