[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 9




MALAYSIA:

In Malaysia's high court, pathologist testifies Kim Jong Nam was killed by 
weapon of mass destruction



On Wednesday, pathologist Mohd Shah Mahmood testified before Malaysia's high 
court in the trial of Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong, who stand accused of 
killing Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim 
Jong Un. Mohd Shah, an employee of the Malaysian government, testified that VX 
nerve agent, by international treaty a weapon of mass destruction, caused Kim's 
death, and Judge Azmi Ariffin officially admitted tissue and fluid samples as 
evidence. Both Aisyah and Huong are subject to death penalty if convicted of 
killing Kim.

The samples were sealed in plastic when presented at court, but the judge and 
lawyers for both the prosecution and defense nonetheless wore protective gloves 
and masks to examine them. Both the North Korean government and Aisyah's lawyer 
have said the victim may have died of a heart attack or some cause other than 
VX nerve agent.

Mohd Shah based his conclusion on VX nerve agent in Kim's system and on the 
timing of Kim's death: he expired on the way to a hospital, less than 2 hours 
after encountering Aisyah and Huong. He also testified Kim Jong Nam had 6 
different medications in his system, one a common Viagra heart-condition 
treatment, but no indications of a heart attack when he examined Kim's body. He 
also said neither this nor the other medicines Kim was taking would have killed 
him quickly.

Aisyah's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, argued the autopsy reports indicate only that 
Kim was killed by chemical poisoning, not necessarily by VX nerve agent, and 
Mohd Shah admitted under cross-examination he does not have much experience 
with VX and other nerve agents.

Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, age given as 28 or 29, pled not guilty of 
murdering Kim Jong Nam on Monday, though they do not contest they met him. Both 
were represented by lawyers hired by their home countries' respective 
governments. Both women are on video approaching Kim in Kuala Lumpur 
International Airport where 1 of them sprayed him with liquid, but they both 
claimed they had been hired to spray travelers with a harmless substance as 
part of a prank TV show. Aisyah's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, told the press his 
client had already performed the prank several times, always with oil or 
pepper. According to the police, the two men who hired Huong and Aisyah were 
Hong Song Hac and Ri Ji U, North Koreans who avoided questioning by, 
respectively, fleeing Malaysia and remaining within the North Korean embassy.

Huong's lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, said after a prosecution phase of probably 
about 2 months, at the Judge's discretion the defense would proceed. 
Proceedings earlier this week included testimony from an airport employee, a 
police officer who spoke to the dying Kim, and pathologists who examined 
samples from Kim, Huong and Aisyah. Dr. Norashikin Othman of Hospital Kuala 
Lumpur testified Kim Jong Nam's blood, liver and other tissues appeared to have 
been depleted of cholinesterase, an enzyme we need to move. "The low 
cholinesterase level in Kim Chol could be caused by exposure to poisons such as 
insecticide or nerve agents," he said, and that Huong and Aisyah both had 
normal levels of cholinesterase. He said the 2 women could have protected 
themselves by washing their hands, which both women did that day, or by taking 
antidote.

The alleged poisoning took place at Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Gooi Soon Seng told the press the prosecution had not disclosed this 
information to the defense before Norashikin's testimony: "This piece of 
evidence was never served to us". South Korean intelligence has maintained this 
was part of a plan on the part of Kim Jong Un or his government to assassinate 
Kim Jong Nam, who had once been his father Kim Jong Il's heir apparent. They 
had a falling out in 2001 and Kim Jong Nam had been living quietly with his 
family in Macao.

The events surrounding Kim's death have included diplomatic troubles between 
the formerly friendly North Korea and Malaysia, a hostage exchange, ambassador 
expulsions, and a break-in at the mortuary that housed Kim's remains.

Earlier statements from Malaysia's health ministry asserted Kim died within 20 
minutes of his encounter at the airport, but testimony given this week differed 
from this.

(source: wikinews.org)








INDONESIA:

Death penalty prosecutions in Indonesia nearly doubled over last year, 
activists call for moratorium----Executions are down but death penalty 
prosecutions are up over the last year of President Joko Widodo's 
administration.



Tomorrow, October 10, is World Day Against the Death Penalty, and human rights 
activists in Indonesia used the opportunity to highlight an alarming increase 
in death penalty prosecutions over the last year, a trend that runs counter to 
the narrative that President Joko Widodo is softening his stance on executions.

Under President Jokowi's administration, 14 people were executed in 2014, 4 
were executed in 2016 and none have been executed so far this year. But in 
contrast to the downward trend in executions, the number of cases involving the 
death penalty has risen sharply over the last year.

>From January-June 2016 there were 26 cases in which prosecutors demanded the 
death penalty and, out of those, judges in 17 of the cases sentenced the 
defendants to be executed. But from July 2016 to September 2017, there were 45 
cases in which prosecutors asked for the death penalty and 33 in which judges 
handed out the sentence.

"Compared to 2016, the trend of death penalty demands and sentences, based on 
the number of cases, nearly doubled," said the director of the Institute for 
Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), Supriyadi Widodo, during a discussion in 
Jakarta on Sunday as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

Supriyadi said most of the death penalty cases involved drug trafficking, 
followed by murder cases. But he noted there was a new category of death 
penalty case, suspects accused of child sexual assault, a crime which became 
eligible for the death penalty under a new law passed by President Jokowi in 
2016, which contributed to the increased numbers.

There are currently 134 people on Indonesia's execution waiting list and the 
attorney general has stated recently that they are still planning on carrying 
them all out eventually, although no dates have been mentioned.

ICJR asked that Indonesia declare a moratorium on the death penalty while the 
process in which criminals can be convicted and appeal the sentence be reviewed 
for violations of human rights. Supriyadi noted that one of the last people 
executed by the government, Humphrey Jefferson "Jeff" Ejike, had been denied 
the ability to exercise all of his appeal options before he was killed.

"Under conditions of uncertainty and doubt regarding executions, the government 
should immediately conduct a moratorium to avoid the great potential for human 
rights violations," he said.

Speaking at the same discussion, Ifdhal Kasim, an advisor on political, legal 
and human rights issues at the Presidential Staff Office, said it was unlikely 
the administration would declare a moratorium as the government believed that 
the death penalty was an effective deterrent to fight the so-called drug 
emergency facing the country.

(source: coconuts.co)








PAKISTAN:

Reinstate the moratorium



The World Day against the Death Penalty will be observed tomorrow. The day is 
marked to urge states to abolish capital punishment since it has no place in a 
modern society. This is primarily because the objective of punishment is to 
rehabilitate and reintegrate criminals into society and not exact revenge.

More than 2/3 of the world has abolished the death penalty in law or practice. 
At least 104 countries have abolished it for all crimes, seven countries have 
abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes and 30 countries haven't 
executed anyone in last 10 years and have abolished executions in practice. 
There are only 57 countries who still uphold the death penalty as a form of 
punishment.

A report of the World Coalition Against Death Penalty claims that Pakistan was 
among the top 5 in the list of 23 countries where executions were carried out 
in 2016. The report also claims that Pakistan awarded the death penalty to the 
juvenile offenders by violating the principles of the ICCPR and the CRC.

Our criminal justice system is full of such miscarriages of justice where 
people have been denied the opportunity of a fair trial. And yet, courts in 
Pakistan can award the death penalty for 27 different crimes, including 
blasphemy, sexual intercourse out of wedlock and narcotics smuggling. We can't 
forget when Mazhar Hussain was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan 2 
years after his death in the prison. The same court acquitted Ghulam Sarwar and 
his brother Ghulam Qadir, who were shockingly executed before their appeals 
could be heard and decided by the Supreme Court. We are still not prepared to 
accept this bitter reality and find answers to the countless questions that 
this problem presents.

In addition to the failure of the administration of justice through ordinary 
courts, Pakistan also has a history of introducing military courts for the 
trial of civilian suspects of terrorism. These mechanisms have been viewed with 
suspicion by human rights activists because they are considered to be deficient 
in fulfilling the components involved in an individual's right to a fair trial.

Since January 7, 2015, military courts have convicted nearly 309 people - 
including 169 death convictions - while at least 48 others have been executed. 
All the cases that were reviewed were eventually dismissed by the high courts 
and the Supreme Court. Only the conviction of Muhammad Imran was set-aside by 
the Peshawar High Court.

Astonishingly, 93 % of the convictions are based on confessions where the 
accused were defended by 'military officers' and the families had limited 
access in these matters.

There are around 3 million cases pending in our courts. In some cases, it takes 
decades to prove that a person is not guilty. A system with a weak 
administration of justice, false FIRs, incomplete and outdated investigation, 
corrupt practices, the unavailability of modern forensics for the investigation 
process, false testimonies, weak prosecution, limited access to lawyers due to 
financial or other reasons and overburdened courts where only the rich can 
afford justice takes between 15 and 20 years to decide a criminal case. It 
can't guarantee the accused the right to a fair trial.

How can the state legitimise the death penalty when it has failed to guarantee 
these important components of an individual's right to a fair trial? The state 
shouldn't execute people on the basis of a deficient and fragile criminal 
justice system. In order to guarantee the right to a fair trial and make the 
administration of justice efficient, it is essential that Pakistan work on its 
police, prosecution, parole, prisons and judicial systems.

When capital punishment is non-reversible, has no special deterrent effect and 
is based on a system where there is a high probability of a miscarriage of 
justice, executions can never serve as good options. Therefore, Pakistan should 
reinstate moratorium on death penalty and should ratify the Second Protocol to 
the ICCPR. It should also work to improve its criminal justice system by 
protecting witnesses, lawyers and judges. It should introduce timely reforms in 
the criminal justice system because after January 7, 2019, problems within this 
system might be used once again a rational ground to further extend the 
operation of military courts.

(source: Irshad Ahmad; The writer is a Peshawar-based lawyer----thenews.com.pk)








INDIA:

Godhra verdict: Gujarat High Court commutes death penalty of 11 convicts to 
life imprisonment



The Gujarat High Court today pronounced the verdict in 2002 Godhra train 
carnage.

The High Court commuted the death penalty of 11 convicts to life imprisonment. 
The court sustained the acquittal of 31 accused and also sustained the life 
term of 20 convicts.

While awarding compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the victims, which is over and 
above already paid under various schemes, the court said that the state 'failed 
to maintain law and order.'

In the horrific incident, 59 passengers were charred to death at the Godhra 
railway station on February 27, 2002.

According to the prosecution, the Sabarmati Express was late and as per 
pre-planned conspiracy, the chain was pulled just outside the railway station 
and mob armed with lethal weapon and carrying petrol attacked the train.

They pelted stone and locked the doors of the S6 coach from outside. They 
poured petrol inside the coach and set it on fire.

59 passengers in the coach died after suffering severe burn injuries and 
suffocation.

According to police investigation, Aman Guest house owner Abdul Razak Kurkur 
had procured 60 litre patrol from a fuel pump on February 26. He had hatched 
the conspiracy of attacking the Sabarmati Express train at his guest house 
along with Bilal Hussain Kalota.

The other accused according to the police investigation was Maulan Umarji. The 
probe said that on the morning of February 27, he had appealed people from 
minority community using the mosque loud speaker to gather and rush to railway 
station.

Interestingly, the trial court has acquitted him. After acquittal he died due 
to old age.

However, Kurkur and Kalota with 29 others were convicted for hatching 
conspiracy and for murder.

The special court's additional sessions judge PR Patel while accepting 
prosecution theory of pre-planned, had passed verdict running in 850 pages in 
2011.

The first part of judgment of conviction was announced on February 22 and 
quantum of punishment on February 25.

(source: dnaindia.com)

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

Will the Government Abolish Execution by Hanging? Supreme Court Seeks 
Response----The apex court has asked the central government to respond to the 
PIL within 3 weeks.



Acting on a writ petition challenging the mode of execution in a death 
sentence, the Supreme Court on Friday has observed that the legislature could 
consider another mode rather than the present one in practice, which is hanging 
by neck till the prisoner is dead.

The apex court sought the central government's response to the plea within 
three weeks. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed by senior 
lawyer Rishi Malhotra in his personal capacity.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said: "What would be the 
mode will be decided by the legislature".

"Prima-facie with the invention of various modes, the legislature can think of 
some other mode by which a convict who in law has to face death sentence shall 
die in peace and not in pain," said a bench headed by Misra.

The petition said that the present practice of execution under 354(5) Criminal 
procedure code (Cr.P.C) is not only barbaric, inhuman and cruel but also 
against the resolutions adopted by United Nations Economic and Social Council 
which had categorically stated that if capital punishment is to occur it shall 
be carried out so as to inflict minimum possible suffering.

Speaking to Newsclick, the petitioner lawyer, Rishi Malhotra said he welcomed 
the court's observations. "The Supreme Court has directed the central 
government and the attorney general to respond in this matter within 3 weeks," 
he said.

Relying on the judgments in Gian Kaur Vs State of Punjab (1996), Deena Vs Union 
of India (1983) and 2 reports of the law commission (which established that 
execution by hanging involves intense pain and suffering) in support of his 
petition, Malhotra has prayed the court to declare provisions contained under 
354(5) Cr.P.C., 1973 to be ultra vires to the Constitution and especially in 
contravention of Article 21 of the Constitution and to declare 'Right to Die by 
a dignified procedure of death' as a Fundamental right as defined under Article 
21 of the Constitution of India. The petition also prayed to pass any such 
further orders or directions the honourable court may deem fit and proper in 
the facts and circumstances of the case.

The petition also said that as compared to hanging, death is less painful and 
is a matter of minutes in other modes of execution such as intravenous lethal 
injections, shooting, electrocution or gas chamber.

However, hanging is the most common method of execution across the world with 
the laws of 60 countries authorising it, according to the Death Penalty 
Database .

(source: newsclick.in)



IRAN:

Stop execution of women in Iran



October 10, marks the World Day against the Death Penalty.

Death penalty violates the most fundamental human rights, the right to life and 
the right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

The death penalty is also considered discriminatory as it is often used against 
the most vulnerable in society, including the poor, ethnic and religious 
minorities, and people with mental disabilities. It is also used by some 
governments to silence their opponents.

Iran is the world's leading per capita executioner. It also holds the record in 
the execution of women and minors.

The Iranian regime is among those governments that execute their opponents. 
120,000 people have been executed in Iran since 1981 for their opposition to 
the government, at least 1/3 of whom have been women. According to the 
international laws, pregnant women must not be executed, whereas in Iran, at 
least 50 pregnant women have been executed in the 1980s. Women were also 
executed en masse in 1988, during the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 
Iran.

The Iranian regime uses execution as a tool to suppress and silence a 
disgruntled public the majority of whom live under the poverty line, are 
unemployed and deprived of freedom of expression.

Execution is a tool which helps the mullahs' regime hold its grab on power. 
Over 3,200 people have been executed over the past 4 years under Hassan 
Rouhani. In the same period, 81 women have been executed, 10 since January 
2017.

Among the reasons that lead to the execution of women are early forced 
marriages, being deprived of the right to divorce, domestic violence against 
women, and poverty.

The international law recommends alternative punishments for imprisonment of 
women who are mothers and have to take care of their children. In Iran, 
however, mothers are not only imprisoned but handed death sentences.

Most women do not report violence and rape because judicial authorities might 
hold the woman, the victim, guilty and accuse her of illicit relations which is 
punishable by death.

One of the infamous cases of execution of women has been the case of Reyhaneh 
Jabbari. Reyhaneh was an interior designer, 19 years old, when she was 
assaulted by one of her clients, a senior official of the Intelligence 
Ministry. Reyhaneh killed the man in self-defense, however, the court convicted 
and executed her after 7 years of torture and imprisonment, on October 25, 
2014. The Intelligence Ministry and prison officials wanted Reyhaneh to make 
false confessions to justify the crime of their official in exchange for her 
life.

On the World Day Against the Death Penalty, we draw attention to the plight of 
women in Iran who are victims of execution and urge the international community 
to pressure the Iranian regime to stop the death penalty, especially against 
women.

(source: NCR-Iran)








EGYPT:

Egypt court recommends death penalty for 13 members of disbanded militant group



13 members of disbanded militant group Ajnad Misr were sentenced to death on 
Sunday by a Cairo criminal court after being convicted of launching attacks on 
security forces, judicial sources said.

Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, were a group that emerged in January 2014 and 
targeted security forces in and around the Egyptian capital.

The group's leader was killed by security forces in 2015, and many of its 
remaining members are held in custody.

The court referred its sentencing recommendation to the country's top religious 
authority, the Grand Mufti, for a non-binding but legally required opinion.

Once that is received, the court will then formally announce its verdict on 
Dec. 7, after which time the sentence can be carried out.

Egypt is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai that gained momentum in 
mid-2013 when the military ousted Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Mursi 
after mass protests against his rule. Hundreds of soldiers and police have been 
killed.

The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful movement but Egyptian security forces do 
not differentiate between it and groups such as Ajnad Misr and Islamic State, 
which has led the insurgency in recent years.

(source: Reuters)








PHILIPPINES:

'No death penalty means no EJK'



There are no extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the Philippines because there is 
no death penalty, Malacanang said yesterday as it stressed that slain drug 
suspects either fought with police or were killed by drug syndicates.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has drawn flak after declaring that there 
is not a single EJK in the country despite the rising number of deaths linked 
to President Duterte's war on drugs.

Officials have defended the claim, citing Administrative Order 35, which 
defined EJK as the killing of members of cause-oriented organizations, 
advocates, media practitioners or victims of mistaken identity. Malacanang has 
said that the order, issued by former president Benigno Aquino III, has not 
been revoked so the definition of EJK remains the same.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar insisted that there is no 
EJK in the Philippines because state-sponsored killings are not allowed under 
the Constitution

"We do not have judicial killing, we do not have capital punishment. It is 
prohibited to kill in our country. So why is there extrajudicial killing when 
there is no judicial killing? Why put 'extra?' So there are no extrajudicial 
killings in our country. There is no judicial killing, it is not state 
sponsored, it is not legal, it is not in our Constitution," Andanar told radio 
station dzBB yesterday.

But Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon described the PNP claim as 
propaganda, saying over dzBB "they (PNP) are trying to take us for fools. Do 
they actually think the people will believe them?"

The Commission on Human Rights has also described the government's definition 
of EJKs as "inappropriate," noting that AO 35 was issued to address politically 
motivated killings.

Andanar also dared the policemen who went to the Catholic Bishops' Conference 
of the Philippines to confess their involvement in EJKs to show proof that the 
government is behind the killings.

"They should show proof. It is easy to talk and to make allegations ... Gather 
the evidence, file cases. It's easy to make noise, for example, that there are 
13,000 people who were killed. With regard to EJK, the government has real 
numbers and only 3,000 died because of drug operations," Andanar said.

(source: Philippine Star)








TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:

Poverty, Justice - a deadly mix



For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a failure, as it obliges the 
state to kill in the name of justice. (Pope Francis)

On Tuesday the World will observe the 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty. 
The theme this year is: Poverty and Justice: a deadly mix. It "aims at raising 
awareness about the reasons why people living in poverty are at a greater risk 
of being sentenced to death and executed."

Capital punishment remains in the legal system of 11 English-speaking countries 
in the region - of which 2 countries retain the mandatory death penalty for 
murder (TT and Barbados). Although the last hanging took place in St Kitts in 
2008 and few death sentences have been handed down in the region, since then, 
these countries have consistently voted against the UN resolutions on a 
moratorium on the use of the death penalty and have signed the note verbale, 
dissociating them from the Moratorium. It is to be noted that recent 
international studies and research show that capital punishment does not act as 
a deterrent, nor does it foster respect for life in our communities.

The World Coalition against the Death Penalty (WCADP) states: "Since the 1980s, 
there has been a global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty, a 
trend which continues to this day. According to Amnesty International, 16 
countries had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes in 1977. Today, 
2/3 of all countries (141) are now abolitionist in law or in practice.

"However, the application of the death penalty is inextricably linked to 
poverty. Social and economic inequalities affect access to justice for those 
who are sentenced to death for several reasons: defendants may lack resources 
(social and economic, but also political power) to defend themselves and will, 
in some cases, be discriminated against because of their social status??? "In 
the United States, in 2017, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, 95 % of 
people on death row have disadvantaged economic backgrounds. A defendant who 
does not have the financial capacity to hire a private lawyer will have to rely 
on the free legal aid provided by the government. Such attorneys, however, are 
often underpaid and unprepared for death penalty cases. Poverty is not solely 
an economic issue, but rather a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses a 
lack of both income and the basic capabilities to live in dignity."

(See: 
http://www.worldcoalition.org/media/resourcecenter/EN_2017WorldDayLeaflet.pdf 
for ten reasons why the death penalty is used discriminatorily, and often 
against the poor and should be abolished.)

The Bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference stated in their 2016 Pastoral 
Letter: Human Life is Gift from God: "We wish to affirm the Church's teaching 
in regard to the inherent dignity of every human being. As such, every effort 
must be made to protect and preserve the sanctity of life. We believe that the 
protection of society and the common good are assured by a proper functioning 
justice system that detects and convicts and by a prison system that focuses on 
rehabilitation.

"We urge our Governments to strengthen the capacity of public institutions, 
including criminal justice systems, to address crime and violence; to address 
the risk factors that contribute to crime, for example: poverty, urban decay, 
social inequality and exclusion, family disintegration, poor parenting, lack of 
quality education and employment, poor housing, the proliferation of guns, 
drugs and gangs in the region, human trafficking, domestic violence, and to 
employ related preventive measures. We stand ready and urge our faithful and 
all people of good will to work together to this end.

"While we oppose the death penalty, we embrace the victims of violent crimes; 
those who are hurting and grieving for their loved ones who have been killed, 
at times in the most heinous ways. We urge each parish to establish victim 
support groups and seek to meet their physical, mental, spiritual, financial 
and other needs."

Pope Francis has repeatedly called for the abolition of the death penalty 
which, he says, "is an offence to the inviolability of life and to the dignity 
of the human person ... there is no humane way of killing another person. The 
commandment 'thou shall not kill' has absolute value and pertains to the 
innocent as well as the guilty."

Pro-life, means pro-ALL LIFE.

(source: Leela Ramdeen is the chair of the Catholic Commission for Social 
Justice and chair of the Greater Caribbean for Life----newsday.co.tt)