[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 10



PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY:

PCHR: Accession to abolition of death penalty "step in right direction"



On Wednesday, 06 June 2018, the Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas signed 
instrument of State of Palestine's accession to 7 international convention and 
treaties, including the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the abolition of the 
death penalty. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) commended the 
accession to the ICCPR Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty 
and emphasized it is a step in the right direction that needs to be upheld with 
legislative steps to guarantee compliance with the protocol.

In a statement, PCHR said that since its establishment in 1995, the center has 
opposed the use of death penalty in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) 
and called upon the Palestinian leadership in many occasions and with the 
issuance of a new death sentence to necessarily abolish it and sign the 
relevant international protocol.

PCHR at the time based on legal and logical grounds that render the application 
of death penalty in the Palestinian Authority (PA) a crime in light of absence 
of investigation techniques and guarantees for a fair trial in order to apply 
such a dangerous penalty. Moreover, PCHR said it believes that such penalty is 
inhuman and ineffectual in achieving general deterrence or peace in society.

Since the establishment of the PA, PCHR monitored serious abuses, particularly 
following the division in the PA, as many death sentences were applied without 
a fair trial or following up the proper legal proceedings.

Most prominent of those abuses of the use of death penalty in the PA was 
issuing death sentences by military courts against civilians, establishing the 
so-called "Field Court" in the Gaza Strip that issued and applied immediately 
inappellable death sentences, applying death sentences without the ratification 
of the Palestinian President in flagrant violation of the Basic Law; absence of 
fair trial guarantees; and systemic use of torture to obtain confessions.

Since the establishment of the PA, 41 death sentences were issued; 39 of which 
were in the Gaza Strip and 2 in the West Bank. Among the sentences applied in 
the Gaza Strip, 28 were applied since 2007 without the ratification of the 
Palestinian President in violation of the law. Moreover, the total number of 
death sentences issued in the Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled areas has 
risen to 203 sentences since 1994. 30 of them have been issued in the West Bank 
and 173 in the Gaza Strip. Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 115 sentences 
have been issued since 2007.

PCHR called upon the Palestinian President to promptly and immediately amend 
the penal laws applicable in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; the 1936 Penal Law 
in force in the Gaza Strip and the 1960 Jordanian Penal Code in force in the 
West Bank, as each of them proclaims 15 crimes punishable by death penalty. 
PCHR also reiterated its call for suspending the 1979 Revolutionary Penal Code 
for its unconstitutionality as it stipulates 45 crimes punishable by the death 
penalty.

PCHR called upon the Palestinian President to issue a decision by law to 
suspend immediately the death penalty until making the necessary amendments to 
the above mentioned laws.

(source: pnn.ps)








INDIA:

Convict's appeal against death penalty: SC seeks reply from UP govt



The Supreme Court has sought the Uttar Pradesh government's response on a plea 
by a death-row convict challenging the Allahabad High Court's judgement 
upholding the capital punishment awarded to him for burning alive his son and 2 
brothers.

A vacation bench of justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan issued notice 
to the state on the appeal and called for the original records of the case.

The counsel representing convict Irfan requested the apex court to stay the 
execution of sentence.

"When the appeal is pending before us, nobody is going to be executed," the 
bench observed.

"Intimation of this matter be sent to the concerned jail authority," the bench 
noted in its order.

Irfan challenged the April 25 verdict of the high court which had upheld the 
death penalty awarded to him by a trial court in Bijnor district.

Fifty-year-old Irfan was convicted by the trial court for offences under 
various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including murder.

According to the police, Irfan had set the room, in which his son and 2 
brothers were sleeping, on fire by pouring inflammable substance and bolted the 
door from outside on the intervening night of August 5-6, 2014.

It had said that injured persons -- Irshad, Naushad and Islamuddin -- were 
rushed to a hospital in Delhi where they died during the treatment.

The police had also said Islamuddin opposed his father's 2nd marriage leaving 
Irfan annoyed.

Irfan had assaulted his son 2 days prior to the incident and Irshad and Naushad 
had mediated between them, the police said.

Following the incident, a complaint was lodged by Irfan's father-in-law.

During the trial, Irfan alleged that he was falsely implicated in the case by 
some of his relatives so as to deny a share in their ancestral property.

(source: indiatoday.in)








MALAYSIA:

July 12 re-mention for murder of mother case in KB



The case of a 39-year-old local charged with murdering his mother in Kota Belud 
will re-mentioned on July 12.

High Court Judge Datuk Nurchaya Arshad set the date for Bukhari Jinol's case 
for the prosecution to get further instruction from the Headquarters in 
Putrajaya regarding the case.

Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gan Peng Kun informed the court that the 
Headquarters instructed to proceed with the trial for murder under Section 302 
of the Penal Code, even though he had recommended for Section 304(a) 
(manslaughter) to be read to the accused.

DPP Gan said the instruction was on grounds that there were sufficient evidence 
to proceed with Section 302.

Counsel Ridwandean Borhan, representing Bukhari, informed the court that a 
report from the hospital in Bukit Padang stated that Bukhari was of unsound 
mind at the time the offence was committed because he took drugs.

Bukhari is accused of committing the crime to one Teh Juari, 56, at 10.40pm on 
May 1, this year in a house at Kg Linau, Kota Belud.

When the trial commenced on April 16, the prosecution's 1st witness, a 
psychiatrist, testified on Bukhari's mental condition that Bukhari was of 
unsound mind and was incapable of knowing the nature of the act during the 
commission of the alleged offence.

The prosecution referred the matter to the Headquarters following an order from 
the court to get instruction on the case.

The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death penalty on 
conviction.

Meanwhile, the court deferred to July 9 the case of a 35-year-old unemployed 
local charged with trafficking 4,619gm of syabu.

Counsel Dominic Chew, representing Muhd Zubir Sabtal, applied for another 
pre-trial case management as he wanted to write a letter to challenge the whole 
thing regarding the charge against Zubir.

Zubir is accused of committing the offence at 2.45am on Jan 4, 2017 in Room No. 
502, Tang Dynasty Bay Hotel, at Kg Gudon, Sepanggar Bay Road.

(source: dailyexpress.com.my)