[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 1



ISRAEL:

Verdict for Israeli facing death sentence postponed----Family of imprisoned 
Israeli imprisoned in Islamic country conducting meetings with authorities to 
arrange compromise.


The family of imprisoned Israeli Ben Hassin who is being held in an Islamic 
country will conduct another meeting with authorities in an attempt to reach a 
compromise which will allow for a significant reduction in his sentence, 
according to a Channel 20 report Tuesday.

According to the report, a court in the country which has no diplomatic ties 
with Israel postponed sentencing once again Monday in an attempt to allow the 
continuation of contacts between the family of the condemned and Jewish 
representatives in that country to arrange the transfer of the ransom money 
raised by the ZAKA organization.

Ben Hassin faces the death penalty if the sentence is not reduced.

The money has not been returned to the donors yet and ZAKA is still attempting 
to end the matter favorably. ZAKA originally demanded guarantees for the 
transfer of the 120,000 dollars raised and said it would return the money to 
donors if the guarantees were not provided.

Hassin has been in custody for a year and a half on charges of murdering a 
local taxi driver.

He claims that he shot the driver in self-defense after he tried to transfer 
Hassin to ISIS after hearing him speaking Hebrew.

The family of the victim agreed to relinquish all of its claims against Hassin 
in return for a large sum of money. ZAKA made an investigation of their own 
over the circumstances of the arrest which raised doubts over it. They demanded 
answers from the Hassin family as well as guarantees of the money's return, 
which have not yet been provided by the family.

(source: israelnationalnews.com)






INDIA:

SC heard 7 death penalty appeals in 2016, confirmed none----In 3 cases, accused 
were acquitted; 397 on death row

Indicating application of stringent tests before sending convicts to the 
gallows, the Supreme Court did not confirm the death penalty in any of the 7 
cases of criminal appeals that it decided in 2016. A year before, in 2015, the 
apex court had confirmed 8 out of 9 death penalty cases, including that of 1993 
Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon. According to a report compiled 
by the Centre on the Death Penalty, National Law University Delhi, not only did 
the court keep off awarding death penalty, it acquitted the accused in 3 out of 
the 7 cases. While 71 cases of death sentences were pending in the apex court 
at the end of 2016, a total of 397 prisoners were on death row with their 
appeals pending either in high courts or in the Supreme Court as on December 
31, 2016.

Uttar Pradesh topped the list of states with the highest number of death row 
prisoners at 70. It was followed by Maharashtra with 47, West Bengal 39 and 
Madhya Pradesh with 37. The report, made public on Tuesday, stated that 11 
death row prisoners could not be classified state-wise since they were 
convicted under Central laws, such as the Arms Act. Only 1 person was sentenced 
to death in a rape and murder case by the SC in 2016 when it confirmed the 
extreme punishment at the stage of review, stated the report.

In 2016, trial courts across the country handed down the death sentence to 136 
people, high courts confirmed punishment only in 15 cases in toto while the 
Supreme Court upheld none. Trial courts in 2015 had sentenced 70 convicts to 
death. More than 60 % of the cases in which courts awarded the death sentence 
were murder cases while 15 % were cases of murder and sexual assaults. 
President Pranab Mukherjee also took a call on 7 mercy petitions moved by death 
row convicts in 2016 under Article 72 of the Constitution.

He rejected the mercy petitions of 6 prisoners, and commuted the death sentence 
of one convict. In the order of commutation, the President stated that the 
convict would spend the rest of his life in prison. Previous reports by the law 
university had said at least 62 % of death row inmates were first-time 
offenders; around 60 % had not completed secondary education; and nearly 75 % 
belong to economically weaker sections.

(source: indianexpress.com)

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

Analysing current states of death: 2016 death row spikes led by murder & West 
Bengal -- SC oscillates the other way ---- But ultimately what these numbers 
say more than anything else is that we are lacking a consistent approach to the 
death penalty


For the 1st time, NLU Delhi's Centre on the Death Penalty has analysed death 
penalties across lower courts and released a report, which suggests a picture 
in which the judiciary ordering a convict killed seems more subject to 
randomness than an evolving jurisprudence or overarching policy.

NLU Delhi assistant professor Anup Surendranath, who is director of its Centre 
on the Death Penalty, said that this was their 1st comparative report closely 
tracking death penalty statistics in lower courts since 2015. "The idea is to 
sort of track regularly what is happening n the court and just see the trends 
really," he said. "It's very interesting to see, especially in the trial 
courts, because there's so little data coming out in lower courts." As such, 
getting numbers that they are "reasonably confident" in - the 2015 figures were 
compared with Amnesty International's and stood up well, said Surendranath - 
has been a labourious task. "We do an exhaustive exercise of tracking the high 
court cause list," he explained about the methodology. "All death sentences 
from trial courts have to come up for confirmation to high courts. We track the 
cause list, and we do widespread tracking of local media, because much of it 
doesn't get reported in the national press."

According to the Centre's data, Indian sessions courts handed down nearly 50% 
more death sentences in 2016 than they did in 2015: a total of 136 versus 70 in 
2015. That high 2016 figure was a bit of a surprise, said Surendranath, as the 
Centre (which assists in a number of death row convicts' appeals) had 
cautiously hoped that 2015's tally of 70 might have been the start of a new 
downwards trend: over the last 15 years, pretty consistently, around 100 
convicts have been sentenced to death every year.

Regionally, the largest increase in 2016 came from West Bengal where in 2016, a 
total of 39 convicts were sitting on death row as at 31 December 2016 (compared 
to around 14 in 2015, recalled Surendranath). In other states, figures stayed 
fairly steady, with the most popular state Uttar Pradesh naturally 'leading' 
with 70 death row prisoners in 2016.

However, death penalty appeals from states like Maharashtra (47 death row 
convicts) and Madhya Pradesh (37) were much more often in the Supreme Court 
than UP???s, where a larger number of cases tended to languish at the high 
court level, said Surendranath.

The vast majority of that spike appears to have come from murder cases, with an 
additional 69 murder, dacoity & murder, and kidnapping & murder convicts 
sentenced to death in 2016 over and above 2015's tally of 34 death sentences 
for murder (and 0 for dacoity & murder, and 3 for kidnapping & murder).

Death penalties for terror-related offences stayed roughly the same, at 5 in 
2016 (down from 6 in 2015).

Death penalties for murder involving sexual violence actually decreased 
slightly from 28 in 2015 to 21 in 2016.

1 death penalty was handed down for drug offences in 2016 (versus none recorded 
in 2015).

However, partly setting off that increase, high courts stepped up to commute 
and acquit much larger numbers: 44 high court commutations (versus 15 in 2015), 
and 14 acquittals (versus only 3 in 2015).

That said, the death penalties confirmed by high courts also increased by a 
similar amount, tripling between 2015 and 16, up from 3 to 14.

Supreme Court about-turn after deadly 2015

The Supreme Court, however, saw a drastic U-turn in its death penalty 
jurisprudence in 2016. Then again, it was hard to outdo 2015's tally, when the 
apex court had handed down only 1 commutation and 8 confirmations (of which 4 
prisoners' special leave petition (SLP) were dismissed in limine, without a 
hearing on merits, which had happened only nine times since 2004).

As we had reported in-depth in 2015, the Supreme Court's near-record number of 
death penalty confirmations could mostly be attributed to then-Chief Justice of 
India (CJI) HL Dattu more aggressive stance that made commutations and reviews 
increasingly hard to obtain for death row convicts' lawyers.

But with Dattu out, 2016 was a markedly different picture: last year, the 
Supreme Court did not confirm a single death sentence, commuting 7 and 
acquitting 3.

Surendranath said 2016 was a record in the Supreme Court, as the 1st year in at 
least 15 that not a single death penalty criminal appeal was upheld (although 1 
death penalty review petition, which usually has a low chance of success, was 
confirmed in 2016).

That massive fluctuation in whether people are or are not killed by the state 
and the judiciary is not necessarily a good thing though.

According to Surendranath, "there is a doctrinal problem" on how courts apply 
the "rarest of the rare", which is the rather vague test that is meant to be 
followed before awarding a death penalty. "The oscillation is really worrying 
us," he added.

In 2016, Supreme Court benches presided over by justices Ranjan Gogoi and UU 
Lalit were responsible for most of the changes in fortunes of death row 
appellants.

2016's 3 outright acquittals of the original crime appellants had been 
convicted for, would basically have hinged on the facts and evidence of each 
case (the Centre, together with senior counsel Colin Gonsalves represented Dhal 
Singh vs Chhattisgarh, who was acquitted of all murder charges, for instance, 
in a 2:1 decision with Justice PC Pant dissenting).

But the 8 commutations in 2016 saw Gogoi apply the jurisprudence (that Dattu 
had ignored) which requires judges to consider all surrounding mitigating 
factors of a convict (such as social history, history of substance abuse) 
before confirming a death sentence.

Surendranath said that the centre now consisted of 18 people working full-time, 
with further assistance from interns and students.

An upcoming major project, which has the assistance of 15 student volunteers 
and researchers, relates to death row inmates' mental health issues. A report 
on that will probably be out by next year.

Of course, the centre's is likely to have its work cut out for quite some time 
beyond that. As its report noted, India and a minority of countries have been 
bucking global trends and efforts to reduce the role of death as a judicial 
punishment:

In November 2016, India opposed the United Nations Resolution (A/Res/71/187) 
calling for a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death 
penalty, as it goes against Indian statutory law.

The Resolution was, however, adopted by the General Assembly by 115 votes to 
38, with 31 countries abstaining.

Countries that opposed the Resolution besides India, included the United States 
of America, Japan, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, 
Pakistan and Afghanistan.

India opposed a similar call for a moratorium in 2007 and 2012.

And with the appeals against the death penalty convictions of the December 
Delhi gang rapists and murderers of Jyoti Singh likely to come up this year, 
the politics and opinions surrounding the death penalty are likely to stay 
controversial.

(source: legallyindia.com)






AUSTRALIA:

Amnesty International warns new AFP protocols could see more death sentences 
handed down


A decision by the Federal Government on information-sharing protocols between 
the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and foreign authorities could allow a 
repeat of the Bali 9 drug smuggling case, according to Amnesty International.

Last year, a parliamentary committee recommended the AFP "obtain guarantees" 
from foreign prosecutors that they would not pursue the death penalty before 
providing information relating to information on crimes such as drug 
trafficking.

The Government has now released its response, and argued there are difficulties 
in ensuring such promises are binding.

"An undertaking from a prosecutor not to seek to apply the death penalty may 
not be reliable where a court can still impose the death penalty," the 
Government's response stated.

"Generally speaking, the Government does not consider it appropriate to seek, 
or rely on, an undertaking from a prosecutor.

"In the instances where assurances have been provided to Australia, they have 
usually occurred at ministerial level."

The Government said fighting serious drug crimes remained a high priority.

"The Government's ability to detect, deter and prevent drug crimes would be 
impeded if Australia could not cooperate with states in the region that retain 
the death penalty."

In 2015, the AFP defended its decision to inform Indonesian authorities about 
the Bali 9 drug syndicate, with Commissioner Andrew Colvin saying officers did 
not have enough evidence to arrest the Australians before they left for 
Indonesia.

2 of the smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015.

Amnesty International raised concern with the Government's decision not to 
follow the recommendations, in an effort to avoid a repeat of that case.

"This is unfortunate, particularly as Australia has made a number of positive 
commitments in response to the inquiry," organisation spokesman Guy Ragen said.

"The Government's announcement that Australia is going to have a strategy to 
guide its advocacy against capital punishment in our region and around the 
world is strongly welcomed."

The Government did accept a number of recommendations in the report, including 
that "high risk" cases be directed to the Minister for a decision and that 
Australia continue its advocacy and opposition to the death penalty around the 
world.

(source: abc.net.au)






INDONESIA:

Indonesia vows more executions this year----It would be wise if the government 
listens to those criticizing the death penalty, says a moral theologian.


A new round of executions will take place this year when a legal row over 
appeals is resolved, according to Indonesia's attorney-general.

Muhammad Prasetyo said Indonesia is still fully committed to carrying out 
executions in line with President Joko Widodo's hardline anti-drug policy.

The president says executions of drug traffickers, a policy that has drawn 
international condemnation, are necessary to combat rampant drug abuse in 
Indonesia.

Franciscan Father Peter C. Aman, a moral theology lecturer at the Driyarkara 
School of Philosophy in Jakarta said it would be wise if the government listens 
to those criticizing the death penalty.

"It presumes the death penalty can reduce the number of crimes particularly 
related to drugs. That is nonsense," he said.

The last round of executions took place in July last year when 4 people were 
shot by firing squad in a clearing on the island of Nusa Kambangan.

10 others facing execution were given a last minute reprieve.

Since then, the country's Constitutional Court ruled to lift time restrictions 
on convicts filing clemency appeals to the president, a move analysts believe 
has delayed a further round of executions taking place.

Rules had stipulated that convicts had to file a last-ditched appeal to the 
president within a year of a final court ruling being handed down.

However, in Indonesia, the Constitutional Court holds sway on clemency rules.

Prasetyo said at the weekend that his office has appealed to the Supreme Court 
to overturn the ruling, which would remove any legal obstacles preventing more 
executions taking place.

Rights activists immediately condemned the attorney- general's comments.

Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono, executive director of the Institute for Criminal 
Justice Reform, accused Prasetyo of trying to run roughshod over the 
Constitutional Court.

"The Constitutional Court's ruling is clear enough. Why ask the Supreme Court 
for a decision?

"It seems he is desperately trying to seek a solution to execute death row 
inmates," Eddyono said.

Yati Andriyani, coordinator of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims 
of Violence, urged the government not to pursue another round of executions.

"The government must first evaluate the whole process of previous executions. 
Were death row inmates' rights fulfilled?" Andriyani alleged there were flaws 
in the legal system and malpractices by investigators.

"In some cases, the convicts' right to have adequate legal assistance was 
ignored. Also, torture was still used by law enforcement officers in their 
efforts to get confessions from alleged criminals."

(source: La Croix)



THAILAND:

Death sentence upheld for Myanmar pair over Brit killings in Thailand


2 Myanmar men convicted of killing a pair of British backpackers on a Thai 
holiday island have lost their appeal against the death sentence, a prosecutor 
said Wednesday (Mar 1), a ruling made without their defence lawyers present.

Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of killing David Miller, 24, and the 
rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, whose battered bodies were found on a 
beach on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September 2014.

Prosecutors insisted the evidence against the migrant workers was rock solid. 
But during the trial and in their appeal, the defence said police bungled their 
investigation from the outset after local detectives came under huge pressure 
to solve a crime that risked damaging the country's vital tourism sector.

Investigators were accused of failing to properly collect and preserve DNA 
samples and declining to test key pieces of evidence, or allow independent 
examination of the samples.

Their appeal failed on Feb 23, but was only made public on Wednesday, even 
catching the defendants' lawyers flat-footed.

"The Appeals Court upheld the Criminal Court's ruling against the two Myanmar 
suspects," Theerawut Phamhun, deputy provincial prosecutor of Surat Thani 
province, told AFP.

He said the appeal judges ruled the evidence investigation "was up to standard" 
and that DNA found at the scene matched the suspects.

Nakhon Chomphuchat, the lead lawyer for the 2 accused, told AFP his team had 
only been made aware of the court's ruling on Wednesday.

"I have yet to see my clients," Nakhon added.

It means the 2 accused had no legal representation at the ruling.

Defence lawyers now have 30 days to appeal to Thailand's Supreme Court, the 
final court, though it is unclear when the timer for that deadline started.

Thailand's legal system is notoriously opaque, with some cases taking years to 
heard while others are hustled through the courts. It is often hard for press 
to access judgements or hearings.

While Thailand keeps the death penalty on its books, it is rarely carried out.

The double killings caused revulsion.

Miller was struck by a single blow and left to drown in shallow surf while 
Witheridge was raped and then bludgeoned to death with a garden hoe. Her 
injuries were particularly horrific.

The parents of Miller backed the court's conviction and the police 
investigation.

Witheridge's family were more cautious in drawing conclusions while her sister 
Laura later wrote a scathing critique of the Thai police on Facebook calling 
the investigation "bungled".

(source: channelnewsasia.com)






CHINA----execution/foreign national

China executes Monday 1st Colombian for trafficking cocaine in 2010


Despite repeated requests for clemency from the Colombian government, China 
executed Ismael Enrique Arciniegas, a 74-year-old Cali native, on Tuesday for 
attempting to enter the country with 4 kilograms of cocaine in 2010 in exchange 
for US$5,000.

Arciniegas, who died by lethal injection on Monday night on local time, was the 
1st Colombian to be executed in China and 1 of 34 countries that considers drug 
trafficking punishable with life in prison or the death penalty. Sentences for 
drug trafficking in China range from 15 years imprisonment to capital 
punishment, according to Section 7 of the country's criminal code.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the name of the Colombian government, 
profoundly regrets the decision made by judicial officials in the People's 
Republic of China to execute Ismael Enrique Arciniegas Valencia...despite 
repeated requests for clemency and several petitions presented to the Chinese 
government to commute his death sentence," said Colombia's Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs in a statement.

The execution comes less than a week after China commuted the life sentence of 
Sara Mar???a Galeano Trejos, a 37-year-old Colombian from the department of 
Risaralda who was caught entering the country with 3 kilograms of cocaine in 
2009. China says it commuted her sentence for "humanitarian reasons" due to 
unspecified health problems. As part of the agreement, Galeano, who is 
transexual, must serve out her 18 years and 3 months in a Colombian maximum 
security prison.

15 other nationals are currently on death row in China, 10 of whom have had 
their death sentence temporarily suspended for two years, according to 
Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An estimated 56 Colombians are 
currently imprisoned in Chinese jails. Many attempted to enter the country with 
drugs by arriving in Guangzhou, a sprawling port city of 13 million in southern 
China located about 75 miles northwest of Hong Kong.

The number of imprisoned Colombians has caught the attention of Beijing. Last 
week, China's ambassador to Colombia, Li Nianping, expressed concern about the 
high total during a meeting with Colombian Justice Minister Yesid Reyes 
Alvarado.

Colombia's Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, in an 11th hour attempt to 
reverse the execution order of Arciniegas, summoned Ambassador Li Nianping to 
the San Carlos Palace in Bogota. The meeting, however, failed to convince the 
Chinese government.

Many of the arrests have made headlines around the world. In 2015, Juliana 
Lopez, a 22-year-old Colombian model and former Miss Antioquia, was arrested at 
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport after attempting to smuggle 610 grams of 
cocaine inside her laptop, according to Chinese state media. Although Lopez 
originally faced the death penalty, she was later given 15 years in prison, the 
minimum sentence.

"I wanted to participate in the Miss World competition and needed the money so 
[a man named Sergio] lent me 2,500 pounds in return for taking the laptop to 
China," she reportedly told the court, according to the People's Daily Online, 
China's state-run newspaper.

In 2015, Cali native Harold Carrillo was repatriated to Colombia from China for 
humanitarian reason after being diagnosed with cancer. Carrillo was serving a 
suspended death sentence after being convicted in 2011.

Although officials in Beijing view death penalty data as a state secret, 
estimates from Amnesty International and the United Nations calculate that 
China executes more people than any other country. In 2015, the most recent 
annual data available, at least 1,000 people were executed in China, more than 
3 times as many as 2nd-place Iran. Currently, 58 countries allow the death 
penalty. The United States was the only country in the Americas to carry out an 
execution in 2015.

Colombians imprisoned in China typically are unable to contact their families 
frequently. Family members with loved ones in Chinese jails have reported that 
they receive a letter or a 20-minute phone call every couple of months. Chinese 
officials allowed Arciniegas to call his oldest son, Juan Jose, 34, before the 
execution.

"I'm leaving happy, I'm going to heaven to see our other family members who 
have passed away," said Archiegas, according to an interview Juan Jose gave the 
national daily El Tiempo. "Life is a comedy and this comedy ended. I give 
thanks to god for the family he allowed me to have."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that 15,034 Colombians currently 
reside in foreign prisons, with 57% being held on drug-trafficking offenses. To 
date, Colombia has repatriated 172 Colombian nationals, including 6 for 
humanitarian reasons.

"Although the Colombian state recognizes the sovereign right of countries to 
establish and apply legislation in criminal matters, categorically reiterates 
its position against the death penalty and reaffirms the inviolable right to 
life," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

(source: thecitypaperbogota.com)






MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE:

Death row inmate: Lawyers disappointed envoy won't help----Lawyers defending 
Malaysian on Singapore death row want foreign minister to clarify country's 
stand if Malaysians travelling abroad run into legal troubles.


The lawyers of a Singapore death row prisoner are disappointed with Malaysia's 
high commissioner Ilango Karuppannan for stating that Putrajaya will not 
interfere in the case of Prabagaran Srivijayan.

Referring to Ilango's comments, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya said Putrajaya's 
decision would have a major impact on Malaysians travelling or living abroad 
who faced legal proceedings in foreign places.

"What he said has wider consequences. I urge Foreign Minister Anifah Aman to 
clarify this matter and state the government's stand on Malaysians treated 
unfairly abroad, and to take all steps necessary to save Prabagaran from the 
gallows," Surendran and Latheefa said in a statement released today.

Yesterday, IIango said Malaysia would not interfere in Singapore's internal 
affairs in relation to a Malaysian on death row in Changi prison.

"Ilango's statement is surprising and deeply regretted. The high commissioner 
must realise that speaking up for the right to a fair trial for our citizen who 
is facing the death penalty, does not amount to interference in Singapore's 
internal affairs.

"It is the norm for countries to take up cases of their citizens who may have 
been treated unfairly in a foreign country's judicial system," the lawyers 
said.

Surendran, who is PKR vice-president, added that Malaysia had previously spoken 
up in similar cases, including the case of drug mule Yong Vui Kong whose death 
sentence was commuted by Singapore in 2013 after years of effort by NGOs and 
lawyers from both sides of the causeway.

Similarly, Prabagaran's lawyers in both Singapore and Malaysia have argued that 
he was denied a fair trial.

"The high commissioner and Putrajaya must bear this in mind when taking any 
public stand on this matter.

"Hence, Ilango's claim that 'there is an attempt to put pressure to bring a 
particular court case here to a higher profile' is without basis," Surendran 
said, adding that Prabagaran and his family were merely exercising their right 
to take up legal proceedings to uphold his right to a fair trial.

Prabagaran, 30, is reportedly making a judicial review application to direct 
Putrajaya to start proceedings against Singapore in the International Court of 
Justice over his conviction for drug trafficking.

The foreign ministry and the Malaysian government were named as respondents in 
the application, filed at the Malaysian High Court registry in January this 
year.

Prabagaran was sentenced to death in September 2014 and has reportedly 
exhausted all appeals in the republic.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)






PHILIPPINES:

Lawmakers opposing death penalty bill lose bid for nominal vote


Opponents of the death penalty bill at the Lower House on Wednesday lost their 
bid to put the measure to a nominal instead of a verbal vote, once the time 
comes for lawmakers to decide on the bill in its 2nd reading.

As this story was being written, lawmakers were debating on amendments to the 
bill agreed upon in the last supermajority caucus. The caucus previously agreed 
to limit the death penalty to offenses linked to illegal drugs, except for 
possession, which will continue to be penalized with reclusion perpetua.

The amendments were input wholesale instead of individually, which drew the 
protest of some legislators who called for each amendment to be discussed and, 
if needed, be put to a vote. The majority so far outvoted the opponents of the 
bill in verbal votes, where the individual votes of the congressmen were not 
known.

Traditionally, nominal voting is only done during a vote on the 3rd and final 
reading of a measure. According to Kabayan Party List Rep. Harry Roque, verbal 
or viva voce voting has been used in the past to conceal the individual votes 
of lawmakers, protecting them from critics.

The bill is expected to be put to a vote in a 2nd reading, coincidentally, on 
Ash Wednesday.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said in a statement: "The observance of Ash Wednesday 
must not be left unnoticed in the House of Representatives because this day 
signifies repentance and grief."

For Lagman, the House leadership must repent and grieve for several 
"transgressions" regarding the death penalty bill, including allegedly 
railroading its approval despite violating the "sanctity of life," insisting on 
its passage despite an international treaty commitment by the Philippines not 
to impose capital punishment, and allegedly gagging lawmakers who opposed the 
bill by terminating debates early, among others.

(source: abs-cbn.com)

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

House OK's death penalty amendments


The Congressional deliberation on the controversial death penalty bill went a 
step further with the House of Representatives' "supermajority" approving the 
proposed amendments to the measure.

The chamber has removed plunder, treason, and rape from the list of heinous 
crimes punishable by death under House Bill 4727, leaving drug-related offenses 
to be the only crimes punishable by capital punishment.

The House leadership was able to amend the measure despite constant appeals by 
Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman (1st district) and Buhay party-list Rep. Jose L. 
Atienza, Jr. -- 2 of the most vocal critics of the proposed revival of the 
death penalty.

Just right after the measure was opened for deliberation during last night's 
session, Mr. Lagman even appealed for reopening the debates on the death 
penalty.

House Deputy Speaker Raneo E. Abu, who presided over the session, divided the 
House. Mr. Lagman's appeal lost. Mr. Lagman also questioned why House Deputy 
Majority Leader Pampanga Rep. Juan Pablo P. Bondoc decided to have a "collated" 
amendment.

"Individual amendments should be individually treated, not collated by the 
majority leader. Why are we having a wholesale individual amendment? Under what 
rule are we operating?" asked the opposition congressman.

"Why are we entertaining individual amendments from the majority leader? Are 
the members of the House not entitled to file their individual amendments? The 
procedure is completely flawed," Mr. Lagman added.

Messrs. Lagman and Atienza's objections fell on deaf ears.

After the House leaders successfully introduced the changes to the bill, Mr. 
Bondoc moved to suspend the session. He then asked the House Secretary General 
to produce amended copies of HB 4727 for Wednesday's session.

After the session, Mr. Lagman lamented the "flagrant" violation of the House 
rules.

"The House leadership has fed into the shredding machine the rules of the 
House. We don't have any rules anymore," Mr. Lagman told reporters.

He added that they will "make it on record that the rules have been flagrantly 
violated," adding that "We will file [at] another forum when it's seasonably 
right... From the court of the people and then to the Supreme Court."

For his part, Deputy Speaker Fredenil H. Castro, one of the authors of the 
death penalty bill, said once the period of individual amendments is closed in 
today???s session, "the majority will push for the votation [on] second 
reading."

(source: bworldonline.com)






BAHAMAS:

'Criminals Will Ravage Country Unless Death Penalty Enforced'


Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis said yesterday that unless the 
government is willing to enforce the death penalty, "criminals will continue to 
ravage our country and keep citizens in fear."

Dr Minnis said our country is losing the battle to the criminal element and 
"more serious measures" need to be taken.

Dr Minnis' comments came hours after the country marked its 32nd homicide for 
the year and its 18th murder this month.

This also means that 601 people have been killed since the Progressive Liberal 
Party took office in May 2012, according to The Tribune's records.

Ahead of the 2012 general election, the PLP posted billboards throughout New 
Providence - in areas heavily trafficked by tourists and locals - which said 
there had been more than 490 killings under the last five-year Ingraham 
administration.

The PLP, then in opposition, campaigned that it had the answer to violent crime 
while the Ingraham administration did not. It promised that if elected it would 
get crime under control.

Speaking about the crime figures, Dr Minnis said in a statement released 
yesterday: "32 - that is an outrageous number of young Bahamians that have been 
killed on our streets in the first 2 months of 2017. It is shocking that under 
this inept PLP government we have seen 600 Bahamians lose their lives.

"This government fails our young Bahamians every time one of them loses their 
lives. The PLP has spent a year touting statistics trying to convince Bahamians 
that crime is down and now we are in an even worse place."

He added: "Bahamians need real leadership on this issue, not just empty 
rhetoric and broken promises. The FNM has brought forth our 'Change Team' that 
includes former police officers who will bring real world experience to the 
government. A FNM government will fight crime at its roots and rid our country 
of the growing crime epidemic. We will return our streets to the people because 
it is the people's time."

In a separate statement posted to Facebook, Dr Minnis said the FNM is willing 
to do "everything necessary," including enforcing the death penalty, in order 
to get a handle on crime.

"Our country is losing the battle to the criminal element, and more serious 
measures must be taken. A responsible government will be proactive in doing 
everything in its power to remove any impediment that prevents it from 
executing the laws of the land," his statement said.

"Unless we are able to show the criminal element that we are willing to impose 
the death penalty and bring law and order back to the Bahamas, these criminals 
will continue to ravage our country and keep its citizens in fear. The FNM is 
prepared to do everything necessary to ensure that law and order is restored in 
this country. This scourge of violent crime cannot continue to go unabated and 
everyone must work together in this time of social crisis. Enough is enough."

Capital punishment in the form of hanging remains a sentence for convicted 
murderers, however the death penalty has not been carried out since January 
2000.

No convicted murderers were executed during the last Ingraham administration 
when Dr Minnis was minister of health. However, the previous government did 
amend the Penal Code in 2011 to specify which crimes would be deemed the "worst 
of the worst" to better align with the Privy Council's standard on the death 
penalty.

In 2006, the Privy Council ruled that the Bahamas' mandatory death sentence for 
convicted murderers was unconstitutional.

Last year, Dr Minnis told reporters that the necks of "murderous scumbags" in 
the country must be "popped" in order to keep Bahamians safe.

Earlier this month, the FNM outlined its goals to fight crime should the party 
win the next general election, noting in its recently released party platform 
plans to establish a national neighbourhood watch programme in every community, 
re-institute term limits for the commissioner of police, establish a sexual 
offenders register and enforce Marco's Law.

The FNM also plans to create a Guns and Gangs Unit in Royal Bahamas Police 
Force (RBPF) and undertake a "comprehensive audit" of the RBPF to review the 
pay of police officers and determine whether the crime fighting agency has the 
"requisite manpower to effectively execute its mandate".

The party said during its next term in office it will enforce a zero tolerance 
for crime; develop a modern, efficient crime fighting machine; establish, build 
and equip an independent forensic lab; work with community based partners; 
eliminate habitats where criminality flourishes; enact legislation to establish 
the National Intelligence Agency; enforce Marco's Law and establish the sexual 
offences register; use state of the art technology; establish a national 
neighbourhood watch consultative council; establish a public sector 
anti-corruption agency; conduct a comprehensive review of police officers 
compensation and re-institute term limits for the commissioner of police, 
commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the commissioner of 
corrections.

The plans are outlined in Manifesto 2017, posted on the FNM's website, 
ourfnm.org.

(source: tribune242.com)