[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 27




PAKISTAN:

Executing juveniles


Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world that continues to mercilessly 
execute prisoners for crimes committed when they were juveniles even though it 
has passed laws banning it. The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 
explicitly states that no child shall be awarded punishment of death while 
Pakistan has also ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which forbid 
capital punishment for juveniles. Yet, according to a report from the Justice 
Project Pakistan, about 10 % - or 800 persons - of the death row population is 
made up of juvenile offenders. Since 2015, when that eerie pre-dawn walk to the 
gallows began once again, at least 6 persons who were juveniles at the time of 
the crime they were found guilty of having committed have been hanged. The 
youngest amongst them was only 14 when accused of murder. In the case of Aftab 
Bahadur, to whom the report is dedicated, the boy convicted at the age of 14 of 
murder spent 24 years in jail before he was hanged while the man who had 
testified against him stood outside the police gates crying and screaming that 
his testimony had been extracted through coercion.

The reason we continue to execute juvenile offenders is because, at least in 
practice, the state has decided that the Juvenile System Ordinance does not 
extend to anti-terrorism courts. Since anti-terrorism courts now hear all 
manner of cases unrelated to terrorism, this is used as a loophole to execute 
juvenile offenders. In addition, the courts put the burden of proof on 
establishing their age on the defendants themselves. According to the JPP, the 
courts do not even accept Nadra-issued identification documents as they are 
said to be unreliable. But the onus should then be on the state to ascertain 
the correct age of a defendant rather than forcing the defendants themselves, 
who are usually poor and uneducated, to prove it. The courts could also order 
bone density test - which has a margin of error of 2 years - to better 
determine age, with the benefit of the doubt given to the defendant. More than 
anything else, we need to change how we think of juvenile offenders. 
Incarceration should be used sparingly and where it is deemed necessary, the 
focus should be on reform, not punishment. The children who are sent to prison 
need to be given an education, taught necessary life skills and given access to 
counselling. And they should never be kept in the same prison as adults, as 
happens regularly in Pakistan. In prison, children are more vulnerable to 
torture, rape and beatings, and are likely to be far more damaged when they are 
released from prison than when they first entered it. That this happens so 
often is an indictment of Pakistan's justice system and highlights the dangers 
of using the death penalty so frequently in a situation where there is no 
guarantee that persons will receive the justice due to them under the law.

(source: thenews.com.pk)






QATAR:

Verdict in Lauren Patterson murder case expected next month


The fate of a man facing the death penalty for killing a teacher in Qatar will 
be decided on March 27, a local court has said.

The verdict date was set yesterday after closing arguments were heard in the 
retrial of Badr Hashim Al-Jabr.

He was first convicted of killing Lauren Patterson in 2014. During that trial, 
he had been accused of having sex outside of marriage with the British expat 
and stabbing her to death.

Qatar's Court of Appeal upheld the lower court's verdict in 2015.

However, last year, the ruling was vacated by the Court of Cassation, which 
ordered a new trial.

'Closer to the end'

Speaking to Doha News this week, mother Alison Patterson said "justice for 
Lauren (is) hopefully getting closer."

She added that her family's lawyer spoke passionately during yesterday's 
hearing.

The attorney called her daughter's murder the ???worst crime ever committed in 
Qatar," and urged the court to follow the evidence when making its decision.

Patterson, 24, was last seen alive leaving a La Cigale nightclub in October 
2013 with Al-Jabar and his friend, Mohamed Abdallah Hassan Abdul Aziz.

Her burned remains were found hours later in the desert, along with the murder 
weapon, a knife.

Relying on investigation results and confessions from the men, a Qatar 
prosecutor previously told the court that Al-Jabar took Patterson to a home he 
used for sexual trysts with women.

He then "conquered her body," and killed her by stabbing her twice.

Questionable confession?

Abdul Aziz has served a 3-year sentence for his role in the killing, and was 
released.

For its part, the defense had maintained that Patterson's death had been an 
accident, and asserted that confessions obtained from the 2 men on trial were 
coerced.

Back in 2014, the court said the death penalty would be carried out by either 
hanging or shooting.

Notably, while the death penalty is still being handed out in Qatari courts, 
this sentence has not been carried out in the country for over a decade.

(source: dohanews.com)






UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Dubai court upholds death sentence of Obaida killer


He will also be required to pay Dh21,000 to the aggrieved family

The judicial hearings in the case against a 49 year-old Jordanian man accused 
of killing and sexually assaulting Obaida - an 8-year-old boy, came to an end 
on Monday with the Dubai top court upholding the death sentence given by the 2 
lower courts.

With the verdict being confirmed by the Court of Cassation, it is now 
irrevocable.

In an earlier hearing, Ali Musabeh, who is representing the defendant - Nidal 
Eissa Abdullah, argued in his memo that the report of the committee of 
psychiatrists that mentally evaluated his client was not clear, satisfying or 
complete in diagnosing his client's anti-social character and showing how his 
condition was affected by his alcohol addiction.

Musabeh pleaded earlier for the Court of Appeals to exert leniency towards his 
client on the grounds he was showing regret over what he did. He said his 
client was under the influence of alcohol and could not recall what happened 
that night. He also cited his client's claims of being rejected within his own 
family which contributed somehow to his alcohol abuse, as the accused claimed.

The Dubai public prosecution has been pushing all along for the court to 
inflict the death penalty against the accused. More recently, Dubai Attorney 
-General Eissam Issa Al Humaidan stressed he would not rest until the defendant 
is executed.

That same report concluded Abdullah was mentally stable and sane and thus could 
be held responsible for his actions and behavior.

Last month, the Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence against the accused 
who was convicted in August last year of charges including kidnapping, sexually 
assaulting and killing the Jordanian child while drunk.

The boy went missing on May 20, last year, and his body was found 2 days later 
on the side of a road in Al Warqa.

Convicts sentenced to death are executed in Dubai by a firing squad.

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

Court postpones verdict on woman convicted for killing boss ---- The 
28-year-old woman was given the death sentence in May 2015


A Filipino housemaid who was convicted for killing her male boss in Al Ain 
might only survive the death sentence if the victim's children refuse to swear 
in court and opt for blood money, according to court.

The 28-year-old woman was given the death sentence in May 2015 after the Al Ain 
Criminal Court of First Instance found her guilty of murder.

The Filipina, identified as Jennifer Dalquez however appealed against the 
sentence with the help of officials from the Philippines Embassy.

Official court documents stated that the woman attacked the Emirati man at his 
home in Al Ain on December 7, 2014.

The woman, however, denied intentionally killing her boss. She earlier told 
court that she attacked the man in self-defence because he tried to rape her 
and that she never meant to hurt or kill him.

On Monday, the Appeal Court in Al Ain was to issue a verdict in the maid's 
case, but the judge decided to postpone the ruling to a future date so the 
victim's 2 children appear in court first and swear before he makes the final 
decision.

The judge will ask the deceased Emirati's children to swear before the court 50 
times, in the name of Allah, that Jennifer Dalquez is the only person they know 
who killed their father and not any other person, said a court official.

"And if this happens, court will uphold the decision of the First Instance 
Court which gives the Filipino the death penalty," said the official.

"But if the children refuse to swear in court, then the diya or blood money 
shall apply."

The Filipina will then be ordered to pay blood money of Dh200,000 to the 
victim's family in addition to serving a jail sentence, which will be decided 
by court.

Officials from the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi had provided Dalquez with a 
defence lawyer and have also promised to continue to provide her with all 
possible assistance.

The judge adjourned her trial until March 27.

(source for both: khaleejtimes.com)


SINGAPORE:

Kallang slashings: Duo's sentences upheld by appeal court


The Court of Appeal on Monday (Feb 27) upheld the respective sentences handed 
down to 2 Sarawakians who were convicted of a brutal murder in the 2010 Kallang 
slashings. Micheal Garing, 28, who had wielded the murder weapon, a 58cm-long 
parang, was given the death penalty, while Tony Imba, 38, was sentenced to life 
imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

The pair were part of a gang that had gone on a late-night robbery spree in the 
Kallang area in May 2010, severely injuring 3 victims and killing a 4th.

Micheal and Tony were convicted by the High Court in 2014 for the murder of 
41-year-old construction worker Shanmuganathan Dillidurai.

The prosecution appealed against Tony's sentence of life imprisonment and 
caning, arguing that he should also be sentenced to death. Micheal appealed 
against his conviction and sentence.

On Monday, a 3-judge appeal court - comprising Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, 
Andrew Phang and Judith Prakash - dismissed both appeals.

The court accepted that Micheal had used the parang to attack the construction 
worker, an Indian national. The "sheer brutality" of his attack warrants the 
imposition of the death penalty as he had shown a blatant disregard for human 
life, said the court.

"It seems to us that (Micheal) attacked the deceased in a totally savage and 
merciless manner as though he were attacking a hunted prey," said Justice Chao, 
delivering the court's decision.

In his "vicious, savage and sustained onslaught", Micheal had struck the top of 
the victim's head with such force that his skull cracked and had slit the 
victim's throat, he noted.

Turning to Tony's role in the attack, the court said it was not disputed that 
he had initiated the attack by knocking the deceased off his bicycle. However, 
Justice Chao said the court was not satisfied that Tony had held on to the 
deceased for a significant period of time long enough for Micheal to inflict 
the fatal injuries.

The verdict was originally scheduled to be delivered last month but the court 
agreed to defer delivery of its judgment on the request of defence lawyers 
acting for the pair.

The lawyers, Mr Ramesh Tiwary and Mr Amarick Gill, had wanted to interview 
Donny Meluda, who was handed to Singapore police on Jan 18. Now going by the 
name of Abdul Rahman Abdullah, he has been remanded in custody after being 
charged with murder.

However, Mr Tiwary told the court on Monday that Donny has indicated through 
the police that he did not wish to be interviewed.

A 4th member of the gang, Hairee Landak, 23, was sentenced in 2013 to 33 years' 
jail and 24 strokes of the cane for armed robbery with grievous hurt.

(source: straitstimes.com)






EGYPT:

Egypt parliament rejects abolition of death penalty----Egypt MPs said the death 
penalty cannot be abolished because doing so would contradict Islamic Sharia


The human rights committee of Egypt's parliament said it will never recommend 
that the death penalty be abolished, responding to repeated calls from foreign 
rights groups to end capital punishment.

"Western human rights organisations that lobby for the abolition of the death 
penalty should know that this goes against both Islamic Sharia and the 
country's constitution," read a statement by the human rights committee on 
Sunday.

Alaa Abed, head of the committee, told reporters that the abolition of the 
death penalty would violate Islamic Sharia, which is based on the "an eye for 
an eye and a tooth for a tooth" doctrine.

"As long as Egypt's constitution states that Islamic Sharia represents the main 
source of legislation in Egypt, parliament can never accept that the death 
penalty be abolished," he said.

"The imposition of the death penalty in Egypt takes place only after all legal 
measures are pursued and after the mufti of Egypt gives final approval.

"Not to mention that the death penalty primarily targets murderers who shed the 
blood of citizens on purpose, and as a result should be sentenced to death in 
accordance with Islamic Sharia."

Abed indicated that "parliament also stands against Western organisations which 
demand that homosexuals and gay marriage be allowed in Egypt."

"Again, I state that this neither goes in line with Islamic Sharia nor with the 
deep-rooted religious traditions of the Egyptian people," he added.

Abed said the Human Rights Council affiliated with the United Nations has 
recently lobbied Egypt to abolish the death penalty.

"But we said in our response that this penalty can't be abolished because this 
violates Islamic Sharia, which represents the backbone of legislation in 
Egypt," said Abed.

MP Khaled Hammad, a member of the human rights committee, said: "The death 
penalty is a necessity in a country that is facing a ferocious war against 
terrorists and criminals."

"It is incomprehensible that terrorists who kill innocent citizens and who bomb 
buildings do not face the death penalty. Egypt's parliament does not support 
the radical liberal agendas of Western human rights organisations, which show 
less interest in national security and religious values," he added.

Atef Makhaleef, deputy head of the human rights committee, said: "Courts in 
Egypt have always been keen that the death penalty be imposed on a very limited 
scale."

"Many death penalty verdicts had been issued since 2011, but none of them was 
imposed because they were revoked by supreme courts," said Makhaleef, adding 
that "It is better that the death penalty be implemented on a very limited 
scale rather than abolished altogether."

Makhaleef also said the number of executions implemented in Egypt decreased 
largely in recent years.

"I think that those who were executed were just two or three criminals who were 
found guilty of drug trafficking and espionage," said Makhaleef.

Nabil Polis, a Coptic MP, said: "The death penalty has become important in 
recent years because it proved to be a highly effective tool in stemming the 
tide of terrorist crimes."

Polis said although some Western countries have abolished the death penalty, 
they still implement other fatal penalties such as gassing murderers or 
injecting them with poison.

"It is a death penalty but in a different form," said Polis.

Demands for abolishing the death penalty in Egypt have gained momentum in 
recent days after the Cassation Court upheld on 20 February death sentences 
that had previously been handed to 11 defendants in the Port Said stadium 
massacre case of February 2012.

(source: ahram.org.eg)






PHILIPPINES:

House poised to pass 'watered-down' death penalty bill


The House of Representatives is poised to pass a watered-down version of the 
bill reimposing the death penalty.

The Supermajority will meet in a closed door caucus again on Monday to perfect 
the amendments to the bill which is now 1 step short of the vote on 2nd reading 
- which is indicative of the vote on final reading.

The plenary adjourned last week after adopting the substitute bill during the 
period of amendments. The substitute bill reduced the crimes that will be 
punishable with death penalty to just 4 from the original 21--rape, treason, 
plunder and illegal drugs.

House Justice Committee Chair Rey Umali said he thinks they can no longer water 
down the bill.

"I don't know how much more we can water it down. It's already watered down, 
from 21 crimes down to 4," he said.

"We have agreed through the causes to reduce the crimes covered to 4 namely 
treason, plunder, rape and drugs and even within drugs possession is not 
covered," he added.

He admitted that the amendments of the bill made it more acceptable to 
lawmakers.

The Monday meeting will be a fine tuning of the gravity of provisions of the 
bill according to Umali, such as the specifics of the 4 crimes.

"We will just tweak the substitute bill to just make sure ma-cover yung the 
more grave crime doon sa final version namin but only will fall within the 4 
crimes covered," he said.

Umali also raised the possibility of voting on the bill earlier than scheduled 
- which is on Tuesday. 'NO PRESSURE FROM CATHOLIC CHURCH'

Meanwhile, Rep. Estrelita Suansing and Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia both 
maintained there is no Church pressure on them to vote against the bill.

"The answer is no. There is no movement from the Church convincing us [how] to 
vote," Suansing said.

"Our archbishop of the Diocese of Cebu, Archbishop Palms, has not made any move 
whatsoever. Perhaps they also know my position is for the death penalty. [I'm] 
supporting the same position my father had in [the] 8th and 9th congresses," 
Garcia added.

(source: abs-cbn.com)






TURKEY:

What happens to Turkey-EU ties if the death penalty returns?


Reiterating his position on bringing back the death penalty to Turkey, 
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Feb. 24 that "I said I would approve the death 
penalty if it is approved by the parliament ... If it is not approved by the 
parliament, God willing, we will go to the nation for a referendum on that, 
too."

The debate heated up when Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist 
Movement Party (MHP), who supports the shift to an executive presidential 
system to be voted on in a April 16 referendum, called on the government to 
bring the issue to the parliament immediately, pledging support for it.

The next day on Feb. 23, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the government was 
not considering taking to parliament before the referendum; Erdogan's remarks 
followed that.

It was actually the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government 
which removed the death penalty from the Turkish Penal Code in 2004 under the 
leadership of then Prime Minister Erdogan. The debate to lift the death penalty 
had started immediately after the 1999 arrest and death sentence to Abdullah 
Ocalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). At 
the time, Bahceli was the partner of a tri-party coalition and despite 
objecting to the idea, continued with the coalition as there was support from 
other parties in the parliament for the suspension of the implementation.

The reason for that was not to cut ties with European institutions, such as the 
Council of Europe (CoE), European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the European 
Union, in whom Turkey had applied to become a member. As a result, Turkey's 
candidacy was approved in the EU summit in December of the same year.

In 2004, the death penalty was completely removed from the system with a 
constitutional amendment in parliament and in the framework of EU harmonization 
efforts. It was a factor in the EU's opening of the membership negotiations.

The death penalty is not only shunned in the Copenhagen political criteria for 
being a member or candidate in the EU, but also has no place in the Venice 
Commission decisions of the CoE and the rulings of the ECHR which is considered 
the de facto European constitution.

It wasn't a popular subject until the night of July 15, 2016, when a group of 
soldiers attempted a coup. The coup attempt, believed to have been masterminded 
by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamist preacher living in the U.S., was foiled 
with the resistance of the people, the government, all parties in parliament 
and a majority of the armed forces. When a group of supporters among the masses 
who rushed to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport to greet President Erdogan asked for 
the death penalty for the plotters, Erdogan said he would approve it if the 
parliament passed a law.

Garo Paylan, a member of the parliament for the Peoples' Democratic Party 
(HDP), which focuses on the Kurdish issue, claimed in an interview to the news 
site T24 on Feb. 25 that Erdogan and the government wanted to get rid of the 
limitations of the European system by reinstating the death penalty so that it 
could be excluded from it. He also claims the reason would be the possible 
thousands of applications to the ECHR in the near future which could result in 
"billions" of fines against the Turkish government.

Perhaps the justification for the claim is not a very strong one, since the 
government implemented additional legal mechanisms to apply against the arrests 
and dismissals from jobs under the state of emergency imposed after the 2016 
coup attempt, partly in an effort to reduce the number of files going to the 
Euro court.

Also, it is counterproductive when you ask the U.S. and EU countries to give 
back the members of Gulen's network who are now subject to arrest warrants in 
Turkey.

On the other hand, the pledges to reinstate the death penalty contradicts the 
AK Parti government's target of further developing ties with the EU, which is 
still in force as far as we can understand from recent statements.

PM Yildirim reiterated Turkey's position recently during a visit to Malta on 
Feb. 17 by saying, "We hope to begin the work on the [existing] Customs Union 
Agreement, which foresees the development of relations with the EU and the 
opening of new [negotiation] chapters." On Feb. 20 Turkish EU Affairs Minister 
Omer Celik asked for a summit with the EU on the immigration agreement with the 
EU and visa flexibilities for Turkish citizens. On Feb. 23, Yildirim said the 
new executive presidency system would bring a more transparent and democratic 
system, not one-man rule as the naysayers claim.

Is it possible to bring back the death penalty and at the same time advance 
democracy and keep developing with the EU? I don't think so.

Is it possible for Turkey to continue relations with the EU as a country which 
has reinstated the death penalty? Quite possible, but not as a country in the 
CoE-EHCR-EU system, since the EU has many relations with many countries in the 
Middle East and Asia with the death penalty in their legislation.

But that would not be the same world for Turkey and the Turkish people.

That would be a pity for Turkey and the Turkish people, and that would be a 
pity for the EU countries which maintain a self-destructive, alienating stance 
toward Turkey that lacks a strategic dimension that might only be realized too 
late if Turkey abandons the system.

I want to hope that this "hang them high" rhetoric is to keep angry nationalist 
votes in the "yes" camp until the April 16 referendum.

(source: Murat Yetkin, Hurriyet Daily News)