[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 23



KENYA:

Death penalty is inhumane and degrading


Suba North Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo has termed the death sentence 
as degrading and inhumane.

Her comments come barely days after Miss Lang'ata Prison 2016 beauty pageant 
winner Ruth Kamande was sentenced to death for the murder of her boyfriend.

Speaking on Citizen TV's morning show, Day Break, the legislator expressed her 
reservations about the punishment, saying it should be abolished.

"When we were discussing it at Bomas, I was one amongst very few who were 
calling for the abolition of the death penalty," Millie told the show host, 
Fred Indimuli.

"I am the Chairperson of the Parliamentarians for Global Action in Kenya and we 
believe in the rule of law and human rights. And one of the things we're 
working on this term is the abolition of the death penalty and we're going to 
bring amendments to remove the death penalty in our books."

The outspoken legislator further urged for the transition of all death 
sentences into life imprisonments, saying both penalties are equally enough 
punishment for a convict.

"This girl is so beautiful... she's so young... she has lost her entire life; 
that is enough punishment, really," she stated.

24-year-old Ruth Kamande was found guilty of stabbing Farid Mohammed 22 times 
in 2015 in Nairobi; an act Millie Odhiambo now says was a crime of passion and 
"in the heat of the moment."

She urged young people to walk away from bad and abusive relationships to avoid 
such incidences.

"I would want to encourage young people; if you're in a bad relationship... if 
someone is cheating on you, he's not the only man on earth, walk away, other 
men will come; she's still too young and beautiful, she would have found many 
more men," said the MP.

Human Rights group Amnesty International has also protested the death sentence 
handed to the 24-year-old, saying it should be commuted to life imprisonment.

Delivering the sentence, High Court judge Jessie Lesiit said she handed the 
maximum punishment to deter young people from engaging in such offences.

The judge noted that, in stabbing her boyfriend 22 times, the accused "acted 
with clear intention to cause the deceased pain, suffering and death."

"That is clear proof of malice, of spite, callousness and hatred," ruled 
Justice Lessit.

(source: citizentv.co.ke)






SRI LANKA:

Sri Lanka leader vows to end moratorium on death penalty


Sri Lanka's president said the government will still end its 42-year moratorium 
on capital punishment despite requests by the European Union and other 
diplomatic missions not to do so.

President Maithripala Sirisena said the decision to implement the death penalty 
for drug smugglers "will not be changed under any circumstance and despite the 
objections raised by some factions against the move," according to the 
president's website.

Rising crime in Sri Lanka, including gang-related killings, narcotics, 
robberies and sex crimes have led to a public outcry for executions.

Last week, Sirisena said convicted drug traffickers will be hanged as a part of 
a crackdown on narcotics. The government has said it will execute prisoners who 
have allegedly taken advantage of the moratorium to continue their drug trade 
from prison. Drug trafficking carries the death penalty in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has maintained the moratorium since its last execution in 1976.

No date has been set for the 1st new execution. More than 400 convicts now in 
prison were sentenced to death, although many have had their sentences commuted 
to life or are appealing. Of them, 18 were sentenced for drug-related crimes.

Sirisena said he would summon judiciary, prisons and law enforcement heads this 
week to appoint a committee to decide who should be executed.

The government's decision to end the moratorium drew reaction from the European 
Union delegation and embassies of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the 
Netherlands, Romania, Canada and Norway which asked Sirisena to maintain the 
moratorium and to uphold Sri Lanka's tradition of opposition to capital 
punishment.

The embassies stressed they oppose capital punishment "in all circumstances and 
in all cases" and that the death penalty is incompatible with human dignity, 
does not have any proven deterrent effect, and allows judicial errors to become 
fatal and irreversible.

(source: Associated Press)






UNITED KINGDOM:

UK will not oppose US death penalty for Isis pair----Home secretary says UK 
seeks no assurances suspects would be spared execution


2 captured former Britons accused of being members of the Islamic State cell 
known as the "Beatles" could be sent to the US for trial, after the UK dropped 
its usual demand that the death penalty would not be imposed.

The home secretary, Sajid Javid, told the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, 
that the UK would not demand a "death penalty assurance" in the case, and 
indicated he believed there was more chance of a successful trial in the US 
than in UK courts.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are alleged to have been members of a 
4-man cell of Isis executioners in Syria and Iraq responsible for killing a 
series of high-profile western captives.

The pair, who are understood to have been stripped of their British 
citizenship, were captured in January and have been at the centre of a dispute 
over whether they should be returned to the UK for trial or face justice in 
another jurisdiction.

In a leaked letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph, Javid said the UK "does not 
currently intend to request, nor actively encourage", the transfer of Kotey and 
Elsheikh to Britain.

He wrote: "I am of the view that there are strong reasons for not requiring a 
death penalty assurance in this specific case, so no such assurances will be 
sought." He said he had instructed officials to "action the request" for UK 
cooperation.

The shadow attorney general, Labour's Shami Chakrabarti, said: "Sajid Javid 
appears to have secretly and unilaterally abandoned Britain???s opposition to 
the death penalty. By doing so he is not just playing with the lives of these 
particular terrorists but those of other Britons - including potentially 
innocent ones - all over the world.

"Just as we should be persuading countries like the US and Iran to drop the 
death penalty, Sajid Javid appears to be encouraging this grave human rights 
abuse."

Lord Carlile, the former reviewer of terrorism legislation, described Javid's 
letter as extraordinary.

"It is a dramatic change of policy by a minister, secretly, without any 
discussion in parliament. It flies in the face of what has been said repeatedly 
and recently by the Home Office - including when Theresa May was home secretary 
- and very recently by the highly respected security minister, Ben Wallace," he 
told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Britain has always said that it will pass information and intelligence, in 
appropriate cases, provided there is no death penalty. That is a decades-old 
policy and it is not for the home secretary to change that policy."

Amnesty International also criticised Javid's letter. Allan Hogarth, head of 
advocacy and programmes at the human rights group, said: "This is a deeply 
worrying development. The home secretary must unequivocally insist that 
Britain's long-standing position on the death penalty has not changed and seek 
cast-iron assurances from the US that it will not be used.

"A failure to seek assurances on this case seriously jeopardises the UK's 
position as a strong advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and its 
work encouraging others to abolish the cruel, inhuman and degrading practice."

The mother of one of the cell's victims told Today she was "very against" any 
use of the death penalty if Kotey and Elsheikh were convicted.

"I think that you just make them martyrs in their twisted ideology," said Diane 
Foley, whose son, James Foley, a US journalist, was killed in 2014. "I would 
like them held accountable by being sent to prison for the rest of their lives. 
That would be my preference."

Execution would be too easy for them, she added. "In a way that allows them to 
take a much easier way out."

Along with Mohammed Emwazi - the killer nicknamed Jihadi John - and Aine Davis, 
Kotey and Elsheikh are alleged to have been members of the notorious "Beatles" 
group who held foreign hostages, killed them by decapitation and distributed 
footage of the murders across the internet.

Emwazi, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2015, appeared in a number of 
videos in which captives including the British aid workers David Haines and 
Alan Henning and the US journalists Foley and Steven Sotloff were killed.

Davis was convicted of being a member of a terrorist organisation and jailed 
for 7 1/2 years by a court in Silivri, Turkey, in May 2017.

The Telegraph reported that other documents say British officials have assessed 
that Kotey and Elsheikh may be sent to Guantanamo without trial and that such 
an outcome would not be formally opposed.

The Home Office refused to comment on the leaked documents. A spokesperson 
said: "We continue to engage with the US government on this issue, as we do on 
a range of national security issues and in the context of our joint 
determination to tackle international terrorism and combat violent extremism.

"The UK government's position on Guantanamo Bay is that the detention facility 
should close."

(source: The Guardian)

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

UK: Javid signals a 'huge backward step' on death penalty with reported letter


Amnesty International UK has reacted with dismay to reports in the Daily 
Telegraph this morning (23 July) that Britain has abandoned its blanket 
opposition to the death penalty.

The daily newspaper has reportedly seen a letter sent by the British Home 
Secretary Sajid Javid to Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General, saying that 
Britain will demand no "assurances" that the captured British citizens, and 
alleged jihadists, Alexanda Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh, will not be executed in 
the US.

Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's Head of Advocacy and Programmes, 
said:

"This is a deeply worrying development. The Home Secretary must unequivocally 
insist that Britain's long-standing position on the death penalty has not 
changed and seek cast iron assurances from the US that it will not be used.

"While the alleged crimes of Alexanda Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh are appalling, 
the UK's principled opposition to the cruelty of the death penalty isn't 
something it should compromise.

"A failure to seek assurances on this case seriously jeopardises the UK's 
position as a strong advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and its 
work encouraging others to abolish the cruel, inhuman and degrading practice.

"At a time when the rest of the world is moving increasingly to abolition, this 
reported letter from the Home Secretary to the US Attorney General marks a huge 
backward step.

"The death penalty is a serious human rights violation and Amnesty opposes it 
in all circumstances.

"Capital punishment is the ultimate denial of life - it is always cruel and 
unnecessary, it doesn't deter crime, and it means that rehabilitation is not an 
option.

"By refusing to seek assurances on this case, the Home Secretary is leaving the 
door wide open to charges of hypocrisy and double standards."

(source: Amnesty International)






INDIA:

Bill providing stringent punishment to rape convicts introduced in Lok Sabha


The central government on Monday introduced The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 
2018, in Lok Sabha. The proposed law provides for stringent punishment 
including death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 
years.

The proposed legislation, once passed by Parliament, will replace the Criminal 
Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21, following an outcry over the 
rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of 
another woman in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.

Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Kiren Rijiju, while introducing the Bill 
said the recent incidents of rape and gangrape of women under the age of 16 
years and 12 years have shaken the conscience of the entire nation. So such 
cases required effective deterrence through legal provisions of more stringent 
punishment, he added.

"Some of the incidents in recent years have been marked by increased brutality 
and violence perpetrated on minor girls. This has fuelled demands from various 
sections of the society to make penal provisions more stringent and effective, 
immediate arrest of the accused and ensure speedy trial in such cases," Rijiju 
said.

The Bill stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly 
of girls below 12 years. Death sentence has been provided for convicted rapists 
of girls below 12 years of age. As per the provisions of the Bill the minimum 
punishment in case of rape of women has also been increased from rigorous 
imprisonment of 7 years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.

According to the Bill, in case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum 
punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to 
imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convicts' 
"natural life". The punishment for gangrape of a girl below 16 years will 
invariably be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict.

The proposed law also provides for speedy investigations and trial. The time 
limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to 
be completed within 2 months. The deadline for the completion of trial in all 
rape cases will be 2 months. A 6-month time limit for the disposal of appeals 
in rape cases has also been prescribed. There will also be no provision for 
anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gangrape of a girl below 16 
years.

(source: tribuneindia.com)