[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 17



SIERRA LEONE:

Sierra Leone to reintroduce death penalty as violent crimes spike


Sierra Leone's Minister of Internal Affairs has said the government would start 
implementing the death penalty to crack down on recent increase in gang-related 
killings in the country.

"We will kill when the state demands it," Palo Conteh said on Thursday. "I have 
called on the Director of Prisons to clean the gallows so that we will not be 
found wanting when the situation arises."

The gallows at the Male Correctional Center (Prisons) in Freetown have not been 
used since 1998 because President Koroma had put a moratorium on the death 
penalty, Conteh said.

"The death penalty is still in our law books and if any one is found guilty of 
murder we will not hesitate to enforce the law," he said.

Conteh pointed out that his ministry has instituted several methods to curb 
violence and the rampant killings in the country, in particular Freetown.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Leone police have started the "stop and search" raids in 
communities that are presumed to engage in violence activities. The ministry of 
internal affairs has also set up special units comprising Operational Support 
Division Officers together with detectives to go after thugs and cliques.

The minister also asked for the cooperation of the public with the police by 
informing them of any unusual activity in their community.

(source: Global Times)






KENYA:

Court Faults Penalty for Violent Robbery


The law stipulating the death sentence for robbery with violence is ambiguous, 
the High Court has ruled.

Judges Jessi Lesiit, Luka Kimaru and Stella Mutuku made the declaration 
Thursday in a suit in which 12 death row convicts had challenged the law that 
prescribes the death penalty for robbery with violence offenders.

The judges ruled that sections of the law do not meet the constitutional 
threshold of setting out precise and distinct differentiating degrees of 
aggravation of the offence of robbery and attempted robbery to adequately 
answer to charges as well as prepare a defence.

They argued that for one to be handed a death sentence, one has to defend 
oneself after the hearing before the final verdict is made in what is known as 
mitigation.

"Death sentence is not a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. However, it 
just cannot be meted to any person convicted of a capital offence," they said.

The judges pointed out that it was necessary for the mitigating circumstances 
to be considered so as to ensure the accused person's right is not violated in 
anyway and that there is a fair trial.

"If the court does not receive and consider mitigating factors and other 
statutory pre-sentencing requirements, it is not mandatory for the courts to 
pass a death sentence against persons charged with capital offences," they 
ruled.

In Kenya, offences with a death penalty, include robbery with violence and 
murder.

While noting that the verdict would consequently mean that several robbery with 
violence convicts would have to be set free, the judges temporarily suspended 
the decision for 18 months to enable the Attorney-General, the Kenya Law Reform 
and other relevant agencies to appropriately amend the impugned sections.

The court asked Parliament to take into consideration international good 
practices on sentencing so as to accord similar facts to similar charges of 
equal gravity.

But for those on death row after being convicted with the disputed sections of 
the law, the judges ruled that the AG with relevant authorities should find a 
remedy for the prejudice suffered and prescribe an appropriate solution in the 
same time frame.

Even though the verdict was in favour of the 12 filed the objection in 2013, 
after being handed the death sentence, the judges declined to grant a request 
to have their convictions looked again by the trial court.

They were all separately charged with offences of robbery with violence and 
attempted robbery.

With their petition, which challenged the death penalty as contrary to Bill of 
Rights, human rights and a right to a fair hearing, they first appeared before 
Justice Mohamed Warsame (now a Court of Appeal judge), who dismissed their 
suit.

The appellate court referred them back to the High Court to be heard on merit 
by a 3 - judge bench.

(source: Daily Nation)






ZIMBABWE:

Mnangagwa rekindles call for abolition of death penalty


Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday rekindled his call for the 
abolition of the death penalty, saying those insisting that it be maintained 
need divine intervention.

The Constitution bars capital punishment for women, but men aged below 21 and 
70 can be sentenced to death.

Addressing a constitutional advocacy meeting in Bulawayo, Mnangagwa said 
Zimbabweans must continue advocating for capital punishment to be struck off 
the country's statutes.

Mnangagwa has been at the forefront of the campaign against capital punishment 
after he faced the hangman's noose during the liberation struggle under the 
Rhodesian regime.

The push to abolish capital punishment is now at the Constitutional Court where 
Tendai Biti, who is representing death row inmates, seeks the court's 
intervention to drop the death penalty. The case will be heard at the 
Constitutional Court on September 28.

(source: bulawayo24.com)






NIGERIA:

21-yr-old barber remanded in prison for stabbing cousin to death


A 21-year-old barber has been remanded in jail for stabbing his cousin to death 
at their aunt's funeral.

The culprit, Ugbede Daniel, was remanded by a Lokoja Chief Magistrates' Court 
on Friday, September 16, for the death of the victim identified as Ebenezer 
Agada, aged 28.

According to the Chief Magistrate, Levi Animoku, Daniel's offence of culpable 
homicide contravened Section 221 of the Penal Code and attracts a death 
penalty.

Animoku added that the offence was not bailable, having Daniel remanded at the 
Federal Prisons, Ankpa.

The case has reportedly been transferred to Chief Magistrate Court in Ankpa, 
and adjourned till September 27 for mention.

The court heard that the crime was committed on Thursday, August 25, at 
Egahimotu-Ogugu in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Prosecutor, Sgt. Tuesday Ganagana, said that the complainant, Joseph Daniel, 
had made a report stating that a quarrel had ensued between the accused and the 
deceased during the burial of their aunt, Rose John, at about 9pm on that 
fateful day.

Daniel who was armed with a dagger at the time dragged the deceased to the 
front of the house before stabbing him in the chest.

Agada was left in the pool of his own blood before he was rushed to the General 
Hospital, Okpo, where he was confirmed dead.

According to Ganagana, further investigation into the matter is underway.

(source: pulse.ng)



IRAQ:

Iraq executes Palestinian youth


Iraqi authorities executed a Palestinian youth yesterday after accusing him of 
collaborating with armed groups in Iraq, the Palestinian Safa news agency 
reported today.

Ahmad Husni Shwahneh was arrested by Iraqi authorities almost a year ago and 
charged with working with militant factions. However, reports were unclear as 
to whether or not these groups were related to Daesh, nor what evidence Iraq 
had against the youth.

Shwahneh, who also holds Jordanian nationality and lived in the Hashemite 
Kingdom with his family, was executed by hanging. An Iraqi court authorised his 
execution which was carried out before his family were informed.

His family have stated that they will be conducting his funeral in Jordan, with 
his extended family from the West Bank town of Qalqilya holding a remembrance 
service.

Iraq is known for its controversial anti-terror laws that have been criticised 
as allowing politically motivated executions. Amnesty International recently 
reported that Iraqi prisoners were routinely subjected to torture in order to 
extract "confessions" leading to unfair trials.

(source: middleeastmonitor.com)






INDONESIA:

Indonesia awaiting Philippines case before execution ---- Attorney General says 
Filipina convicted of drug smuggling won???t be executed until legal process in 
Philippines concludes


Indonesia's attorney general reiterated Saturday that the possible execution of 
a Filipina convicted of drug smuggling would be held off until a legal process 
involving her alleged recruiters concludes in the Philippines.

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, a single mother of two, had been seeking work in 
Malaysia as a maid when she was arrested with 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her 
luggage at Yogyakarta airport, Java island, in April 2010.

She was due to be shot by firing squad in April 2015 with seven foreigners, but 
was granted a temporary reprieve after her alleged recruiter surrendered to 
Philippines police.

Indonesian Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said Saturday that his office 
would act according to a statement by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in 
which he expressed respect for the legal process in Indonesia earlier this 
month.

"It does not mean that they gave the green light [for execution] ... We are 
still waiting for the legal process in Manila," detik.com quoted Prasetyo as 
saying.

He insisted, however, that it was "not possible" for Jakarta to comply with 
Manila's request that Veloso be allowed to travel to testify as a victim in the 
human trafficking case due to her status as a convict in Indonesia.

He reiterated the offer that Philippines officials could meet with Veloso in an 
Indonesian prison, from where she could also provide testimony via 
teleconference.

"They [the Philippines] have to accept what is our rule just as we accept to 
follow the legal process there," Prasetyo stressed.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Migrant Workers' Network urged President Joko Widodo 
to call off the execution to some women suspected of being victims of human 
trafficking, including Veloso.

"Mary Jane is just a victim as well as dozens of Indonesian migrant women who 
are also being threatened with the death penalty abroad," its coordinator 
Sringatin, who like many Indonesians uses only 1 name, said in a statement 
Saturday.

"The decision to execute Mary Jane did not consider the fate of 209 Indonesian 
migrant workers [threatened with the death penalty], 63 of who are women who 
are awaiting execution abroad," she added.

Indonesia has some of the harshest anti-narcotic laws in the world. Widodo 
declared a "drug emergency" last year, on the grounds that such use reportedly 
kills around 40-50 people in the country daily.

In late July, Indonesia executed 1 national and 3 foreigners convicted of drug 
smuggling.

Last year's executions were heavily criticized by the international community, 
with some countries -- whose nationals had been put to death -- withdrawing 
ambassadors from Jakarta.

(source: worldbulletin.net)






INDIA:

'Will take steps to ensure death penalty for the culprit'


A day after the Supreme Court refused to confirm capital punishment to 
Govindachamy in the Soumya rape and murder case, the state government on Friday 
assured that it would take all steps to ensure that he gets the death penalty.

Law minister A K Balan said that rape, robbery, violence and injury all have 
been proven in the case. The only point of contention is over the killing of 
Soumya and whether the killing was intentional, he said. "There's no doubt on 
what has led to the killing of Soumya. Now the government is committed to 
proving this before the court,'' he said.

Balan said he was holding discussions with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and 
advocate general Sudhakara Prasad on the need for changing the state's counsel 
in the apex court. The government is also debating whether to submit a 
rectification petition or a review petition.

. The law minister who reached New Delhi on Friday said the government has 
decided to seek opinion from the best available legal experts in the country 
before submitting the petition in the Supreme Court. There will be no delay in 
submitting the petition, he added.

"The minister, however, ruled out reports that the CPM stand on capital 
punishment was causing a hindrance in this case. "This should not be clubbed 
with cases in which the LDF has been against capital punishment. In this, we 
are committed to getting capital punishment to the accused," he said.

Meanwhile, former chief minister V S Achuthanandan said that the CPM is against 
capital punishment. But it was natural that public sentiments will be aroused 
in cases like the Soumya murder cases and these should be treated as a form of 
protest by the people, he added.

(source: The Times of India)

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

Supreme Court sets aside death penalty in MP girl murder----The court handed 
out a jail term of at least 25 years, stating that although the crime could not 
qualify as 'rarest of rare', the convict did not deserve to be given any chance 
to be released.


The Supreme Court Friday set aside the death penalty of a man convicted of 
murdering a 7-year-old girl after attempting to rape her. The court, however, 
handed out a jail term of at least 25 years, stating that although the crime 
could not qualify as 'rarest of rare', the convict did not deserve to be given 
any chance to be released on remission after 14 years.

Tattu Lodhi was sentenced to death by a trial court in Jabalpur in Madhya 
Pradesh for killing the girl in 2011. The High Court had later upheld the 
punishment.

"Considering the fact that the ... helpless child fell victim of the crime of 
lust at the hands of the appellant and there may be probabilities of such crime 
being repeated in case the appellant is allowed to come out of the prison on 
completing usual period of imprisonment for life ... we are of the view that he 
should be inflicted with imprisonment for life with a further direction that he 
shall not be released from prison till he completes actual period of 25 years 
of imprisonment," said a bench led by Justice J Chelameswar.

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

Surat hooch tragedy: 3 held, police register 4 FIRs----Gujarat ATS has invoked 
Section 65 (A) of Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Act, which stipulates 
maximum death penalty on conviction, against all the 3 persons arrested


Gujarat ATS Friday arrested 3 persons in connection with the hooch tragedy in 
which at least 23 persons were killed in Vareli village of Surat. Notably, the 
probe agency has invoked Section 65 (A) of Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat 
Amendment) Act, which stipulates maximum death penalty on conviction, against 
all the three persons.

Police said this was for the 1st time that they had to invoke Section 65 (A) in 
a case of hooch tragedy after it was first introduced in 2009 by Gujarat 
government, in the wake of Ahmedabad hooch tragedy, by an Amendment Bill. 
Nearly 160 persons were killed in Ahmedabad hooch tragedy.

The 3 arrested have been identified as Ramu Yadav, Kailash Tiwari and Manoj 
Verma. While Yadav is a native of Uttar Pradesh and a resident of Vareli 
village, Tiwari is a resident of Mumbai and Verma lives in Ahmedabad. With 
these arrests, the total number of arrests in the case has reached 10. Surat 
police have registered 4 FIRs.

Yadav has been named as the main accused in the case by ATS, said Gujarat ATS 
officer IPS Himanshu Shukla. Police claim that Yadav was making hooch with 
methanol and selling it to bootleggers in Surat city and district while Tiwari 
and Verma were tanker drivers working with Amit Roadlines, a transport firm in 
Mumbai. Yadav was earlier involved in bootlegging activities.

Police said that methanol, loaded in tankers, was on its way from a firm in 
Mumbai and was likely to be delivered to another firm in Bharuch.

Yadav used to purchase methanol from them and mix it with spurious liquor and 
sell it to bootleggers, police said. Shukla said, "Today, we have made 3 
arrests and in future as the investigation progresses, we will arrest more 
people. We have seized methanol barrels from them and have sent them to FSL for 
lab analysis." He added: "We are also probing whether (other) employees of both 
firms in Mumbai and Bharuch are involved in this racket. We will question the 
company officials and if they are involved, we will take strict action against 
them."

(source for both: indianexpress.com)






PAKISTAN:

Prosecutor to seek death penalty in Samia Shahid 'honour killing'----Samia's 
ex-husband confessed to strangling her, but her father 'denies' any 
involvement.


The prosecutor in the murder of a British woman Samia Shahid will seek the 
death penalty for her father and ex-husband. Samia's father Chaudhry Muhammad 
Shahid and her first husband Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel are accused of killing 
the 28-year-old from Bradford while on a visit to Pakistan.

The pair appeared in court in Jhelum in Pakistan's northern Punjab province on 
Saturday (17 September), but it was a brief hearing after prosecutor Najful 
Hussain Shah applied for more time to gather evidence.

He said Samia's mother and sister tricked her into visiting Pakistan in July by 
saying her father was gravely ill and that the women fled to Britain after her 
murder, according to AP reports.

Shah added that the Pakistani government is trying to bring them back for 
questioning.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, he also confirmed he will seek the 
death penalty for both men.

When Samia died on 27 July, her family declared she died of a heart attack and 
buried her in eastern Pakistan.

However , when her second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim suspected it was an 
"honour killing" following their marriage, he urged Pakistani authorities to 
investigate and publicly accused Samia's family of being responsible for her 
death.

A Pakistani police investigation concluded that Samia's father stood guard 
while Shakeel raped her, before the two men strangled her to death. A 
post-mortem examination confirmed she died from strangulation.

Police sources in Pakistan claim Shakeel admitted the murder in an interview 
saying, "I strangled Samia to death using a dupatta [a scarf]."

Both men are yet to enter pleas however, BBC Pakistan correspondent Shaimaa 
Khalil said Shahid "flatly denied" any involvement in his daughter's death as 
he entered court on Saturday (17 September).

"For the 1st time since his arrest, Muhammad Shahid responded to media 
questions about her death," Khalil said, according to the BBC. "He said, 'It 
was all lies' and that he loved his daughter very much."

(source: ibtimes.co.uk)

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

UK woman's murder case delayed in Pakistan


A Pakistani court has adjourned the case of a British-Pakistani woman's murder 
until September 23 to give police more time to submit charges against her 
father and ex-husband, who are accused of slaying her in the name of honour, 
police and lawyers say.

Police brought both men before the court in Jhelum as they covered their faces 
and did not respond to questions from journalists.

After the brief hearing on Saturday, Najful Hussain Shah, the lawyer for the 
deceased woman's husband, told reporters that he will seek the death penalty 
for 28-year-old Samia Shahid's father, Mohammed Shahid, and ex-husband, 
Mohammed Shakeel.

He said Shahid's mother and sister tricked her into visiting Pakistan in July 
by saying her father was gravely ill and that the women fled to Britain after 
her murder. He said the Pakistani government is trying to bring them back for 
questioning.

Also on Saturday, defence lawyer Mohammed Arif dismissed the police allegations 
as baseless, saying his clients have been wrongly accused. He said he will 
appeal another court's recent rejection of bail for Mohammed Shahid.

Shahid's murder has shocked many Pakistanis since a government-ordered police 
probe concluded that she was strangled by her father and her ex-husband. Police 
allege that the father also stood guard while the ex-husband raped her.

The woman's father initially informed police that she died of natural causes. 
But Shahid's second husband, Mukhtar Kazim, publicly accused her family of 
killing her.

The case was reopened and a police probe quickly concluded that Shahid's death 
was a "premeditated, cold-blooded murder", according to a police statement.

Shahid married her 1st husband in February 2012 but stayed only briefly in 
Pakistan before returning to England where she obtained a divorce 2 years 
later. She later married Kazim and moved with him to Dubai.

(source: Associated Press)