[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 14



KUWAIT:

Kuwait reduces juvenile age, warning students


Kuwaiti teenage students have been warned that they could face the death 
penalty or heavy prison terms for certain crimes following the decision to 
lower the juvenile age from 18 to 16 in January.

"Starting next year, anyone aged 16 or more arrested for a crime will be tried 
by a regular court, and not the juvenile court, which means the death penalty 
for some crimes," Bader Al Ghadhoori, the head of juvenile protection at the 
Ministry of Interior, said.

"Everybody, especially the students and their parents should be extremely 
careful about the significance of the change in the application of the law," he 
told students at a forum about the risks of misusing social media.

Under the current juvenile law, criminal penalties are applied to people who 
are 18 years and above, while special penalties are applied to those under 18.

Al Ghadhoori highlighted the importance of surfing websites and using social 
media, but warned against their negative aspects.

"Online sites are double-edged for they can offer great opportunities as well 
as ominous risks. The problem is not so much with the sites as with the one 
surfing or using them," he said, quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas on Thursday.

The official said that the most dangerous risks related to online sites were 
disturbances, strikes, demonstrations, mass absenteeism by students, sit-ins, 
underground organisations, terrorist and drug trafficking groups, alcohol, sex 
tourism, prostitution and organized crime.

Some websites work on undermining relations with brotherly and friendly 
countries, incite attacks on leaders, presidents and iconic religious figures 
and symbols, provoke sectarian and tribal feuds, ridicule and deride others, 
and spread rumours, Al Ghadhoori added.

"People should truly fear God and abide by the laws and regulations as several 
families and societies have been suffering from the negative impact of 
destructive websites," he said.

Kuwait's parliament last year approved a new law for delinquent juveniles that 
lowered the age of minors from 18 to 16 years.

The approval by 37 lawmakers and opposed by 7, was in line with the drive by 
the authorities curb a sharp increase in the crime rate following calls by some 
MPs to take a tougher stance in order to protect teenagers.

The lawmakers who called for a lower juvenile age had warned that terrorist 
groups were working on recruiting young people and argued that strict measures 
were needed to foil their plans.

However, several activists said that the new juvenile age as approved by the 
parliament last year would be a violation of the teenagers' rights.

They said that young people should not be treated like adults and that a better 
option could be to slightly toughen their sentences.

(source: zawya.com)






KENYA:

Form firing squads to take care of death penalty, says police boss


Embu West Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Francis Sang has called on 
the government to maintain the death sentence.

Sang has called for the formation of a firing squad to execute those found 
guilty of committing capital offences.

Speaking on Friday in Embu during the Power and Advisory Committee meeting with 
locals in the area, Sang said it would only be fair to subject capital offence 
victims to pain just as they did to their victims.

"All capital offence suspects should be subjected to the same pain they subject 
to their victims. That is why the death penalty should be maintained and a 
firing squad formed to execute those found guilty of capital offences," said 
Sang.

The Power and Mercy Advisory Committee was in Embu to seek the views of the 
people on whether to maintain the death penalty.

Most in mates sentenced to death are serving life sentences, their fate lying 
with the views collected from the public.

(source: hivisasa.com)





INDONESIA:

Drug smugglers lose final death sentence appeal in Indonesia


The Supreme Court of Indonesia on Friday upheld the death sentence against 
three Taiwanese men who were convicted last year of smuggling drugs into the 
country.

In its ruling, the court said the crime committed by the 3 defendants would 
cause great harm to Indonesians, particularly young people.

Chen Chia-wei, Wang An-kang and Luo Chih-cheng, therefore, deserve capital 
punishment, the court ruled in its 2nd trial of the case.

According to the court documents, the three men were arrested at Jakarta 
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2014 while attempting to smuggle 2 
kilograms of amphetamine into the country from Hong Kong.

They were sentenced to death by a Jakarta district court last year but the 
sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment in an appeal to the High 
Court.

Prosecutors, however, appealed the High Court ruling and in January the Supreme 
Court sentenced the defendants to death.

The 3 defendants then filed an extraordinary appeal that was turned down Friday 
by the Supreme Court.

They are the 1st Taiwanese nationals to be sentenced to death in Indonesia for 
drug smuggling since that country's President Joko Widodo, popularly known as 
Jokowi, took office 2 years ago.

Jokowi has taken strict measures to crack down on drug-related crimes, saying 
that drugs are destructive to young Indonesians and advocating the death 
penalty for convicted drug dealers.

The Indonesian government will show no mercy to anyone convicted of drug 
crimes, he said.

In August, a district court in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta sentenced 4 
other Taiwanese to death for possession of 26 kg of amphetamine but they have 
since appealed the verdict.

Currently, some 30 Taiwanese nationals convicted of drug-related crimes are 
behind bars in Jakarta and Central Java, according to Indonesian authorities.

(source: chinapost.com)






SINGAPORE----impending execution

Halt imminent execution of Nigerian man convicted of drug-related crimes


The Singapore government must grant clemency to a Nigerian man set to be 
executed for drug trafficking next week, Amnesty International said.

Chijioke Stephen Obioha will be hanged on 18 November unless President Tony Tan 
commutes his death sentence, which was imposed as the mandatory punishment for 
trafficking.

"Singapore is a week away from brutally ending the life of Chijioke Stephen 
Obioha for a crime that international law and standards make clear should not 
be punished by death," said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International's Campaigns 
Director for Southeast Asia.

"Time is running out for President Tan to step in and prevent this ultimate 
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment from being carried out. He must use his 
power to grant clemency before it is too late."

Chijioke Stephen Obioha was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of 
cannabis in April 2007, surpassing the amount of 500 grams that triggers the 
the automatic presumption of trafficking under Singapore law.

Under Singaporean law, when there is a presumption of drug possession and 
trafficking, the burden of proof shifts from the prosecutor to the defendant. 
This violates the right to a fair trial by turning the presumption of innocence 
on its head.

Drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of the "most serious crimes" to 
which the use of the death penalty must be restricted under international law. 
International law also prohibits the imposition of the death penalty as a 
mandatory punishment. Amnesty International opposes the use of the death 
penalty outright, regardless of the type of crime.

"The death penalty is unacceptable under any circumstances, but the fact that 
the defendant's right to a fair trial, in particular his right to be presumed 
innocent until proven guilty, have been violated makes this case especially 
distressing," said Josef Benedict.

"It is a reminder of the pressing need for Singapore to immediately re-impose 
an official moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death 
penalty, and commute all existing death sentences."

Chijioke's family members, who live in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, have 
been unable to travel to visit him in Singapore and have had limited ability to 
assist him.

Throughout the proceedings, they have received sporadic and often delayed 
updates, including when a legal representative was removed from the case.

Chijoke's brother Anthony described his sibling as "hard-working and educated" 
and told Amnesty International it was an "unforgettable shock for the family" 
to learn of his arrest.

"A lot of financial and physical effort has been made by our family towards his 
defence but due to lack of funds restricting our access to Singapore, it was 
difficult to carry on with his desire towards [hiring] a defence lawyer [of his 
choice]," Anthony Chijioke said.

"He had a lot of government-appointed defence counsellors but he wasn't 
satisfied with their efforts, and the family were not satisfied with their 
level of communication with us. We were kept in the dark for a very long 
while."

Background

Chijioke Stephen Obioha's appeal against his conviction and sentence was 
rejected in August 2010.

After the rejection of his clemency appeal in April 2015, his execution was set 
for 15 May 2015, but was stayed a day earlier to allow him to apply for 
resentencing.

His family was only informed on 25 October 2016 that he had withdrawn his 
application for resentencing earlier in the year, following legal advice that 
he would not qualify.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal lifted the stay of execution, which is now 
set for 18 November.

Chijioke Stephen Obioha has appealed once again for clemency from the 
President, the only person with the power to commute his death sentence.

As of today 103 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and 
141 are abolitionist in law or practice.

(source: Amnesty International)






PAKISTAN:

Pakistan to review death sentence of mentally ill prisoner


Pakistan's Supreme Court will rehear the death penalty case of a severely 
mentally ill man today.

Imdad Ali was due to be hanged on 2 November until the Supreme Court issued a 
stay just days before he would have gone to the gallows.

Mr Ali has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Recent prison medical 
assessments described Mr Ali as "insane", and concluded that his is "a 
treatment-resistant case." The execution of mentally ill people is illegal 
under Pakistani and international law.

The Supreme Court had previously cleared the way for Mr Ali's execution, saying 
controversially that schizophrenia was 'not a mental illness'. However, on 31 
October the Supreme Court postponed Mr Ali's hanging after a fresh petition 
from his lawyers, and following an intervention in support of Mr Ali from the 
government of Punjab province, where he is held.

The Punjab government's review petition said that the Supreme Court's 
definition of schizophrenia "has resulted in a grave miscarriage of justice", 
because it was contrary to the universally accepted medical definition of 
'mental disorder'. It stated that prison medical records showed Mr Ali had 
"consistently displayed symptoms of schizophrenia" and "is not showing signs of 
improvement and has active psychotic symptoms".

Maya Foa, a director at human rights organization Reprieve, which is assisting 
Imdad Ali, said: "Pakistan's Supreme Court has a golden opportunity to revise 
its decision and clarify that not only is schizophrenia a serious mental 
illness, but also that prisoners with illnesses this severe cannot be executed. 
It is universally accepted that the execution of a prisoner as mentally ill as 
Imdad serves no moral purpose and is contrary to international law. This 
exceptional case has drawn attention from around the world. It is now hoped the 
Court will confirm that international and Pakistani law do not permit the 
execution of this severely mentally ill man."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)