[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 10




BOTSWANA:

The Paradox of Botswana's Death Penalty


In the global effort to end capital punishment, Amnesty International calls 
Sub-Saharan Africa a "beacon of hope." But one country that typically ranks 
near the top of regional governance indexes continues to defend the practice.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with no shortage of development challenges, 
Botswana stands out for its strong economy, stable democracy, and commitment to 
the rule of law. But by one measure - its support for capital punishment - 
Botswana is frighteningly narrow-minded. If the country of my birth is to 
retain its reputation as one of Africa's most liberal states, it must confront 
its affinity for the gallows.

According to Amnesty International, most of Africa is abandoning the death 
penalty. Today, just 10 African countries allow for capital punishment, and 
only a handful ever use it. Botswana - an affluent, landlocked, 
diamond-exporting state - is among the leading exceptions. After a lull in 
killings in 2017, Botswana has resumed executing convicted murderers; Joseph 
Tselayarona, 28, was executed in February, while Uyapo Poloko, 37, was put to 
death in May.

Botswana's legal system - and the basis for capital punishment - is rooted in 
English and Roman-Dutch common law. According to the country's penal code, the 
preferred punishment for murder is death by hanging. And, while the 
constitution protects a citizen's "right to life," it makes an exception when 
the termination of a life is "in execution of the sentence of a court."

But the country's relationship to the death penalty predates its current legal 
statutes. In the pre-colonial era, tribal chiefs - known as kgosi - imposed the 
penalty for crimes such as murder, sorcery, incest, and conspiracy. To this 
day, history is often invoked to defend the status quo. In a 2012 judgment, the 
Botswana Court of Appeals wrote that capital punishment has been imposed "since 
time immemorial," and "its abolition would be a departure from the accepted 
norm." After Tselayarona was executed, the government even tweeted a photo of 
then-President Ian Khama under a caption that read, "Death penalty serves 
nation well."

To be sure, the number of executions in Botswana pales in comparison to the 
world's leaders. Of the 993 executions recorded by Amnesty International last 
year, 84% were carried out by just 4 countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and 
Pakistan. The total does not include China, believed to be the world's largest 
executioner, because death-penalty data there are classified as a state secret. 
By contrast, Botswana has executed roughly 50 people since independence in 
1966. And yet the very existence of capital punishment will remain a stain on 
the country until it is abolished.

According to Amnesty International, 142 countries have abolished the death 
penalty. In its most recent death-penalty survey, the group pointed to 
Sub-Saharan Africa as a "beacon of hope" in the global effort to eradicate the 
practice. Last year, Kenya took a positive step by ending mandatory imposition 
of the death penalty for murder. And Guinea became the 20th country in the 
region to abolish capital punishment for all crimes. When will Botswana follow 
suit?

Botswana has been in the vanguard on human-rights issues before. For example, 
after South Africa's threat to withdraw from the International Criminal Court 
in October 2016, Botswana's leaders defended the ICC and reaffirmed their 
commitment to international law. Then, in February 2018, Khama broke the 
silence among African leaders and called for Joseph Kabila, the autocratic 
president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to "relinquish power." The same 
month, the Botswana government criticized the UN Security Council for its 
handling of the crisis in Syria.

Taking a progressive stance on the death penalty would seem a natural step in 
the evolution of Botswana's liberal agenda. But the government has only dug in 
deeper, and contradictory international laws mean that Botswana is under no 
great pressure to change course. While both the African Charter on Human and 
Peoples' Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contain de facto 
prohibitions on capital punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights (ICCPR) recognizes a state's authority to retain the practice. 
An "optional" auxiliary amendment to the ICCPR, adopted in 1989, sought to 
close this loophole, but Botswana did not sign it.

Public opinion also favors preserving the status quo. According to an online 
survey conducted by the national newspaper Mmegi, support for capital 
punishment remains high among voters, which explains why the issue has never 
gained traction in Parliament.

And yet there is simply no evidence to support the authorities' argument that 
the death penalty lowers rates of violent crime. Convincing the public of this 
will require visionary leadership, not to mention more legal challenges that 
force the courts to take up and debate the issue.

Botswana's would-be abolitionists need not look far for inspiration. When South 
Africa's Constitutional Court ended capital punishment in 1995, opponents of 
the decision argued that the court was not in tune with public opinion; some 
even called for a referendum. But the framers of South Africa's post-apartheid 
constitution, which entered into force in 1997, held their ground and the 
practice was abolished.

As the South African court wrote in its opinion: "Everyone, including the most 
abominable of human beings, has the right to life." The goal for leaders in 
Botswana must be to convince their constituents - and perhaps also themselves - 
to embrace the universality of that sentiment.

(source: Mary-Jean Nleya is an associate fellow of at the Royal Commonwealth 
Society and founder of The Global Communique, a digital current-affairs 
magazine. Previously, she was a contractor at the International Criminal Court, 
and, in 2015, she was selected as one of Africa's 100 brightest young minds by 
Brightest Young Minds, South Africa----Commentary; Project Syndicate)






INDIA:

HC upholds death penalty to rapist Says punishment may convey message to such 
predators


Observing that the extreme punishment may convey a message to predators 
(rapists) that they cannot get reprieve in the guise of humanity the high 
court's principal bench at Jabalpur upheld on Wednesday a death penalty awarded 
to a 23-year-old rapist who had killed his victim too.

The division bench of chief justice justice Hemant Gupta and justice Vijay 
Kumar Shukla said, "It is an act of extreme depravity when the appellant 
prompted a young child whose only fault was that she believed the appellant to 
be her well-wisher. The crimes against the girl child are on rise, therefore, 
extreme punishment may deter the other criminals indulging in such crime."

The bench said, "The extreme punishment may convey a message to these predators 
that it is not a soft state where the criminals committing such serious crimes 
may get reprieve in the guise of humanity. The humanity is more in danger in 
the hands of the persons like the appellant. Therefore, we find that the 
capital punishment awarded to the appellant is one of the rarest of rare cases 
where the extreme capital punishment is warranted."

As per copy of the judgment the crime was committed at a village in Shahdol 
district, 592 kilometers east of Bhopal, on May 13, 2017. The child's father is 
a labourer who was out of his house on his routine job when the girl was 
reported missing from her rented house in the morning. A frantic search for the 
girl led to no result.

During investigation wife of the landlord told the police that she had seen the 
accused Vinod alias Rahul Chaudaha taking the girl with him on the pretext of 
giving her biscuit and chocolate.

After arrest by police the accused confessed to have committed the crime and 
led the police team to a place where he had buried the girl's body. Forensic 
laboratory confirmed the DNA test as positive.

The district and sessions judge, Shahdol convicted the accused and sentenced 
him to death penalty on February 28, 2018 under sections 302 and 376A of Indian 
Penal Code (IPC) and section 5/6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences 
Act, 2012.

(source: Hindustan Times)






SRI LANKA:

Noose looms large for Sri Lankan drug dealers----Activists and religious 
leaders oppose the government's decision to hang persistent offenders


Many drugs are smuggled into Sri Lanka on fishing vessels. A Sunday school 
teacher claims her fisherman father is innocent after drugs were found on his 
boat.

Harshi Sudarshani, a Sunday school teacher in Negombo, and her younger brother 
have faced strained relationships with their friends since their father was 
arrested on a drug charge.

The fisherman was arrested after packets of heroin were found on the boat in 
which he spends long periods at sea in search of tuna.

Sudarshani, who joined religious leaders on an anti-drug protest with thousands 
of others in Negombo in February, denies her father's involvement in drug 
trafficking and blames the businessman owner of the boat.

(source: La Croix International)






PAKISTAN:

Murder convict sentenced to death in Sargodha


A court sentenced a man to death sentence on Thursday for his involvement in a 
murder case in Sargodha. The judgment was announced by Additional District and 
Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal Ranjha.

The prosecution told the court that Ansar Iqbal, in connivance with Ghulam 
Murtaza, gunned down his uncle Muhammad Akram over a family dispute in 2016.

The local police registered a case against the accused and presented the 
challan before the court. After hearing the arguments, the judge handed down a 
death sentence to Ansar and imposed a fine of Rs0.3 million on him.

However, the court acquitted the other co-accused, giving him the benefit of 
doubt.

Earlier, a court awarded death penalty to a convict for his involvement in a 
murder case in Faisalabad. Additional Sessions Judge Asadullah Siraj announced 
the verdict.

(source: The Express Tribune)






IRAN:

Execution of at Least 2 Prisoners Including an Afghan Citizen


At least 2 prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison on murder charges. 
According to a close source, on the morning of Wednesday, August 8, at least 2 
prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison. The prisoners, sentenced to 
death on murder charges, were transferred to the solitary confinement in a 
group of 6 on Sunday, August 5. The other 4 prisoners returned to their cells 
by either winning the consent of the plaintiffs or asking for time.

1 of the prisoners who was executed was identified as Mohammad Abdi from ward 
10. He was arrested on the charge of murder 12 years ago.

A close source told IHR, "The plaintiffs didn't want to be present at the time 
of the execution, only their lawyer was there."

The other prisoner who was executed was an Afghan citizen who was sentenced to 
death on murder charges. He has not been identified so far.

The execution of these prisoners has not been announced by the state-run media 
so far.

According to confirmed reports by Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 36 people 
were executed in different Iranian cities in the month of July, 24 of whom were 
sentenced to death on murder charges.

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

4 Afghan Citizens Scheduled to Be Executed


4 Afghan citizens who were sentenced to death on the charge of "armed drug 
trafficking and the murder of a police officer" are scheduled to be executed at 
Birjand Central Prison in the next few days.

According to a close source, 4 Afghan citizens are going to be executed at 
Birjand Central Prison in the next few days. The prisoners are named Shah 
Mohammad Miran Zehi, Eid Mohammad Miran Zehi, Mohammad Miran Zehi, and Ahmad 
Shah Saghzehi. The prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of "armed 
drug trafficking and the murder of a police officer".

A co-defendant of the prisoners named Seraj Gavkhor, has been sentenced to 25 
years and 1 day. All 5 prisoners are currently held at ward 105 of Birjand 
Central Prison. Their verdict was delivered to them on Saturday, August 4, and 
they were told that their sentence would be implemented before August 15.

Mohammad Miran Zehi told IHR, "They tortured and forced a confession out of us. 
They didn't find any weapons or drugs on us. We were unaware of the incident. 
We were tortured and made to accept the accusations. We denied the murder 
charge in the court but the judge didn't care. We didn't kill the guard. We 
were accused of killing him after we trespassed the border."

He continued, "They told us to admit to murdering a border guard in an assault, 
which we didn't. Then they told us that if we admitted to trafficking drugs 
from Afghanistan, they would save us from execution, but we didn't accept it. 
We only accepted the charges under torture but, in the court, we said that we 
were unaware of what happened and we were not involved in the murder at all."

The prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of "armed drug trafficking" 
at branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Birjand.

A close source told IHR, "The defendants were in a village named Bandan when 
the border guards attacked them while they possessed no drugs or weapons. But 
they were charged with armed possession of 142 kilograms of opium and 2 
Kalashnikov rifles." He added, "6 years ago, they were trying to cross the 
Iranian-Afghan border illegally when they were attacked by some border guards. 
A few days before that, a guard was murdered in an assault, that is why they 
tortured and made the defendants confess to murdering the guard."

It's worth mentioning that Birjand Central Prison is located in Birjand, South 
Khorasan province.

Iran Human Rights expresses its concern about the lack of a fair trial for 
these Afghan citizens and demands that Iranian judicial authorities should stop 
the execution of these prisoners immediately and hold a fair trial.

(source for both: Iran Human Rights)