[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 6



PHILIPPINES:

Pacquiao interprets Bible differently in pushing death penalty: CBCP


An official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines-Commission 
on Prison Pastoral Care (CBCP-CPPC) said Senator Manny Pacquiao has a different 
understanding of the Bible.

CBCP-CPPC executive secretary Rodolfo Diamante made the remarks in response to 
Pacquiao's justification of death penalty as 'biblical'.

"It is just unfortunate that (Senator) Pacquiao has a wrong interpretation of 
the Bible. He is actually misleading the public on his own understanding of the 
scriptural passage. This is what is dangerous," Diamante said in an interview 
on Monday.

"The Senator should ask his staff to do some solid research before sharing his 
thoughts on any issue," he added.

At the same time, the CBCP-ECPPC official reminded Pacquiao that it is his duty 
as a public official to be a protector of life.

"Furthermore, he was elected by the people to protect the quality of Life of 
people and not to extinguish it," he added.

In a radio interview on Saturday, the boxing champion-turned-senator said he 
will push for the speedy passage of a law reinstating death penalty in the 
country.

Pacquiao's statements came after Pope Francis declared that death penalty is 
unacceptable and can never be justified, even for heinous crimes.

President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier reiterated his stand in favor of 
restoring death penalty as a deterrent against crime and illegal drugs.

In June 2006, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9346 
which abolished death penalty in the country.

(source: pna.gov.ph)

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Remembering the Chiong sisters


21 years ago, on July 16, 1997, 2 sisters, Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong, were 
abducted by 7 men as they were standing at a waiting shed at around 10:30 p.m. 
along Archbishop Reyes Avenue in Cebu City. 2 days later, the body of Marijoy 
was found at the bottom of a deep ravine in Tan-awan, Carcar City. The body of 
Jacqueline was never recovered.

7 men were convicted by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 7, Cebu City, of the 
crime: Francisco Juan Larranaga, alias Paco; Josman Aznar; Rowen Adlawan alias 
Wesley; Alberto Cano alias Allan Pahak; Ariel Balansag; and brothers James 
Andrew Uy alias "MM" and James Anthony Uy alias "Wang-Wang."

The decision dated May 5, 1999, found them "guilty beyond reasonable doubt of 
the crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention and sentencing each of 
them to suffer the penalties of '2 reclusiones perpetua,' plus damages."

The conviction was appealed to the Supreme Court.

On Feb. 3, 2004, the Supreme Court rendered its decision. It said, "These cases 
involve the kidnapping, and illegal detention of a college beauty and her 
comely and courageous sister. An intriguing tale of ribaldry and gang rape was 
followed by the murder of the beauty queen. She was thrown off a cliff into a 
deep forested ravine where she was left to die. Her sister was subjected to 
heartless indignities, before she was also gang-raped. In the aftermath of the 
kidnapping and rape, the sister was made to disappear. Where she is, and what 
further crimes were inflicted upon her, remain unknown and unsolved up to the 
present." (People vs Larranaga, 421 SCRA 530 at 541)

The dispositive portion of the decision reads: "WHEREFORE, the Decision of the 
Regional Trial Court, Branch 7, Cebu City, in Criminal Cases nos. CBU-45303 and 
45304 is AFFIRMED with the following modifications: (1) In Criminal Case no. 
CBU-45303, the accused 'are found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the special 
complex crime of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with homicide and 
rape, and are sentenced to suffer the penalty of DEATH by lethal injection." 
(This is the case involving Marijoy.)

Note that the Supreme Court not only affirmed the decision of the lower court, 
but also imposed a higher penalty - death penalty by lethal injection. The 
Court explained why it imposed the death penalty: "The prosecution was able to 
prove that Marijoy was pushed to a ravine and died. Both girls were raped by 
the gang. In committing the crimes, appellants subjected them to dehumanizing 
acts. Dehumanization means 'deprivation of human qualities, such as 
compassion.' From our review of the evidence presented, we found the following 
dehumanizing acts committed by appellants: (1) Marijoy and Jacqueline were 
handcuffed and their mouths mercilessly taped; (2) They were beaten to severe 
weakness during their detention; (3) Jacqueline was made to dance amidst the 
rough manners and lewd suggestions of the appellants; (4) She was taunted to 
run and forcibly dragged to the van; and (5) Until now, Jacqueline remains 
missing, which aggravates the Chiong family's pain. All told, considering that 
the victims were raped, that Marijoy was killed, and that both victims were 
subjected to dehumanizing acts, the imposition of the death penalty on the 
appellants is in order." (People vs Larra???aga, supra, at pages 579-580)

As to the alibis presented by the accused, I suggest we read the records of the 
case. (People vs Larranaga, supra, at pages 573-576)

The decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous. The Associate Justices were 
Reynato Puno, Jose Vitug, Artemio Panganiban, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo 
Ynares Santiago, Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez, Antonio Carpio, Ma. Alicia 
Austria Martinez, Renato C. Corona, Conchita Carpio Morales, Romeo Callejo Sr. 
and Dante Tinga. All concurred.

Chief Justice Hilario Davide took no part, being related by affinity to the 
victims, while Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna was on official leave.

In 2006, capital punishment was abolished, and the death sentences of the 7 
convicts who were on death row awaiting execution were commuted to life in 
prison.

An interesting development took place in 2007. A prisoner exchange treaty was 
signed between Spain and the Philippines. It was called the Treaty on the 
Transfer of Sentenced Persons between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Spain. 
Paco Larranaga, 1 of the 7 men convicted, was a Spanish citizen. Under the 
treaty, he could be allowed to serve the remainder of his prison term in Spain, 
although the Spanish government would be bound by the terms of his conviction. 
In 2009, Larranaga left the Philippines for a Spanish prison.

In remembrance of the Chiong sisters, perhaps Foreign Secretary Alan Peter 
Cayetano could check if Larranaga is still in a Spanish prison. (source: Ramon 
Farolan - opinion.inquirer.net)






BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh considers death penalty for fatal road accidents


Bangladesh's cabinet on Monday will consider capital punishment for traffic 
accident deaths, a law ministry official said, as thousands of students held 
protests for a 9th day over the deaths of 2 teenagers by a speeding bus in 
Dhaka.

Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding 
changes to Bangladesh's transport laws, paralysing the crowded capital of 18 
million, after the 2 teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran 
over a group of students on July 29.

"In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of 
punishment if it is killing by an accident," said the law ministry official, 
who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a 
decision.

The current punishment is a maximum jail term of 3 years. Using the death 
penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's 
transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged 
from 14 years in the UK in extreme cases to 2 years in India.

Sheikh Shafi, a student of a polytechnic institute in Dhaka who lost his 
brother in a road accident in 2015, said one of the problems was that bus 
drivers are not paid fixed monthly salaries instead only earn commissions based 
on the number of passengers, forcing them to work long hours.

"Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum 
of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated," said Shafi, who 
was injured while protesting on Saturday.

Amid the ongoing protests, an official vehicle carrying the US ambassador to 
Bangladesh was attacked by a group of armed men on Sunday, some on motorcycles, 
the embassy said in a statement. There were no injuries but 2 vehicles were 
damaged.

The embassy has condemned the "brutal attacks and violence" against the student 
protesters by security forces, a charge the government denies.

Police said they did not have an immediate explanation as to why the US 
ambassador came under attack.

(source: iol.co.za)






TURKEY:

Death penalty debate rekindled in Turkey


Speculation surrounding the reintroduction of the death penalty has heightened 
in Turkey following comments made by head of a minor Turkish party allied with 
the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Cumhuriyet newspaper said.

Mustafa Destici, leader of the Great Unity Party (BBP), suggested a proposal to 
reinstate the death penalty for offences such as murder, treason and sexual 
offences against children would be introduced to Turkey's parliament in 
October. He also suggested a referendum could be held in which the electorate 
could decide on the issue. Debate about the death penalty, abolished in 2004, 
has been ongoing in Turkey since the attempted coup of July 2016, with 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having frequently said he would endorse any 
legislation that reinstates the punishment.

However implementing any such decision would be problematic according to Ozturk 
Turkdogan, head of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD). Turkdogan, a 
lawyer, pointed out that Destici's proposal would require changing Turkey's 
constitution, rather than laws and that gaining the necessary numbers of votes 
in Turkey's 600 seat parliaments to do this, or even to bring the issue to a 
referendum, would be difficult.

He also pointed out that Turkey is a signatory to the United Nations 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Additional Protocol No. 2 
and a member of the European Court of Human Rights, both of which prohibit the 
death penalty.

Any reintroduction of the death penalty, Turkdogan said, would also be 
tantamount to "economic suicide", because it would result in the official end 
of Turkey's decades old-bid for European Union membership.

(source: ahvalnews.com)






IRAQ:

Iraq hands death penalty to al-Qaeda member responsible for massacre 11 years 
ago


An Iraqi court in the province of Diyala on Sunday sentenced an al-Qaeda member 
to death, convicted of killing 19 people in an attack on a village 11 years 
ago, the court announced.

Last week, the same court sentenced 4 more al-Qaeda members to death who were 
convicted of carrying out attacks in the country in 2007.

"The Diyala Criminal Court has sentenced to death by hanging one of those 
convicted of terrorism after committing criminal acts and belonging to 
al-Qaeda," Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, the spokesperson for the Supreme 
Judicial Council, said in a statement.

He added that "among the terrorist operations carried out by the convict, the 
man killed 19 people, kidnapped 2 others, and wounded 1 person after an attack 
with the armed group [al-Qaeda] on the village of Amiriyah - al-Rawashd in 
Diyala Province."

Last year, a court in Basra sentenced 3 people to death for the same attack 
carried out by several al-Qaeda militants in late July 2007 in the village of 
al-Rawashd.

The exact number of those accused of the incident remains unknown. It is also 
unclear how many other convicted members of the extremist group are in Iraqi 
prisons awaiting the same fate.

Different human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have 
repeatedly expressed their concerns about the rising number of death sentences 
in Iraq.

Aside from their condemnation, the organizations warn that efforts by Iraqi 
authorities to escalate the implementation of death sentences could lead to the 
execution of innocent people.

(source: kurdistan24.net)