[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 2




KENYA:

Death penalty only way to rid Kenya of corruption, says Maanzo



Makueni MP Daniel Maanzo has proposed a death penalty for state officers found 
guilty of corruption.

He said the proposal should go through a referendum since the Supreme Court has 
made death sentence illegal in Kenya.

"Corruption in Kenya is at levels it cannot be fought without the death 
penalty," he said on Friday.

The legislator spoke at Kilungu secondary school in Kaiti constituency during 
the Madaraka Day celebrations.

"The option that will safeguard taxpayer's funds is amending the Constitution 
to have the death penalty back," Maanzo said.

The MP said he will table a Bill in parliament to restore clauses that 
warranted a death sentence for such economic crimes.

He spoke even as President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to escalate the war on 
corruption by nabbing senior state officers.

The president told Kenyans to expect arrests of "big shots" implicated in 
graft.

(source: The Star)








ETHIOPIA:

Attorney general says decision for Andargachew Tsige's pardon was part of moves 
intended to 'widen political space'.



Ethiopia has pardoned an opposition leader with British citizenship who had 
been sentenced to death.

Andargachew Tsige was found guilty of "terrorism" and sentenced in absentia in 
2009 over his role in the opposition group Ginbot 7. He was the organisation's 
secretary-general.

The father of 3 was arrested during a stopover at a Yemen airport in June 2014 
and taken to Ethiopia.

Berhanu Tsegaye, Ethiopia's attorney general, said on Saturday that Andargachew 
was pardoned "under special circumstances" along with 575 other inmates.

The decisions were made with the "intention of widening political space," the 
attorney general told reporters in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Andargachew is expected to be released within the next 2 days.

Yemi Hailemariam, Andargachew's wife, said she hoped he would be allowed to 
return to Britain soon.

"I am so thankful that the pain and anguish my children have had to go through 
could now soon be coming to an end," she said in a statement issued by 
Reprieve, a human rights group.

(source: aljazeera.com)








ZAMBIA:

Zambian president pardons 464 prisoners as part of Africa Freedom Day 
commemoration



Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Thursday pardoned 464 prisoners as part of the 
commemoration of this year's Africa Freedom Day which fell on May 25.

Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo said the Zambian leader pardoned the 
inmates from various correctional facilities across the country in exercise of 
his prerogative mercy powers enshrined in the country's constitution.

The Zambian minister said Lungu pardoned 413 inmates as well as commuted 
sentences of 51 others who were on death row.

He has since commended the Zambian leader for pardoning the inmates, saying it 
will go a long way in decongesting the country's correction facilities which 
currently holds over 21,000 inmates against a holding capacity of about 8,000.

The pardoned inmates, he said, have shown that they have reformed during their 
time in prison and were ready to be reintegrated into society.

He called on society to embrace the inmates and not to discriminate against 
them so that they could fully integrate and contribute to the country's 
development.

()source: xinhuanet.com)








INDIA:

HC seeks Centre's response on plea for abolishing death penalty



The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and others on a plea 
that sought abolition of the death penalty to those accused of minors' gang 
rape.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar listed 
the matter for July 31.

Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar (SAFMA) had moved the court through 
advocate Charu Walikhanna, seeking declaration of Sections 5 and 6 of the 
Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, (prescribing death sentence for gang 
rape of children under the age of 12) as void, being in derogation of Articles 
14 and 21 of the Constitution.

In the wake of widespread outrage over the gang rape and murder of an 
8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir and succumbing to political expediency, 
the impugned ordinance had been introduced, the plea said.

The petitioner claimed that the ordinance was brought without conducting proper 
research, adding that no prior consultations were held with the Law Commission, 
National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Protection of 
Child Rights.

The plea said that capital punishment is neither a solution nor deterrence 
against heinous crime.

The petitioner also sought the setting up of a committee headed by a NHRC 
member to come out with steps to tackle rapes, especially of minor girls, by 
adopting scientific principles and data.

(source: thequint.com)

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

Delhi HC questions scientific basis of death penalty for child rape----The 
court issued a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs and sought their stand on 
the issue in four weeks. It listed the matter for further hearing on July 31.



The Delhi High Court Friday questioned the Centre's move to approve an 
Ordinance that allows courts to award death penalty to those convicted of 
raping children up to 12 years and asked if any scientific assessment was 
conducted before it was approved.

A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked 
the Centre whether they had conducted a study in comparison to foreign laws to 
ascertain if "death penalty will be deterrent to rape accused". "Have you 
(Centre) conducted any scientific assessment or study before passing of your 
ordinance," the bench asked standing counsel Jasmeet Singh, who is representing 
the Centre.

Replying to the query, Singh said the government has come to the conclusion 
after voluminous research. He said "in India the highest number of cases were 
related to child rape".

The court issued a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs and sought their 
stand on the issue in 4 weeks. It listed the matter for further hearing on July 
31.

Earlier, the court had asked if the Ordinance, was the "effect of the public 
outcry".

The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, was approved soon after a public 
outrage over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua, Jammu, and 
allegations of rape against a BJP MLA in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. The Ordinance, 
which allows imposition of death penalty for a child rapist under 12 and 
prescribes a minimum of 20 years for rape of a girl below 16. It has been 
promulgated by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The High Court's made the oral observation while hearing 2 separate PILs filed 
by the Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar and the ApneAap Women Worldwide's 
plea challenging the Ordinance.

Advocate Charu Wali Khanna, appearing for Social Action Forum, sought the 
court's direction to constitute a committee, headed by member NHRC, to come out 
with preventive measures to control the incidents of rapes, especially of minor 
girls, based on scientific principles.

Advocate Kirti Singh, appearing for ApneAap, submitted the Ordinance was passed 
as a knee-jerk reaction following the Kathua and Unnao rape cases and has been 
drafted in a confused, hasty manner.

(source: The Indian Express)








PAKISTAN:

Murder convicts get death penalty, life term



A sessions court sentenced a man to death for 2 counts of murder, while another 
convict was jailed for life for involvement in a triple murder case in 
Sargodha. The judgment was announced by Additional District and Sessions Judge 
Ahmed Sher Dil Cheema.

The prosecution told the court that accused Hamid Farooq, Sultan Sikander and 
Rizwan Sikandar had gunned down Sultan Mehmood, Zahooran Bibi and Sardaran Bibi 
an over enmity in 2010. The local police registered a case against the accused 
and presented the challan before the court.

After hearing the arguments, the judge handed down death sentence to Hamid 
along with a fine of Rs0.2 million which would be paid to the legal heirs of 
the deceased.

Murder convict gets death penalty

The court also awarded life imprisonment to Sultan and imposed a fine of Rs0.2 
million. However, the judge acquitted another co-accused after giving him the 
benefit of doubt.

Earlier, a court awarded a death sentence to an accused for his involvement in 
a murder case in Sargodha. Additional District and Sessions Judge Irfan Ahmed 
Shaikh announced the verdict.

Convict Ramzan and his accomplices Zaman and Yar had killed Shahid over a 
dispute in 2014. The local police registered a case against the accused and 
presented the challan before the court.

After hearing arguments, the judge handed down a death sentence to Ramzan along 
with a fine of Rs0.53 million.

(source: The Express Tribune)