[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 26



CHINA:

5 drug traffickers get death penalty in China



A Chinese court has sentenced to death 5 drug traffickers and 14 others to life 
imprisonment, according to a media report today. Another 6 persons were also 
sentenced to death but with a 2 year reprieve, the state-run Xinhua news agency 
reported.

The verdict coincides with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit 
Trafficking, which is being observed today.

The Changzhi Intermediate People's Court in north China's Shanxi province also 
sentenced 7 others to 2-year jail term.

According to the Shanxi Provincial Higher People's Court, the Changzhi 
Intermediate People's Court yesterday delivered its verdicts in 3 
drug-trafficking cases, involving 32 accused.

In one of the cases, 27 members of a gang were found guilty of trafficking 
methcathinone across provinces between August 2015 and March 2016, the court 
said.

June 26 is observed as the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit 
Trafficking.

(source: outlookindia.com)








SOUTH KOREA:

Catholic Church supports abolition of death penalty in Korea



South Korean Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung says the Catholic Church supports 
calls for the abolition of the death penalty in the country.

Catholic news agency Agenzia Fides reports that cardinal, who is the Archbishop 
of Seoul, has welcomed a campaign led by the National Human Rights Commission 
which aims to officially abolish the death penalty.

"For years there have been no executions in Korea, the Catholic Church has 
always reiterated 'no to the death penalty' and welcomes the initiative of 
parliamentarians, Christians and non, who have collected signatures to ask for 
the abolition of capital punishment from Korean law," said Cardinal Yeom.

He added that while the death penalty does have some support among South 
Koreans who fear that eliminating "will encourage crime", the Catholic 
community "has always witnessed and encouraged respect for life and the logic 
of forgiveness, accompanying also the families of the victims."

A death sentence has not been carried out in South Korea since December, 1997, 
and there are hopes that President Moon Jae-in, himself a Catholic, will soon 
announce a formal moratorium.

"We are working to bring an announcement by President Moon Jae-in on a 
moratorium on the use of the death penalty around the time of this year's 70th 
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Shim Sang-don, chief 
of the NHRC's policy and education bureau was quoted on saying on 18th June.

There are reportedly 61 prisoners, including military officers, serving time in 
prison under a death sentence in South Korea.

(source: sightmagazine.com.au)








THAILAND:

Execution Indicates Lethal Shift in Royal Attitudes to Death Penalty in 
Thailand----The execution of a man by lethal injection indicates a change in 
royal attitudes to the death penalty in Thailand.



When Thailand announced last Monday night that it had carried out its 1st 
execution in 9 years, the news was met with shock. The country had refrained 
from imposing the death penalty since the lethal injection of 2 drug dealers in 
2009. It had also repeatedly pledged to look into ditching capital punishment 
altogether.

That changed on the night of June 19, 2018, when the Corrections Department 
said it had sent a 26-year-old man convicted of aggravated murder to the lethal 
injection chamber.

What's puzzling is the authorities' refusal to discuss or explain the question 
of why him - and why now? As any journalist working in Thailand would tell you: 
once Thai bureaucrats keep mum about certain questions, it's time to raise the 
alarm.

Behind this surprising turn of events - which has virtually gone unreported by 
the media - is King Vajiralongkorn's apparent refusal to grant the condemned 
man a royal pardon and stay his execution. This is a significant departure from 
his late father's longstanding practice of allowing death-row prisoners to 
live. Under Thai law, even after the Supreme Court has handed down a death 
sentence, it can be overturned by His Majesty the King if a petition is filed 
to the palace within 60 days. The king can then deliberate on the petition as 
long as he wishes.

It was under this mechanism that King Bhumibol, who died in October 2016, 
effectively stopped Thailand from carrying out the death penalty for nearly a 
decade. Petitions submitted by condemned prisoners were left unanswered by the 
palace, leading prison officials to treat them as a matter "under royal 
deliberation". They refrained from putting the petitioners to death, lest they 
were seen as intruding on royal authority. More than 500 death-row inmates 
continue to live indefinitely because of this inaction.

It's unclear why King Bhumibol left the petitions unanswered during the last 
decade of his life. Maybe he personally didn't believe in the death penalty. 
Maybe he didn't want to interfere with the justice system. Or maybe he was 
simply too unwell to give them a thought - his ailing health took a steady 
downturn after 2009.

His successor seems to be taking a different route. There are strong 
indications that Teerasak Longji submitted a petition, but unlike those 
condemned before him, his plea for clemency was rejected by His Majesty the 
King.

Teerasak's family has confirmed this, albeit indirectly. In a tearful interview 
with reporters, Teerasak's sister told them she was only informed of the 
execution after he was put to death. According to her, Teerasak wrote to his 
family as late as May 31 and expressed his hope that he would be allowed to 
live and reform himself.

"He still didn't know he would be executed, and he still said he wanted to turn 
his life around and return to society as a good person," Chutamas Longji said 
of her late brother on June 19.

The Supreme Court had already sentenced Teerasak to death. Why did he hope the 
penalty would change? It could only be because he had filed for royal clemency.

The fact that Teerasak's family didn't know the execution date is itself 
telling. If Teerasak had declined to submit a petition, he would have known - 
and his family would have known - that the execution would come once the 60 
days after the Supreme Court's verdict had passed.

In contrast, when royal petitions are rejected, the prisoner must be put to 
death within 24 hours. Informing relatives would not be a priority for prison 
officials.

(source: This article was first published at New Mandala - a specialist website 
on Southeast Asian affairs based at the Australian National University's Coral 
Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs. The News Lens has been authorized to 
republish this article----thenewslens.com)