[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

January 1, 2018



JAPAN:

No. of death row inmates in Japan stands at 123



The number of death row inmates in Japan stood at 123 as of Dec 31, continuing 
to surpass the threshold of 100 since 2007, Justice Ministry officials said.

In 2017, 4 convicts on death row were executed and 4 others died of illness, 
while 2 people were newly added to the list of such inmates after death 
sentences against them were finalized.

Of the 4 who were executed, 3 were still waiting to hear about their requests 
for retrials. Of the 3, 1 was aged 19 at the time of the crime.

The hangings of inmates seeking retrials were the 1st since December 1999, 
while that of an inmate who committed a crime as a minor was the 1st since 
August 1997, both drawing flak from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations 
and groups opposed to the death penalty.

Japan's capital punishment has drawn international criticism, while the 
federation has called for its abolition by 2020, demanding the introduction of 
lifetime imprisonment instead.

However, a majority of the Japanese public supports the death penalty. A 2014 
government survey showed that 80.3 % of Japanese people aged 20 or older 
favored capital punishment, down from a record 85.6 % in the previous survey in 
2009.

(source: japantoday.com)








PAKISTAN:

Rapist of 6-yr, girl to be hanged



A trial court in Srinagar on Saturday awarded death penalty to convict Farooq 
Ahmed Pinzoo for raping and murdering a 6-year-old girl in 2005.

"Convict is awarded capital punishment. He shall be hanged till death," the 
court said, referring to various Supreme Court Judgments to term the crime as 
rarest of rare.

Second Additional Principal District and Sessions Judge Srinagar, Tahir 
Khurshid Raina, awarded the death penalty to Farooq Ahmad Pinzoo of Mehjoor 
Nagar, Srinagar, after public prosecutor Mujeeb Andrabi pleaded before the 
court that the accused be given the severest punishment as he had raped and 
killed the little minor gruesomely. "The accused be hanged to death so that 
others may take a note of these gruesome incidents," the lawyer said.

The judge said it was unpardonable "that a little doll of just 6 years of age, 
who was yet to bloom and add to the beauty of the world, was crushed to death 
in the most horrendous and barbaric manner in the year 2005 by the 
accused/convict."

He added that after committing this highly detestable act of extreme depravity, 
the accused wrapped the girl's dead body in a sack and threw it in a trench to 
conceal it from the eyes of people around.

"When all members of the said locality were searching for the girl, he was a 
mute spectator ... This incident sent a shockwave in the entire area and 
everyone came out to search for her and pray for her safe recovery. Finally, on 
5th day since she went missing, she was recovered from the trench in a sack," 
the judge said.

The judge added that thousands of people assembled on the spot and when they 
saw the girl's body, there was condemnation all around and an outcry to nab the 
culprit.

"Public discontentment was so huge that police had to install a special camp 
there and after a month's time they succeeded in nabbing the culprit, who was 
none else but the resident of the same locality whom the deceased of tender age 
would have treated with respect and as a custodian of her life," the judge 
said.

(source: Pakistan Observer)