[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 5



MEXICO:

Why were 16 Irish men hanged in Mexico in 1847?----The 'San Patricios' serving 
in the US army experienced racism, and opted to desert to the Mexicans

Just after dawn on September 10th, 1847, the residents of San Angel, a village 
on the outskirts of Mexico City, awoke to the sound of carts rattling into the 
Plaza de San Jacinto. The carts contained a group of ragged-looking prisoners 
and their guards, blue-uniformed members of the United States army.

The villagers silently watched one of the carts draw up alongside the gallows, 
which had been specially constructed in the centre of the plaza. The gallows 
consisted of a 40-foot-long beam, from which hung 16 nooses. The prisoners were 
then transferred onto 8 mule-driven carts, which were waiting beneath the 
gallows, and their heads placed in the nooses.

Having been given the nod by one of the US army officers overseeing 
proceedings, 5 Catholic priests, who had been waiting by the door of the 
church, climbed onto the carts and began hearing the prisoners' confessions, 
and administering the last rites.

Once the priests were finished, the order was given to the Mexican muleteers to 
drive the carts forward, and the prisoners fell to earth. The lucky ones died 
quickly. One of the prisoners, Captain Patrick Dalton, was not so fortunate, 
slowly choking to death.

The 16 men who died that day were members of the Batallon de San Patricio - the 
St Patrick's Battalion - or, in short, the San Patricios, an artillery unit of 
the Mexican army, which saw action in the Mexican-American War (1846-48). The 
unit comprised volunteers from different countries, but, as the name would 
suggest, the majority were Irish. And in the eyes of the US army, they were 
deserters and traitors.

During the 1840s, the US army began recruiting the Irish immigrants who were 
arriving at American ports in their tens of thousands. The arrival of the Irish 
coincided with the rise of the nativist movement, whose anti-Catholicism 
extended into the upper echelons of the army. Many of the Irishmen serving in 
the US army during the war experienced racism and anti-Catholic prejudice, and 
opted to desert to the Mexicans.

They were led by Captain John Riley, from Clifden in Co Galway. Riley had 
served as a private in the US army before deserting to the Mexicans. In April 
1846, he organised an artillery unit, comprised of Irishmen, the nucleus of the 
San Patricios. By the summer, there were 200 soldiers in the battalion, 
organised into 2 companies.

The majority of the artillerymen were Irish, but there were also Mexicans of 
recent European descent and other European-born volunteers, mostly Germans. 
Nevertheless, Riley forged a discernibly Irish identity for the battalion. Its 
flag was made of green silk, with an image of St Patrick embroidered in silver 
on one side, and a harp and shamrock on the other.

Legendary status Under Riley's command, the San Patricios became an effective 
artillery unit. On February 23rd 1847, they acquitted themselves well at the 
Battle of Buena Vista against the superior guns of the US army. But it was at 
the Battle of Churubusco, on August 20th 1847, that the battalion acquired its 
legendary status in Mexico. Ordered to protect the retreating Mexican army, the 
San Patricios, holed up in a convent by the River Churubusco, bravely attempted 
to defend the road to Mexico City.

The following month, the US army marched into the Mexican capital, effectively 
bringing the war to an end. The San Patricios who had not died at Churubusco 
were court-martialled as deserters. 2 days after the execution at San Angel, 
Colonel William Harney oversaw the hanging of another 30 San Patricios on a 
hill close to the Mexican village of Mixcoac.

Those who escaped the death penalty were branded on the cheek, with a "D", in 
order to identify them as deserters. They included Riley who grew his whiskers 
to hide the scars.

Riley was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the Mexican army after the war, and 
was given command of the reformed battalion after the war. However, in July 
1848, the government suspected the battalion of being involved in a planned 
rebellion. Riley was arrested and the unit was disbanded. In 1850, he was 
discharged with the rank of major on disability pay.

In the US, the San Patricios have, until more recently, been treated by 
historians of the Mexican-American War with little sympathy. It was Michael 
Hogan's The Irish Soldiers of Mexico, published in Guadalajara in 1997, which 
placed their story in the context of racial and religious prejudice in the US 
army, and emphasised the San Patricios' distinctively Irish - and, just as 
importantly, Catholic - identity.

In Mexico, the role played by the San Patricios in the Mexican-American war has 
long been acknowledged with a sense of gratitude. A plaque and a bust of John 
Riley marks the site of the executions in the Plaza San Jacinto, which is now 
part of Mexico City. In 2013, President Michael D. Higgins laid a wreath at 
Riley's bust during a state visit to the country.

Riley saw the San Patricios as acting to protect a weaker Catholic nation which 
was under threat from the imperial designs of its larger, Anglo neighbour. He 
called on his countrymen to side with the Mexican people against the US army, 
which he claimed, "in the face of the whole world has trampled upon the holy 
altar of our religion".

The spiritual meaning behind this act of solidarity is perhaps best 
encapsulated by the artwork on the cover of San Patricio, the album released in 
2010 by The Chieftains and Ry Cooder, in collaboration with various Mexican 
musicians, in honour of the Irish battalion. Framed within the borders of a 
cross, it is an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the potent symbol of Mexican 
Catholicism, cradling the Christ-like body of a red-haired soldier.

(source: Tim Fanning, The Irish Times)








ZAMBIA:

Death Sentence: My Thoughts And What I Will Do When Elected President Of The 
Republic Of Zambia



Following the sentencing to death of former Chilanga Member of Parliament Keith 
Mukata last week, execution of death roll convicts is back again as a hot issue 
publicly debated.

I remember this issue hotly debated during my participation at various levels 
during the 2012 constitutional consultations at district, provincial, sector 
group and national levels. The debate went in favour of pro-death sentence 
advocates. I was one of them.

The fact that the majority of participant voted in favour of death sentence was 
the reason this sentence was retained in the Final Draft Constitution of 2014 
which was released into public domain by President Edgar Lungu, who at the time 
was Justice Minister.

I still very much remember issues raised by participants including: the 
morality of executions; whether or not executions are a deterrence; issues of 
retribution; issues of irrevocable mistakes in cases where an executed convict 
is later found innocent; issues of the cost of keeping death convicts in prison 
perpetually at unlimited cost to the tax payer; the issues execution of a 
convict versus inhuman conditions in prisons; issues of convictions due to 
quality of legal representation as a consequence of poverty; the need to bring 
closure to families of victims, etc.. Those in support of abolishing the death 
penalty mainly pointed to the possibility of an innocent person being executed.

Let's face it, some crimes are so heinous and inherently wrong that they demand 
strict penalties - up to and including death. As a society we have the 
responsibility to punish those who deserve it, but only to the degree they 
deserve it. Our judges impose death penalty for the most heinous murders and 
the most brutal and conscienceless murderers because the punishment fits the 
crime.

Moving forward, I think those of us who intend to contest the presidential 
elections in 2021 should make a commitment before the elections whether or not 
they will sign execution orders. Speaking for myself, I will definitely sign 
execution orders within 30 days after the Supreme Court or Constitutional Court 
confirms the death penalty.

Voters must know beforehand that I will not hesitate to do so after the due 
court processes because only criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes are 
placed on death row. Voters should also know that I will do so because I feel 
for those left behind, the grieving families, and their loved ones, who do not 
deserve anything less than justice.

Further, I do not think that death penalty is inherently unfair and biased 
towards the poor and cannibals. Whatever the feelings are toward the death 
penalty, one thing most people will never know is the pain experienced when a 
family member or family members are brutally tortured and murdered or indeed 
are victims of the robbery themselves. Those who feel it know it.

Having been a victim of an armed robbery before, with a gun pointed to my head, 
and the robber's finger ready to pull the trigger, I understand the pain and 
agony victims of armed robbery go through towards the final moments before the 
bang. The experience is extremely nerve-cracking for the faint-hearted.

Thank God that in my case, before the robber pulled the trigger, I garnered 
invincible, divine energy. I disarmed him. Instead, I pulled the trigger 
myself. The rest is history. Not so many experience such miraculous chances.

Lastly, unless executions resume, robbers will start insulting the judges when 
they pronounce such sentences. Already, one can see the cheekiness and 
remorselessness in death-sentence convicts because they are confident they will 
after-all be pardoned within months. So, what the heck!

Peter Sinkamba

President

Green Party

(source: Lusaka Times)








MYANMAR:

Signature campaign in Yangon to demand death sentence for crimes against 
children



The 4 Women Voice Programme is spearheading a signature campaign to demand that 
the government and Hluttaw enact a law to impose the death sentence on those 
found guilty of raping children.

At present, the organisation has over 50,000 signatures that they will present 
to the government.

"We are asking the death sentence for child rape and rape-murder cases," The 4 
Women Voice Programme leader Daw Li Lin Naing Kyaw told The Myanmar Times on 
Friday.

She said the number of child rape cases and rape-murder cases are increasing 
because penalties are not harsh and rules and regulations are weak.

"Child rapes happens due to weakness in the administration. I believe no one 
will dare to commit child rape if at least 10 criminals are given death 
sentences," said Ma Mon Ray Zar Win, who participated in the signature 
campaign.

Rights groups and the public are carrying out awareness campaigns and urging 
the government to introduce strict punishment for offenders following a series 
of brutal cases that happened this year.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 1100 rape cases occurred nationwide 
in 2016, and 671 cases, or more than 1/2 of them, involved children under 16.

Last year, 1405 rape cases were reported and 897 of the victims were children.

"The death sentence should be prescribed due to the increasing rape cases. We 
demand death sentences.

It is easy to introduce or abolish the death sentence since we have a Hluttaw.

It can be abolished when the number of rape cases decreases," lawyer U Maung 
Maung Soe of the Myanmar lawyers Network in Yangon said on Sunday.

(source: Myanmar Times)