[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 31



TAIWAN----execution

Taiwan carries out 1st execution in 2 years amid anti-death penalty pleas


Taiwan executed a death-row inmate on Friday, the 1st execution carried out 
under President Tsai Ing-wen's government and despite ongoing calls from rights 
groups to abolish the death penalty.

Lee Hung-chi was executed at a jail in southern Kaohsiung city Friday afternoon 
by firing squad, according to the justice ministry, for killing his ex-wife and 
5-year-old daughter in 2014.

Lee stabbed his ex-wife to death outside the kindergarten their 2 daughters 
attended and then took 1 of the girls to his car, where he attempted to commit 
suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Lee survived after they were rescued but the girl died 2 months later despite 
treatment.

"His actions were brutal and ruthless ... and inflicted irreparable harms to 
the victims' families," deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters, 
adding that the court had ruled there was no likelihood of Lee reforming.

Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a 5-year hiatus, with the death 
penalty reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and 
kidnapping.

Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various 
opinion surveys show majority support for the death penalty.

Chen said the government was gradually decreasing its use, but would not 
abolish it for now.

"Abolishing death sentence is an international trend and a long-term goal for 
the justice ministry ... but there is no consensus in our country," Chen said.

There are currently 42 prisoners on death row in Taiwan.

Lee's execution was the 1st since a former college student was put to death in 
May 2016 for killing 4 people in a random stabbing spree on a subway that 
shocked the generally peaceful island.

In 2012 the murder of a young boy in a playground reignited the debate over the 
death penalty after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board 
and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to 
kill 2 or 3 people.

(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)

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

Taiwan executes convict on president's birthday----Murderer was 1st convict to 
be executed since president took office in May 2016


A man who stabbed his former wife to death outside a school and caused the 
death of a 6-year-old daughter became the 1st death row convict to be executed 
since President Tsai Ing-wen came to office in May 2016.

Even though Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party includes several prominent 
opponents of capital punishment, the practice still receives overwhelming 
support from the public according to opinion polls.

Lee Hung-chi, 39, was shot Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Justice said. It 
added he formed a serious threat to law and order and showed no possibility of 
remorse.

Before the murder, he had already spent 11 months in prison for violating a 
restraining order and trying to kill both his daughters and commit suicide.

In April 2014, he first stabbed his ex-wife to death and then abducted 1 of 
their 2 daughters from the school.

Having driven to a mountainous area, he drugged the girl and burned charcoal 
inside the car in order to cause both of their deaths, according to the Apple 
Daily. He survived, but the girl died 2 months later, the Central News Agency 
reported.

The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced him to life in prison, a combination of 
a 15-year jail term for killing his wife and life for the death of their 
daughter.

However, the Taiwan High Court changed the sentences to life for the death of 
his ex-wife and capital punishment for the death of the girl. In 2016, the 
Supreme Court confirmed the verdict, making it the 1st death sentence issued 
since Tsai was sworn in as president.

The Ministry of Justice said the order for Lee's execution was signed on 
Thursday, and rejected reporters' questions about a link with the fact that the 
president was marking her 62nd birthday Friday.

Taiwan's most recent execution until now occurred just days before Tsai took 
over, when student Cheng Chieh was shot for killing 4 people on a Taipei Mass 
Rapid Transit train.

With Lee's death, there were reportedly still 42 convicts on death row in 
Taiwan.

(source: Taiwan News)






CANADA:

Canadians shouldn't support executions


Canadians can influence Florida's death penalty, Aug. 26

Dec. 11, 2018 will mark 56 years since 2 men were hanged in Canada. These last 
state-sanctioned executions to happen here took place at Toronto's infamous Don 
Jail in 1962. In 1976, Canada abolished capital punishment.

Before some Canadians take issue with Florida's use of the death penalty - a 
punishment I am against - we should take note of our own country's attitude to 
sanctioning state murder.

Believe it or not, most Canadians favour bringing back capital punishment, even 
while Americans are slowly moving away from it. Repeated polls reveal that a 
majority of Canadians to this day favour some return of the death penalty. 
According to a 2016 survey by Abacus Data, 58 % of Canadians want their country 
to join the likes of China, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia in sanctioning state 
murder!

The ultimate punishment is wrong. Abolitionists argue the death penalty is more 
expensive than imprisonment, has little effectiveness as a deterrent and risks 
the execution of innocent people. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated 
the death penalty. Since then, more than 100 convicted people have been 
exonerated and freed from death row.

Most democratic governments have done away with capital punishment. Of all the 
major democracies, only three still execute criminals - India, Japan and the 
U.S. Capital punishment is viewed in most of the civilized world as unfair and 
cruel. A condition of entry into the European Union specifies that any country 
wishing to join cannot practice capital punishment.

And yet, a majority of Canadians want this form of punishment reinstated under 
certain circumstances! Go figure. Amnesty International Canada should 
prioritize, focusing its efforts on educating Canadians on the immorality of 
capital punishment, not on calling upon snowbirds to advocate for its 
abolition.

Emile Therien, Ottawa

Gee, Canadians drop bigger coin and stay longer as tourists in Florida than do 
others. Therefore, they can "call upon Florida to change direction?" Can you 
imagine the outrage if Americans similarly mobilized to influence Canadian law, 
based on the fact that they spend more money in Canada than others do?

Talk about hypocrisy.

Randall Bell, Whitby

(source: Letters to the Editor, The Star)






NIGERIA:

Igbo group recommends death penalty for rapists


An Igbo pressure group, Voice from the East, VEAST, has recommended death 
penalty for rapists, stressing that rape should be punishable by hanging in 
order to reduce the increasing cases of rape in the society.

The group in a statement by its convener, Mr Kindness Jonah, Thursday, noted 
with sadness, the rape of one Matha, a virgin by her uncle, as published in the 
Vanguard newspaper of August, 2018.

He said: "This enterprising beautiful virgin Christian lady who should be 
protected by her uncle, guided and given out in marriage as a matter of pride 
and honour to her husband by her uncle was contrariwise, raped by her uncle. As 
Igbos would say, 'dog has eaten the bone on its neck.

"This incestuous act cannot and should no more be tolerated in Nigeria. We call 
for the full weight of the law to be invoked on this uncle of hers to ensure 
that this satanic fellow is soundly punished with nothing short of life jail.

"We make case for death by hanging for all cases of rape from now on in 
Nigeria. The rate of rape and the concomitant wriggling out of the case by the 
guilty via the instrumentality of the law and the so-called legal lacunas 
occasioned by burden of proof in limbo, makes a raped victim, a laughing stock 
in Nigeria, thereby emboldening the criminal and furthering the course of this 
despicable act.

"It is sad the increasing cases of incest in our society where father rapes or 
sleeps with his daughter, where brother rapes or sleeps with his sister, where 
uncle rapes or sleeps with his aunt. From Biblical times, incest was condemned 
and can never be tolerated in our society any more. We call on the National 
Assembly to as a matter of urgency, make laws that punish rapist by hanging him 
publicly."

(source: vanguardngr.com)






PAKISTAN:

ATC sentences 2 suspects death penalty in Zahra Shahid case


The Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi on Friday sentenced 2 suspects to death for 
the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zahra Shahid .

The court, announcing its verdict in the case, awarded death sentences to 
Rashid alias 'Tailor' and Zahid Abbas Zaidi for murdering the PTI leader.

2 other suspects, Irfan alias Lamba and Kaleem, were acquitted for lack of 
evidence.

Zahra Shahid , who was the vice president of PTI's Sindh chapter, was shot dead 
in May 2013 by gunmen outside her residence in Karachi's DHA Phase-IV locality, 
hours before her controversial re-election in National Assembly constituency 
NA-250.

The convicts in the case belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party and had 
confessed to the killing, Rangers prosecution team said.

Witnesses at the scene of the incident had also identified the guilty, the 
prosecutors informed.

(source: The Nation)