[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 7



AUSTRALIA:

Government urged to end silence on death penalty report


The time has come for the federal government to follow through on 
recommendations made in 2016 by a major parliamentary report on the death 
penalty, the Law Council of Australia has said.

The Law Council of Australia (LCA) has used the 50th anniversary of the last 
execution to take place in Australia to press the government to respond to 
recommendations on the death penalty published in a major parliamentary report 
in May last year.

At the time of its publication, the report A world without the death penalty 
received support from both sides of government.

LCA president Fiona McLeod SC said Australia must continue to show leadership 
as an "outstanding advocate against the death penalty". She noted that six 
Australian nationals have been executed overseas since Australia's own 
abolition of the practice. Victorian Ronald Ryan was the last person to be 
hanged in Australia, on 3 February 1967.

"The Law Council will continue to strongly and consistently argue that no 
person, anywhere in the world, should ever be subjected to the death penalty," 
Ms McLeod said.

"This is irrespective of their nationality, personal characteristics, the 
nature of the crime of which they have been convicted, or the time and place of 
its alleged commission.

"The death penalty is a breach of the most fundamental human right: the right 
to life," she said.

Urging the government to finally respond to the report, the LCA underscored two 
key recommendations as key priorities: a new strategy for the global abolition 
of the death penalty and strengthened guidelines for the Australian Federal 
Police (AFP).

According to Ms McLeod, the Australian government has an important role to play 
in speaking out against capital punishment in the Asia-Pacific region and the 
world. Implementing a new strategy for the global abolition of the death 
penalty will "add structure and ballast to Australia's abolitionist position", 
she said.

The report recommends that Australia contributes to the development, funding 
and implementation of this new strategy for the abolition of the death penalty. 
With 56 nations around the world retaining capital punishment as a legal 
penalty, the proposed strategy would focus on the USA and countries in the 
Indo-Pacific.

"We urge [the government] to continue to take the lead and adopt the 
recommendations of the report, to ensure Australia has a consistent position in 
its international engagement," Ms McLeod said.

Ms McLeod made her appeal at a symposium hosted by the LCA at Monash University 
last week. The event discussed Australia???s contribution to the abolition of 
the death penalty and featured special guest speakers including Special Envoy 
for Human Rights Philip Ruddock, shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus QC and 
Liberal MP Tim Wilson.

(source: lawyersweekly.com.au)






THAILAND:

Antonio Bagnato gets death penalty for murder of alleged Hells Angels drug 
kingpin Wayne Schneider in Thailand


A Thai court has sentenced an Australian man to death for the kidnapping and 
murder of a Hells Angels member alleged to have been a major drug trafficker.

Antonio Bagnato, 28, was found guilty of murder, deprivation of liberty and 
disposing of a body.

In December 2015, former Hells Angels member Wayne Schneider was abducted from 
outside his home by 5 men and later found buried with a broken neck and facial 
injuries consistent with a severe beating.

The judge said the killing was premeditated, with GPS from the getaway car, DNA 
from the crime scene and witness testimonies all connecting Bagnato to the 
crimes.

"The first defendant [Bagnato] is found guilty of all charges and according to 
the criminal code, the penalty is execution for the murder and deprivation of 
liberty, plus a year in prison for hiding the body," Judge Sirichai Polkarn at 
the Pattaya Provincial Court said.

The court room was packed with representatives of all parties.

"We've got hearts and they're hurting right now," a relative of Bagnato said, 
calling the verdict "ridiculous".

The judge said DNA evidence also placed 22-year old American man Tyler Gerard 
at the scene of the abduction.

Gerard received a 3-year sentence for deprivation of liberty that was reduced 
to two years for his cooperation with the investigation.

The sentence includes time already served in pre-trial detention, meaning he 
could be free before the end of the year.

Gerard's parents said they were relieved at the verdict.

"[Tyler's] words were, 'Calm down mum, pray for the other people in this 
room'," Tracy Gerard told the ABC.

Assault rifles, knuckledusters found in Bagnato properties

Schneider was abducted from outside his luxury villa in Pattaya, Thailand in 
December 2015 by 5 men.

Melbourne underworld figure and former president of the Comancheros motorcycle 
gang Amad "Jay" Malkhoun was inside the house and told police he slept through 
the attack.

At a hearing in November, 2 security guards at Schneider's residential complex 
identified Bagnato as being involved in the kidnapping.

"I saw the defendant trying to push Wayne's legs into the cabin of the pick-up 
truck," Supan Pitakpong said.

Police tracked a GPS device fitted to the rented car used in the kidnapping.

Crime scene photos published in Thai media showed a bullet casing, an 
extendable baton rope and blood on the street where Schneider was abducted.

A search of properties rented by Bagnato found 2 assault rifles, 2 handguns, 
tasers and knuckledusters.

Baganto fled to Cambodia and was arrested in Phnom Penh 5 days later.

His version of events differed markedly to that given by co-accused Gerard and 
Australian Luke Cook, who was convicted last year of aiding a fugitive.

He told the court he left Schneider's house and spent the night with a Thai 
dancer from Pattaya's infamously sleazy Walking Street.

The judge said his alibi was not credible.

Bagnato told the court he was "scared" after Schneider's death and tried to get 
consular advice in Bangkok, but the Australian embassy was closed.

His account of getting a taxi and bus to Cambodia contradicted the court's 
previous ruling that Cook drove Bagnato, his wife and child to the border.

The whereabouts of the other 3 people involved in the abduction is unknown, 
although it is believed at least one man has returned to Australia.

Bagnato reportedly member of secretive fight club

Bagnato was a member of the Saint Michael Christian Brothers Fight Club - a 
secretive organisation that ran fight nights and required members to swear an 
oath of allegiance, according to Fairfax newspapers.

Australian police had a warrant for his arrest in relation to the murder of 
Bradley Dillion in Sydney in 2014.

Bagnato arrived in Thailand 2 days after Dillion's murder.

He told the Thai court in November he earned about $11,000 a month training 
Muay Thai fighters in Pattaya.

Thai police told the ABC both men were on a watchlist for drugs and money 
laundering in Australia.

Thailand is a key transit country for organised crime syndicates - including 
various Australian bikie gangs - smuggling methamphetamine and heroin from the 
"Golden Triangle" to lucrative markets including Australia.

"It's a picture of a superhighway," Narcotics Suppression Bureau Chief Police 
Lieutenant General Sommai Kongwisaisuk told The Bangkok Post newspaper.

(source: abc.net.au)






PHILIPPINES:

Pacquiao: Death penalty for drug traffickers


Sen. Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao on Tuesday called for the reimposition of the 
death penalty anew saying a it should focus on drug trafficking violations.

For Pacquiao, drug traffickers deserve death penalty because he considers their 
acts heinous crimes.

The senator said he filed Senate Bill 185 or the "Act to impose the death 
penalty and increase the penalty on certain dangerous crimes, amending for that 
purpose other special penal laws and for other purposes" because the country is 
facing immense challenges from trafficking and drug abuse.

He said these crimes have created an emergency situation that now merits urgent 
action.

"On a personal level, I can forgive. However, the heinous crime of drug 
trafficking is committed not just against a person but against the nation. Drug 
traffickers deserve death penalty," he said in his opening statement at the 
Senate hearing into proposals to revive the death penalty.

Pacquiao authored three separate death penalty bills on heinous crimes 
involving dangerous drugs, kidnapping and aggravated rape. He however said the 
death penalty must focus on drug trafficking because he believes combining it 
with other crimes will complicate the definition of heinous crime.

He said a separate death penalty bill will be unburdened by the lengthy 
consideration of other offenses. Pacquiao added that the Senate cannot allow 
the compelling nature of imposing death penalty on drug trafficking to be 
weighed down by less compelling reasons for other offenses.<>P> "It is more 
beneficial and practicable if we do it on a per crime basis and not bundle it 
with other crimes...To bundle it with other crimes will dilute arguments and 
complicate definitions in determining whether a particular crime is heinous or 
not because offensive acts may be of different characters,"

Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao cited a Dangerous Drugs Board statement in 2011 that 80 % of crimes 
are drug-related. A Reuters report in October 2016 said that government 
officials "could not say where the data came from to back up" that particular 
claim.

Pacquiao then enumerated some related new headlines to back his claims.

It can be recalled that Pacquiao visited the Filipina death-row inmate Mary 
Jane Veloso in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to show support for her in July 2015. 
Veloso was convicted of drug trafficking but was granted a last-minute 
temporary reprieve.

During the proclamation of elected senators last May, Pacquiao already said he 
favors the return of the death penalty saying capital punishment is actually 
based on the Bible.

(source: Philippine Star)

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

'Only 7 executed' after death penalty reimposed in 1998 - DOJ


The death penalty was not given an opportunity to be enforced properly after 
only 7 executions were carried out after capital punishment was reimposed in 
1998, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Speaking before the Senate, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony 
Fadullon reiterated the justice department's support for the restoration of 
death penalty for heinous crimes.

"We would like to reiterate the support for the proposed bills for the 
restoration of death penalty for heinous crimes and that this department has 
not interposed any Constitutional or legal objections thereto," he said.

"It was not given an opportunity to be actually enforced properly, it was not 
given an opportunity to see whether the effects would be one of deterrence or 
not," he added.

Fadullon rejected arguments that the death penalty is not a deterrent to 
heinous crimes and denies due process for suspected criminals. Court trials for 
heinous crimes, he said, guarantee rights of the accused and go through many 
levels of appeal.

He added that "only 7" executions occurred after death penalty was reimposed in 
the country in 1998.

The Senate committee on justice is deliberating on 6 bills seeking capital 
punishment. 3 bills were filed by Senator Manny Pacquiao, while the 3 others 
were filed separately by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Senator 
Panfilo Lacson and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

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

Death penalty revival to violate int'l pact - rights crusaders


The Philippine government will violate an international agreement if it 
restores the death penalty, human rights watchdogs warned Tuesday as senators 
deliberated on bills seeking the return of capital punishment.

Commission on Human Rights commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit pointed out that 
Manila had ratified the second optional protocol to the International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which "prescribes a progressive 
obligation among nations to abolish death penalty and prevent its 
reimposition."

The treaty also mandates that, "No one within the jurisdiction of a state-party 
to the present protocol shall be executed," Dumpit said.

Lawyer Romeo Cabarde of Amnesty International also noted that the Philippines 
may not back out of the pact as "it does not allow an opt-out provision."

A representative of the justice department, however, argued that while the 
Philippines must honor its international commitments, government must also base 
its policies on local affairs.

"Yes, we believe that we have international commitments. But we also believe 
that we have a responsibility to our countrymen and that is something that we 
should also look into very carefully rather than close our eyes to what is 
happening in our country," said Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony 
Fadullon.

Senator Bam Aquino urged fellow lawmakers to confer with foreign affairs 
officials regarding the international treaties in the next hearing regarding 
death penalty reinstatement.

(source for both: abs-cbn.com)

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

Drilon: Death penalty debate faces difficulty in Senate


It's an uphill fight for death penalty in the Senate, Senate President 
Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon said on Tuesday right before the Senate 
deliberations on the controversial bill.

"It will have an extreme difficulty in the Senate. I will not be surprised if 
it fails," Drilon told CNN Philippines The Source.

"We will give it priority as we are giving it today, but I don't think anyone 
will assure passage," he added.

Drilon said "a heated debate" can be expected as the Senate opens its first 
committee hearing on the death penalty on Tuesday.

Although the death penalty bill enjoys support in the House of Representatives, 
support for it is more muted in the Senate.

Drilon estimated that 10 senators are opposed to the bill. In order to pass 
Senate, the measure for death penalty needs at least 13 out of 24 votes.

Among those opposed to the death penalty are Senators Richard Gordon, Francis 
"Kiko" Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, Leila De Lima, Ralph Recto, 
Francis "Chiz" Escudero, and Antonio Trillanes IV. Those championing the bill 
are Senators Manny Pacquiao and Tito Sotto.

Drilon identified the "defective justice system" as his primary reason for 
opposition to the bill.

"If we have a death penalty, an error cannot be corrected anymore," said 
Drilon. "Many of the issues that we hear today can be traced to a large extent 
to our failure to properly implement our system of justice."

(source: cnnphilippines.com)






PAKISTAN:

Pakistani Christian Bailed At Last - After 3 Years Facing Death Penalty For 
Insulting Islam


A Pakistani Christian has been bailed after more than 3 years in prison without 
being brough to trial or convicted.

Adnan Prince, 29, from Lahore, was initially jailed in November 2013 after 
being accused of blasphemy and insulting Islam, the Quran and the Prophet 
Muhammad, which carries the death sentence.

Despite no successful conviction being made, delaying tactics by the 
prosecution and lawyers' strikes meant Prince was detained for more than 3 
years before finally granted bail against a bond worth $3,000, according to 
World Watch Monitor.

Asma Jahangir, Prince's lead counsel, said forensic evidence had failed to link 
the accused with his alleged offences and she was confident he could be freed 
soon.

He was accused of blasphemy on October 7, 2013.

Prince had been working at a diamond glass shop in Lahore when he was spotted 
reading a controversial book by Islamic fundamentalist Maulana Ameer Hamza, 
leader of Jamat-ud-Dawa, a political arm of the jihadi organisation 
Lashkar-e-Taiba which claimed responsibility for the Mumbai bombings.

He was spotted reading the book, I asked the Bible why the Qurans were set on 
fire, by his Muslim colleague who took offence and reported him for blasphemy, 
claiming Prince had "marked several pages... with abusive words against the 
Prophet of Islam".

On hearing of his accusation and the severity of the punishment if convicted, 
Prince fled. But his brother, mother, aunt and uncle were arrested in his place 
and told they would not be released until he returned.

So on November 6 Prince handed himself in to the police station where he says 
he was tortured repeatedly.

"The police were on the verge of killing me after I surrendered to them, but 
God kept me safe by His grace," he said according to WWM.

"When I came to my senses [after 1 round of torture], I was told that a heavy 
machine would be rolled over my thighs, which would not only be painful but 
would render me permanently impotent.

"Then the deputy superintendent of police pushed the barrel of a pistol into my 
mouth and told me to confess that I had written abusive words in the book. He 
said he would count to 3 and that if I didn't confess, he would pull the 
trigger."

On one occasion he was told he was free to go.

"But I knew they were lying and would shoot me from behind if I left," he said. 
"I told them that if you want to shoot me, then shoot me in the chest and not 
in the back. They stopped torturing me when they felt they would not be able to 
shake my resolve."

While in prison he was kept separate from other prisoners for fear of attacks.

Similar cases have been known to take as long as 7 years to reach trial.

The most famous ongoing 'blasphemy charge' case is that of Asia Bibi, who was 
sentenced to death for insulting Islam in 2009 and still remains in jail, 
awaiting her appeal.

(source: Christian Today)