[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 27


BANGLADESH:

139 get death penalty, 185 life term, Torab Ali, 48 others acquitted



The High Court on Monday upheld death penalty for 139 and commuted death 
penalty to life term for 8 in the much-talked about BDR mutiny case.

The HC also acquitted 4 who had got death penalty and upheld life term for 146 
out of the 160 who had been awarded life term by the trial court.

Of the 160 who got life term, the remaining 12, including ruling Bangladesh 
Awami League (AL) local leader Torab Ali, were acquitted.

A 3-member HC special bench led by justice M Shawkat Hossain also sentenced 37 
more to life term and 196 to different terms.

The HC acquitted a total of 49 convicts who had been sentenced to different 
terms.

The other 2 members of the bench are justice Md Abu Zafar Siddique and justice 
Md Nazrul Islam Talukder. The HC bench had started reading out the verdict of 
about 10,000 pages on Sunday, but could not complete and resumed reading it out 
today and pronounced the verdict this afternoon.

Earlier on 3 April, the HC bench kept the verdict as Curia Advisari Vult (CAV) 
after concluding the hearing on the appeals and the death references.

A Dhaka court on 5 November 2013 sentenced 152 BDR members of the erstwhile 
Bangladesh Rifles and 2 civilians to death, and 161 others to life imprisonment 
for their involvement in the BDR mutiny.

A total of 257 appeals were filed with the High Court against the lower court 
verdict. 74 people, including 57 army officials, were killed in the BDR mutiny 
on 25-26 February in 2009 at the Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka.

The paramilitary force was later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh aka BGB.

(source: prothom-alo.com)





SRI LANKA:

SC fixes date to hear appeal against death penalty



The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on Monday fixed the date to hear the appeal 
filed by former United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) parliamentarian Duminda 
Silva and 4 others against the death penalty imposed on them by the Colombo 
High Court.

A 3-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Priyasath Depp and Justices Buwaneka 
Aluvihare and Vijith Malalgoda heard the petition on Monday, the ColomboPage 
reported.

The bench ordered the petition to be taken up again on March 29 before a 
5-judge bench.

(source: uniindia.com)








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Rapist, killer of 11-year-old Pakistani boy in Abu Dhabi gets death sentence



The Pakistani man accused of strangling an 11-year-old boy to death after 
raping him at the rooftop of their Abu Dhabi building has been sentenced to 
death.

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance on Monday morning handed out the 
execution sentence to the 33-year-old man after he was found guilty of murder, 
rape and a number of other charges.

Accused claims he was never at crime scene

The court has also ordered the killer to pay Dh200,000 in compensation to the 
child's family for what they have gone through for the loss of their child.

The Pakistani boy, identified as Azan Majid, was found missing on June 1, 2017, 
after he went to a nearby mosque to pray. His body was found the next day at 
the rooftop of the building on the Muroor Road where he was staying with his 
father and stepmother.

Court records stated that the boy was sexually abused and strangled to death 
with a rope by the Pakistani national, who is also related to the child.

Accused plotted boy's rape, murder for months

Police revealed that the man cross-dressed to carry out the attacks on the 
child, after luring the boy into going with him to the rooftop of the building.

The Abu Dhabi Public Prosecution charged the Pakistani with premeditated 
murder, raping the child, cross-dressing and driving a car without a number 
plate.

The man had denied all charges against him throughout his hearing. He told the 
judge that his confession at Police and Public Prosecution was all under 
duress.

Accused fit to stand trial

Prosecutors had demanded that the Pakistani be given the death penalty if 
convicted because he committed grave sins that affected not only the child's 
family but also the community.

The boy's Pakistani father said after the ruling that he was happy justice has 
been served.

He also demanded that the killer be executed in the public so other people 
learn that it's bad killing an innocent person.

The parents had in the previous hearings told court that they won't pardon the 
killer in return for anything but rather, they want the man to be executed.

"We are asking for a death penalty if he's found guilty of murder," the parents 
told the judge.

"We want him to be executed for what he did to our son, nothing else. We won't 
accept blood money from the killer."

The death sentence can be appealed within 14 days after the issuance of the 
ruling.

(source: Khaleej Times)

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

Dubai Death Penalty Case: British Man Denies Intentionally Killing Wife



3 police officers testified in court on Sunday that a British journalist had 
claimed that he didn???t intend to kill his wife in July but the crime scene 
implied otherwise.

The 61-year-old British suspect, Francis Mathew, entered a not guilty plea to 
intentionally killing his wife by hitting her forehead twice with a hammer when 
he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance in September.

Records said Mathew, a former Gulf News staff member, struck his wife's 
forehead with a hammer 2 times and killed her following a heated argument over 
financial issues. The incident allegedly happened around 7am on July 4 at the 
British couple's villa in Umm Suqeim.

Giving their testimonies before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi on Sunday, 3 
police officers testified that the suspect told them during questioning that he 
fought with his wife and didn't intend to kill her, but on-site examination of 
the murder scene implied that he had intended to kill her.

"While interrogating him, the suspect claimed that he had a fight with his wife 
over financial issues and debts ... then when she pushed and belittled him and 
headed to the bedroom, he got angry and followed her. Then he grabbed the 
hammer and struck her, according to his police statement, but stressed that he 
didn't intend to kill her. However, the crime scene investigations showed as if 
he had intended to kill her," testified a brigadier in response to a question 
by presiding judge Al Shamsi.

Cross-examined by the presiding judge and the suspect's lawyer Ali Abdullah Al 
Shamsi, a police captain told the court that the couple had brawled for nearly 
2 weeks over moving out from their villa in Umm Suqeim to a smaller flat.

"In the 2 weeks that preceded the incident, the suspect informed his wife that 
they had to move out to a flat ... but she was against that. According to his 
statement to police, the Briton said the victim did not want to move out to a 
flat and insisted on a villa. He also claimed that on the day of the incident, 
she cursed and repeatedly pushed him ... she also told him that he [being the 
man of the house] has to provide her with a villa to live in and not a flat. 
The suspect alleged that when she pushed and cursed him, he got angry when she 
walked to the room ... so he claimed that he followed her and picked up the 
hammer on his way and then struck her. Though he said he didn???t intend to 
kill her, but the way in which the striking happened [on the head] proved 
otherwise," said the captain.

A 3rd witness, also a brigadier, testified in court that Mathew alleged during 
interrogations that the victim repeatedly cursed and pushed him in the kitchen 
when they were continuing a heated argument [over the same issue] and that had 
started the night before.

Presiding judge Al Shamsi adjourned the court to hear the remaining prosecution 
witnesses when it reconvenes on December 17.

Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence against the suspect as per Article 332 
of the UAE Penal Code.

Dubai Police's forensic examiner said the victim sustained fractures and bled 
from the head.

(source: albawaba.com)








INDIA:

Madhya Pradesh Cabinet approves amendment bill for death penalty for child 
rapists



The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet on Sunday gave its approval to a proposed amendment 
in law to ensure the death penalty for those involved in the rape or gang rape 
of girls below the age of 12.

A Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave 
the nod and expressed the government's commitment to curb such crimes.

Finance Minister Jayant Malaya said the amendment bill that proposes the 
addition of 2 provisos to Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, once passed by 
the state assembly, will be forwarded to the Centre for necessary action.

He said the government has also okayed five per cent Dearness Allowance to its 
employees from July 2017.

(source: timesnownews.com)








ZAMBIA:

Investigative wings to be restructured to improve efficiency- Lubinda



Minister of Justice Given Lubinda says Zambians should not expect all 
prosecutions to produce convictions because their role is to assist the courts 
in reaching a fair and just decision.

And Mr Lubinda says Government has made tremendous progress towards refining 
the Republican Constitution.Reacting to criticism that the State has been 
losing a lot of cases through acquittals and dropping some through nolles, Mr 
Lubinda said it was not possible for the State to win all cases it presented 
before courts.

He said state advocates mainly depend on investigations done by investigative 
wings of government in order to win cases.Mr Lubinda said on average state 
advocates attend to 36 cases per month, a move he described as unbearable.

He said government has now decided to move prosecutors from the DEC and the 
police and place them under National Prosecution Authority in accordance with 
the constitution.

Mr Lubinda disclosed that prosecutors at the Anti-Corruption Commission who 
have not yet been moved will also be moved to the National Prosecution 
Authority next year.

And the Minister said Lacunas in the constitution were of great concern to 
government.Mr Lubinda said to this effect, he would soon issue a ministerial 
statement to Parliament to give details on specific articles that would need to 
be reviewed in the constitution.

He said a ministerial statement would also give a progress report on how far 
the process had reached.

Mr Lubinda was speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when he was transiting to Rome 
to attend a conference for Ministers of Justice, themed 'A world without a 
death penalty, no justice without life'.

He said the conference was important as it would help broaden the debate in 
Zambia on the death penalty that had been retained in the 2016 Amended 
Constitution.He said no President starting with Zambia's 3rd President Levy 
Mwanawasa to incumbent President Edgar Lungu have ever signed a death penalty.

Issued by Mrs Inutu Mupango Mwanza

First Secretary-Press and Toursim

Zambia Embassy-Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

(source: Lusaka Times)



SOUTH AFRICA:

Top city human rights lawyer dies



Human rights lawyer Rudolph Jansen has died.

The legal fraternity is mourning the death of human rights lawyer Rudolph 
Jansen, who fought against injustice on behalf of the poor and marginalised for 
more than 3 decades, including with respect to the abolition of the death 
penalty, prison reform and land reform.

He was a long-standing member and former national director of Lawyers for Human 
Rights.

Jansen, who leaves his wife Mariana, and two sons Rudolph and Gustav, died on 
Saturday in Limpopo, where he was consulting with the Moletele Land Claim 
Community. He was 53 years old.

(source: Pretoria News)