[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 11





MAURITANIA:

Mauritanian prosecutors appeal sentence against 'blasphemy' blogger



Mauritanian prosecutors on Friday said they had appealed against a 2-year 
prison term served on a blogger who had earlier received a death sentence for 
blasphemy.

Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir was given the 2-year term on Thursday by an 
appeals court in the northwest town of Nouadhibou.

"The prosecutors immediately filed an appeal to the Supreme Court" to ensure "a 
sound and rigorous application of the law," prosecutors there said in a 
statement.

Mkheitir has been in custody since January 2014 and thus was eligible for 
immediate release after Thursday's ruling. He was also fined $169. His 
whereabouts are not known.

A Muslim in his thirties, Mkheitir was sentenced to death in December 2014 over 
a blog which questioned decisions taken by the Prophet Mohammed and his 
companions during holy wars in the 7th century.

He also attacked the mistreatment of Mauritania's black population, blasting 
"an iniquitous social order" with an underclass that was "marginalised and 
discriminated against from birth."

His case has sparked outrage from rights activists but also fuelled demands for 
the death sentence to be carried out in the deeply conservative Muslim country.

On April 21 2016, the court of appeal confirmed the death penalty, but 
reclassified the crime from blasphemy to "unbelieving," for which the 
punishment is less if the defendant repents.

The case was then sent to the Supreme Court, which on January 31 this year sent 
it back to the appeals court "in order to correct mistakes made," without 
elaboration.

Thursday's decision in favour of a jail term sparked scenes of outrage in court 
and fresh demands for the blogger to be executed.

Appeals were launched on social media for Friday to be observed as a "day of 
anger."

Security was beefed up in sensitive areas in the capital Nouakchott after 
weekly Friday afternoon prayers.

Capital punishment in Mauritania, a vast, mainly desert state in west Africa, 
is usually reserved for murder and acts of terrorism.

According to Amnesty, Mauritania last executed a prisoner in 1987.

Mkheitir on Wednesday told judges that he had "uncovered mistakes in his 
article" which he "immediately corrected in another article.

He also expressed "every repentance and apologies" and assured the court of his 
"faith in Allah and his prophet".

(source: news24.com)








EGYPT:

British tourist facing the death penalty for smuggling prescription pain 
killers into Egypt is in 'good spirits' as 'crucial new evidence' is uncovered 
that could help her be freed



Jailed holidaymaker Laura Plummer is in 'good spirits' as she awaits to find 
out if she will continue to be locked up on drug smuggling charges in Egypt.

The 33 year old - who has been held for over a month in a hellhole jail - was 
due to appear before a judge to find out if she would get bail or face being 
locked up for another 15 days.

But amid much confusion her lawyer said she would not be brought to the court 
today - although the judge could decide to review her case in her absence.

Ms Plummer, of Hull, east Yorkshire, claims she was bringing the 290 Tramadol 
painkillers - which are banned in Egypt - into the country for her 'husband' 
Omar Caboo, who suffers from chronic back pain.

New evidence submitted by Mr Caboo claim to prove his medical condition and 
need for the pills. It is hoped that this evidence will be enough for an 
Egyptian court to grant Ms Plummer her freedom.

The documents include X-rays, medical records and a marriage certificate - 
crucial evidence because authorities believed her to be a smuggle with a 
made-up spouse.

The shop girl, 33, has been locked up for a month after being arrested at 
Hurghada International Airport when she was stopped by customs officers and 
found with almost 300 of the powerful pain killers.

Egyptian Caboo, a hotel activities organiser, had requested them to relieve his 
back pain.

Tramadol is on a list of banned drugs in Egypt as it is widely used by junkies 
as a heroin substitute because it is so powerful.

Ms Plummer's worried relatives saw her as jail bosses mocked her complaints 
about the 'hellhole' conditions, telling her: 'You're not staying in the 
Sheraton!'

She has endured an ordeal of sharing a 15ft x 15ft cell with 25 other women in 
sweltering heat and no air conditioning.

This afternoon her mother Roberta, sister Jayne Sinclair and brother Kirk were 
pictured went to the prison for an hour long visit.

Staff at the prison on the outskirts of the city of Hurgharda showed little 
sympathy for what the Egyptian media have called the 'Tramadol Tourist'.

Meanwhile, Ms Plummer was able to speak briefly to her mother Roberta today.

As she waited in the entrance hall of the chaotic Red Sea court her lawyer 
handed her a mobile phone and told her Ms Plummer wanted to speak with her.

The mother's face lit up and she hurried off into a corner to speak with her 
daughter.

Roberta later told MailOnline: 'She is much better today. Her spirits are 
good'.

Roberta then booked herself a flight home on Sunday in the hope her daughter 
might be granted bail in her court appearance.

She was due to fly back to the UK on Saturday night, but on the advice of her 
daughter???s lawyer cancelled the flight to remain in Egypt.

Laura Plummer had been expected to appear at the court with her lawyer Mohamed 
Osman presenting evidence that she was not a drug smuggler.

Her husband Mr Caboo, who fled Hurghada after she was arrested on October 9th, 
came out of hiding to hand over medical evidence to prove he suffered chronic 
back pain.

Another of her lawyers Tasha Shokry told MailOnline they had presented the 
medical evidence to the prosecutor in the hope he will not object to a bail 
application.

Osman said he had explained to Ms Plummer she might have to spend a further 15 
days in jail while the judge decided what to do.

He said:' I have explained to Ms Plummer the procedure. She is still under 
criminal investigation and until that has been completed she faces staying in 
jail.

'The judge can extend her to stay for another 15 days or he can make it 30 
days. The maximum she can be held is 3 months or it has to go to trial.'

Police at the court had been preparing for Ms Plummer's arrival today with a 
dozen gun toting men standing guard at the rear entrance where prisoners in 
shackles are brought.

But after two hours when it became apparent Ms Plummer was not being driven the 
five miles from the police detention centre to the court they were stood down.

Osman said Ms Plummer could still be brought to the court on Sunday but there 
was no certainty the judge would request her presence.

Her family are pinning their hopes on the shop worker from Hull being granted 
bail.

Her Mum Roberta, sister Jayne and brother Kirk flew to Egypt in the hope of 
seeing her released.

Her case was postponed on Thursday and Kirk and Jayne flew back to the U.K. on 
Friday night.

Her mum is due to fly home tonight but made a last minute dash to the prison to 
take her food and say an emotional farewell.

Her lawyer Mohamed Osman has warned that she could still be locked up for seven 
years even if she is cleared of any crime.

And she faces the death penalty if court rules that she was trying to sell the 
drugs.

A legal source said she was being treated as an 'international drug smuggler.'

(source: dailymail.co.uk)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan allows Indian spy's wife to meet with him



Pakistan's Foreign Ministry says Islamabad on "humanitarian grounds" has 
allowed the wife of an Indian naval officer who faces death penalty for 
espionage and sabotage to meet with him.

In a statement late Friday, the ministry said Pakistan has informed the Indian 
High Commission about its decision.

The development came months after the wife of Kulbhushan Jadhav requested 
Pakistan to allow her to meet with him.

Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 and has been convicted and sentenced to death 
by a military tribunal.

Pakistan says Jadhav was working for the Indian spy agency, called RAW.

Jadhav in a mercy petition has asked Pakistan to spare his life, but 
authorities have not taken any final decision yet.

(source: Associated Press)








INDIA:

Ahmednagar Court awards death sentence to 3 in rape & murder case



A local court in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra on Friday awarded the death 
sentence to 3 men convicts of the tragic 2014 Loni Mawala gang rape and murder 
case.

On 22nd august 2014, a 15 year old girl was gangraped and brutually murdered by 
3 men in Lonimawala area of the district.

3 years after the barbaric lonimawala rape and murder case, Ahmednagar district 
and sessions court judge Suwarn Kewale has awarded death penalty to the 3 main 
accused, Santosh Lonkar, Mangesh Lonkar and Datta Shinde.

Public prosecutor said that the investigation was able to furnish 
incontrovertible evidence and along with the 3 main accused, their 3 
accomplices were awarded life imprisonment for attempt to destroy the evidence.

The state had appointed noted criminal lawyer Ujjwal Nikam to argue the case. 
The parents of the child are happy that justice has been done.

On August 22, 2014 a teenage girl was abducted, raped and brutally tortured to 
death in lonimawala village in Ahmednagar district while she was going back to 
home after school.

The savagery with the victim created an uproar in the state with many sections 
of the society demanding stringent punishment for the accused.

Though the sessions court has delivered its judgement, the accused can move 
high court against the verdict.

(source: ddinews.gov.in)

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

SC gives time to Centre to reply to plea against hanging



The Supreme Court today granted 6 weeks to the Centre to file its response to a 
plea which seeks to set aside the legal provision that a death row convict 
would only be hanged to death.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D 
Y Chandrachud allowed more time to the Centre on the PIL, which also refers to 
the 187th Report of the Law Commission advocating removal of the present mode 
of execution from the statute.

The apex court had earlier termed the Constitution as a "compassionate" and 
"organic" guiding book and said the legislature could think of changing the law 
so that a convict, facing death penalty, dies "in peace and not in pain".

On October 6, the apex court sought the Centre's response on the plea filed in 
personal capacity by lawyer Rishi Malhotra which referred to Article 21 (Right 
to Life) of the Constitution and said it also included the right of a condemned 
prisoner to have a dignified mode of execution so that death becomes less 
painful.

The plea said the Law Commission report had noted a significant increase in the 
number of countries where hanging has been abolished and substituted by 
electrocution, shooting or lethal injection as methods of execution.

The lawyer also referred to various apex court judgements in which the practise 
of hanging a death row convict has been assailed.

The plea said "dying with dignity is part of right to life" and the present 
practice of executing a death row convict by hanging involves "prolonged pain 
and suffering".

The present procedure can be replaced with intravenous lethal injection, 
shooting, electrocution or gas chamber in which death is just a matter of 
minutes, it said.

The PIL sought quashing of section 354(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which 
states that when a person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that 
he be hanged by the neck till he is dead.

It said execution was not only "barbaric, inhuman and cruel", but also against 
the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council 
(ECOSOC).

The plea also said that execution should be as quick and as simple as possible 
and free from anything that unnecessarily sharpened the poignancy of the 
prisoner's apprehension.

It sought to declare "right to die by a dignified procedure of death as a 
fundamental right as defined under Article 21 of the Constitution".

"This also includes the right to a dignified life up to the point of death 
including a dignified procedure of death.

In other words, this may include the right of a dying man to also die with 
dignity when his life is ebbing out," it added.

Drawing a comparison, the petition said that while in hanging, the entire 
execution process takes over 40 minutes to declare prisoner dead, the shooting 
process involves not more than a few minutes. In case of intravenous lethal 
injection, it is all over in 5 minutes.

"The Act of the execution should produce immediate unconsciousness passing 
quickly into the death. It should be decent. It should not involve mutilation," 
the plea added.

(source: Press Trust of India)








TAIWAN:

Waking from a Nightmare, 16 Years on Death Row in Taiwan



As a Taiwanese man wrongly held for murder readjusts to society, he has been 
awarded a record settlement by the courts.

Hsu Tzu-chiang, held for the kidnap and murder of a businessman for 16 years, 
was awarded a record settlement by a judicial review panel on Nov. 9, 2017. The 
compensation totals NT$28.12 million (US$932,072) - NT$5000 for each day he was 
jailed.

Below is an interview The News Lens conducted with Hsu late last year:

There was a time when Hsu Tzu-chiang woke up, quietly put on his best suit, and 
then sat by himself for hours, waiting to be executed.

After the "normal" period when someone was likely taken to be killed passed, he 
would return to his cell, slowly remove the clothing, carefully fold it, and 
put it back under his bed, ready for the next day.

"How long exactly? I can't remember, but this lasted for a couple of months," 
Hsu, 48, told The News Lens International in Taipei.

It was during the early years of a 16-year stretch on death row, when he was 
"numb," when he thought "sooner or later" he would be executed. And in Taiwan, 
the condemned are allowed to wear their best clothing on their execution day.

Hsu, along with 2 others, was sentenced to death for the September 1995 kidnap 
and murder of businessman Huang Chun-shu. No material evidence was found 
connecting Hsu to the murder, but the confession of a codefendant - thought by 
some to be extracted during torture by the police - implicated Hsu. Fearing 
torture, Hsu went into hiding for months before he turned himself in, in June 
1996.

Hsu, who has always maintained his innocence, is very lucky his execution was 
never carried out; more than 150 people were executed in Taiwan during the time 
he was in prison. While his case was eventually championed by lawyers and 
activists, and become synonymous with human rights and legal reform in Taiwan, 
for the 1st 5 years of his sentence he was just another man on death row.

The nightmare

Hsu's case, as the Judicial Reform Foundation puts it, "repeatedly bounced back 
and forth" between the High Court and Supreme Court. In his 1st 6 trials, he 
was found guilty and given the death sentence.

Hsu says he reached his "lowest point" after the guilty verdict was first 
handed down.

"One part of me was saying 'come and kill me now,' another was saying, 'maybe 
take me tomorrow, maybe I can see my family again,'" he says.

Throughout the rest of his time behind bars, seeing his family would continue 
to take him back to that nadir, the most painful part of his experience.

"You go to the visiting room with a very happy feeling, but you leave feeling 
like that might be the last time you will see your family."

Aside from the very real danger of execution, Hsu's years in the detention 
center - where Taiwan's death row prisoners are held - appear to be 
characterized by waiting, eating, smoking and waiting. He tried to keep fit, 
running on the spot in his cell. If it was not raining, prisoners were allowed 
outside for around 30 minutes a day - though he notes at 1 detention center 
with no outdoor area he was indoors for 8 months straight.

For the most part, he just waited; waited to eat and waited for his name to be 
called - a headcount is taken every time a guards take a break or changes 
shift. Some guards would give inmates cigarettes to smoke in their cell, as 
long as they did not tell anyone about it.

"Who was I going to tell?"

Some prisoners had mini portable televisions, but the cost of batteries 
prohibited most from watching often.

"Everything costs money. Toilet paper too; the government did not provide 
that," he says.

Hsu says during the first few years he was locked up, the guards could beat 
prisoners with an apparent impunity - when asked what they did to prisoners he 
replies, "The question is, what wouldn't they do?"

However, because most of the men in the detention center were "without 
tomorrow," disputes between prisoners or with the guards were rare, he says.

"Those people don't really have hope anymore; they don't start fights, they 
don't argue as often as in a normal prison," he says.

Medical problems, however, were common and very slow to be resolved. Hsu 
recalls toothaches, in particular, as the worst physical torment he suffered. 
Prisoners with a health complaint had to first fill out a form and then await 
treatment. If their pain was obvious, guards dished out a few painkillers, but 
seeing a health professional could be weeks away - Hsu knows of an instance 
when someone waited 2 months. Unsurprisingly, prisoners took matters into their 
own hands. Hsu knocked out 2 of his own teeth during his incarceration.

More than 10 years of cold showers came to an end after Taiwan's former 
president Chen Shui-bian - charged with corruption upon leaving office - joined 
the men in detention in late 2008.

No light at the end of the tunnel

As the years crawled by - waiting, eating, smoking and waiting - Hsu's case 
continued to ping-pong in the courts, with appeal after appeal.

A 2001 report from Taiwan's ombudsman agency - the Control Yuan - found flaws 
in the confessions of his codefendants and in the handling of the case, 
including the fact authorities had ignored arguments that Hsu was not at the 
scene of the murder.

In a 2004 interpretation, the country's constitutional court - also known as 
the Council of Grand Justices - ruled the use the confessions of codefendants 
alone was not strong enough evidence to incriminate a defendant. Despite what 
could be seen as progress - that ruling has had a significant impact on 
Taiwan's legal system - Hsu was not confident of ever being freed.

"I was always very confident in my own case, but I was always very disappointed 
with the judges. I didn't have any confidence in the judges," he says.

He was right to be wary. The Supreme Court reopened the case in 2005 and sent 
it back to the High Court for a 6th retrial. The trial took 4 years and, again, 
resulted in the death penalty.

In the early years, Hsu says being inside and innocent, was "very difficult, 
very hard, very painful."

"There is no light on the other side of the tunnel. You cannot see hope," he 
says. "[In 1996] I turned myself in to explain the case, because I believed in 
the courts. Then I went there and realized the reality of the court was not how 
I imagined."

Watching his family continue to help pay for the costly legal bills was also 
particularly hard.

'I didn't want my family members to pay for something that did not have any 
hope of succeeding," he says. "At that time, I just wanted to end the pain."

Despite the positive ombudsman???s findings and the constitutional ruling, Hsu 
says he did not feel much in the way of hope. He had for a long time been 
moving "one day at a time."

"I didn't really look forward to the result, I had already given up," he says. 
"When I went to court the judges would say, 'You have to prove you didn't do 
it.' But I can't prove something that I didn't do." In late 2011, Hsu had been 
again found guilty of blackmail and kidnapping, but not murder, and was instead 
sentenced to life in prison. While the High Court in May 2012 upheld that 
sentence, he was released according to a then-new Fair and Speedy Criminal 
Trials Act.

In May 2012, Hsu emerged from the detention center into a wet Taipei evening. 
Pale and dazed, he fronted media briefly before being whisked away by his 
supporters.

In the preceding months and days, even as it looked like a release from prison 
may be possible, Hsu, accustomed to disappointment, kept calm and his 
expectations low.

"I didn't look forward, I didn't look back," he says. "I was not too 
optimistic, nor too upset about it."

Looking back now, Hsu's memory of his first few hours of freedom is "blurry."

"I didn't feel really happy," he says. "I didn't believe I was walking outside 
the prison. I remember that there were a lot of people. Other than that, I 
don't really remember."

Today, Hsu's friends say he looks like a different person. His face is somewhat 
ageless for a lack of facial hair and a healthy tan. His hair is stylishly cut 
and he wears tortoise-shell rimmed glasses. On the day of the interview, Hsu is 
wearing white K-Swiss shoes, tight-fitting jeans and a casual green shirt with 
white trim.

Appearances aside, assimilation into society has not been easy. Hsu says it 
took him at least one year before he could really believe he was no longer in 
prison.

"When I was inside, I often dreamed of being out, free. Then I would wake up 
and still be in prison. When I finally got out, I was reluctant to go to sleep 
at night, because I was afraid to dream and wake up back inside the prison," he 
says.

Of course, the nightmare did continue. Hsu was out and working at the Judicial 
Reform Foundation, but prosecutors continued to pursue his case. In 2015, the 
High Court finally found Hsu not guilty. But that decision was appealed. It was 
not until Oct. 13 this year, when the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, and the 
case against him was finally closed after the 9th retrial.

Hsu has now been out of jail for 4 years, but he continued to have "some 
feeling of not being free."

He says it is difficult to describe exactly how he feels now, or whether 
anything has changed since that final decision.

"It doesn't really feel that real, yet. It seems like it is over, but I don't 
know," he says. "Everything is about the same. But something inside my heart, 
something has disappeared. A feeling of bondage or confinement has gone."

Even now, however, he is still adjusting to freedom. He is reluctant to leave 
his house alone and does not always feel secure without friends around. It 
takes him some time to answer questions; he speaks quietly, chooses words 
cautiously and takes long pauses. There remains a sense of bemusement; could he 
be the person answering questions about the life of one of Taiwan's most famous 
death row inmates?

He has low expectations about the chances of compensation from the state.

"How are they going to compensate? A lot of things, you cannot really 
compensate with money."

Hsu will continue to fight for other innocent people behind bars. In this 
endeavor, he is, perhaps, motivated by wanting to repay those that helped him 
fight, as much as in response to his own desperate frustration with the court 
system, and the judges in particular.

He wants to see major judicial reform. He says "the whole structure has 
problems," but he stresses, the key problem is "always about the people."

He believes his case should have been easy to deal with, but the judges would 
not admit they were wrong.

"I don't want anyone to have to walk the same path as me," he says.

When he is with his family, Hsu says, he does not talk about what they have 
gone through in the past. They do not talk about prison.

"We only talk about the future. We look forward. We treasure the moment 
together." Special acknowledgment: Yi Pan and the Taiwan Alliance to End the 
Death Penalty for translation assistance.

(source: The News Lens)




INDONESIA:

Papua Police Issue Wanted List of 21 Militants



Police on Saturday (11/11) issued a wanted list of 21 people from an armed 
group that is besieging 2 villages in Timika, Papua.

The militants have cut access to 1,300 residents of Banti and Kimbely near the 
Utikini river in Tembagapura district, next to the Grasberg copper mine 
operated by the Indonesian unit of US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan.

"Around 100 people came to the location [the villages]. Those with criminal 
record are on the wanted list," Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar 
told reporters in a WhatsApp message.

According to Boy, almost all of the militants carry weapons.

"We want to capture them," he said.

The men do not let the villagers out since Tuesday. Among the residents are 300 
specialized gold miners.

Police believe the wanted militants are led by Sabinus Waker, who tops the 
list. They are accused of murder, shootings and illegal gun ownership, and may 
face the death penalty, if convicted.

According to the police, Sabinus and his men attacked policemen and Freeport 
Indonesia staff in a series of shootings in October, killing 1 officer.

(source: Jakarta Globe)








TANZANIA:

Tanzania sentences 34 people to death for killing albinos



Tanzania's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said on Thursday 
at least 34 people have been sentenced to death by hanging during for killing 
people with albinism in the country.

Beatrice Mpembo, a state attorney from the DPP, told a two-day consultative 
meeting to strategise on countering brutality and killings of people with 
albinism that the convictions were from 2006 to 2016.

"Several other cases of people accused of killing people with albinism are 
still pending in courts throughout the country," Mpembo said.

She told the meeting organised by Tanzania Commission for Human Rights and Good 
Governance in the political capital Dodoma that 67 cases of the killings of 
people with albinism were still pending in courts across the country.

Mpembo said her office has been facing difficulties in administering cases 
related to the killings of people with albinism and attacks on such people due 
to insufficient evidence.

"Most cases related to the killings of people with albinism involve some family 
members, as a result it has been difficult to get sufficient evidence due to 
lack of cooperation from the relatives thus contributing to delays in 
delivering ruling on the cases," Mpembo said.

She said the worst of such killings was recorded in the east African country in 
2008 where some 19 people with albinism were killed.

Ralph Meela, a senior police officer in charge of Offences Against Persons and 
Traffic Related Offences, said people with albinism or mothers with children 
born with the genetic disorder have been denied their rights.

"These people fail to take appropriate action because they lack awareness of 
their rights," said Meela.

He said there was need to raise public awareness on the killings of people with 
albinism throughout the country because the police could not eliminate the 
problem single-handedly.

Killings of albinos have been driven by the belief advanced by some witch 
doctors that the body parts of people with albinism have properties that confer 
wealth and good luck.

(source: premiumtimesng.com)








ZIMBABWE:

ZPCS sued over death row inmates



A group of lawyers doing public interest litigation for free have taken the 
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) to court challenging its 
decision to deny them access to about 90 death row inmates at Harare Remand 
Prison who they intend to provide legal counsel in defence of their right to 
life.

Tendai Biti Law Firm is currently representing 17 others who are locked up at 
Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison pending Constitutional Court challenges but 
ZPCS Commissioner-General Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi had denied the 
lawyers access to those awaiting execution at Harare Remand Prison.

The lawyers argued that Government was finalising the recruitment of a hangman 
for the purposes of commencing the execution of the condemned inmates. They 
also argued that the recent public call by President Mugabe for the restoration 
of the full effects of death penalty, with all its conditions that existed 
prior to the adoption of the new Constitution in 2013, was also an indication 
that execution was now imminent.

To that end, the lawyers filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court 
seeking an order compelling Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) 
to allow them access to their clients and all other inmates awaiting capital 
punishment, in defence of their constitutional right to life. In the urgent 
chamber application filed on Thursday, the law firm cited ZPCS and its Comm-Gen 
Retired Maj-Gen Paradzai Zimondi as respondents.

The lawyers, in the interim, want the court to compel ZPCS to allow them to 
visit all the death row inmates, interview them and to inform them of their 
rights. They are seeking costs against Comm-Gen Zimondi on a punitive scale 
because, according to the lawyers, he has acted in a manner that disrespects 
the fundamental rights, freedoms, democratic values and principles as enshrined 
in the supreme law of the country.

The law firm, which does public interest litigation for free, has represented 
at least 17 prisoners at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison and some of their 
challenges are still pending at the Constitutional Court. When the 17 were 
represented by the same lawyers years back, Comm-Gen Zimondi granted access and 
allowed the law firm to file court applications on the prisoners' behalf.

Tendai Biti Law Firm argued in its papers that the prisons boss was 
discriminating against about 90 other prisoners who are locked up at Harare 
Central Prison by denying the lawyers access to them.

???We contend that the position taken by first respondent (Comm-Gen Zimondi) is 
totally unreasonable, grossly irrational and ridiculous to say the least. For 
status, first respondent???s actions discriminate against prisoners at Harare 
Remand Prison. At Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, he allowed us access and 
we have been able to work with these prisoners.

"He cannot deny the prisoners at Harare Remand Prison the same benefit," reads 
the papers.

The lawyers said Comm-Gen Zimondi was breaching the right to equal protection 
to death row prisoners at Harare Remand Prison as guaranteed by Section 56 of 
the Constitution.

The right to a legal practitioner of their choice was also being violated by 
the ZPCS boss' decision.

"Every prisoner enjoys the right to challenge his condition in terms of the 
Constitution. The prisoner cannot exercise such right without information and 
without legal advice. By denying us the right and opportunity of conversing 
with those prisoners, the first respondent is breaching their rights," the 
lawyers argued.

Comm-Gen Zimondi, the lawyers argued, has dismally failed to uphold the 
Constitution.

"We find it extremely ridiculous that 37 years after independence, a freedom 
fighter such as the first respondent can adopt the attitude reflected in his 
letter of the 31st of October 2017. He failed and failed dismally to uphold the 
Constitution. His conduct is shameful, crass and regrettable and this is why we 
seek costs against him in this application to be paid on a scale as between 
attorney and client," reads the court papers.

The application is yet to be set down for hearing at the High Court.

(source: herald.co.zw)