[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 28




INDIA:

Death For Child Rape? 371 Indians On Death Row, Only 4 Executed In 13 Years



On April 21, 2018, the Indian government passed an ordinance allowing death 
penalty for the rape of children younger than 12 years. But is capital 
punishment an effective deterrent?

Human rights bodies and the United Nations have argued that the death sentence 
is inhuman and cruel and should be abolished. In India, the debate was revived 
in the wake of the ordinance.

Apart from the humanitarian argument, latest data also indicate that in India 
trial delays make the death sentence ineffective and result in protracted waits 
for the accused and their families.

There were 371 prisoners on the death row in India by end December 2017 with 
the oldest case from 1991, 27 years ago, according to the Death Penalty in 
India report published in January 2018.

The number of death sentences also fell. In 2017, 109 were sentenced to death 
by sessions courts across states, down 27% from 149 in 2016, said the report 
published by the Centre on the Death Penalty, an advocacy.

However, only 4 death-row prisoners were executed in the last 13 years. 1 had 
raped a minor and 3 were convicted of terrorism.

"Death row prisoners continue to face long delays in trials, appeals and 
thereafter in executive clemency," the Law Commission of India 2015 report on 
the death penalty said. "During this time, the prisoner on death row suffers 
from extreme agony, anxiety and debilitating fear arising out of an imminent 
yet uncertain execution."

The average time for trial of the 373 prisoners facing death row was 5 years, 
as per an earlier study carried out between July 2013 and January 2015 and 
published in February 2016 by the Centre on the Death Penalty. The trial of 127 
prisoners lasted for more than 5 years and of 54 prisoners continued for over 
10 years.

Among the prisoners whose mercy petitions were rejected by the President of 
India, the median time spent in prison under trial was 16 years 9 months, and 
median time under sentence of death was 10 years 5 months.

The longest time spent by a prisoner in jail in such cases was 25 years, and 
the longest time spent on death row was 21 years 1 month.

On May 4, 2018, the Supreme Court reserved its order on the plea of 2 of the 4 
condemned convicts seeking a review of its 2017 verdict upholding the death 
penalty awarded in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, the Business Standard 
reported on May 4, 2018.

The survivor's mother has been pressing for a speedy execution of the death 
sentence. "There have been times when my faith in law and justice is restored 
but as the court hearings get deferred by I feel extremely hopeless," 
Nirbhaya's mother said, the Deccan Chronicle reported on May 5, 2018.

But the convicts' lawyer maintained that the state does not have the right to 
execute a convict. "Execution kills the criminals and not the crime... How can 
judiciary decide as to who should live and who should die," said AP Singh, the 
lawyer for the 2 convicts.

The new ordinance may not help prevent the sexual abuse of children either. "It 
would worsen the problem of under-reporting. It is crucial that the government 
consult with child rights groups and undertake a detailed study of the 
implementation of POCSO to ensure that the issue of child sexual abuse is 
actually addressed," said Poornima Rajeshwar, associate (public affairs) at the 
Centre on the Death Penalty.

"Each case after it has been confirmed at the trial court stage has to be sent 
to the High Court for confirmation," Rajeshwar told IndiaSpend. "Post 
confirmation at the High Court stage, it can be appealed at the Supreme Court. 
Besides the judicial process, a prisoner can also file mercy petitions with a 
Governor and the President."

She pointed out that an execution cannot be carried out before these 2 parallel 
processes have been completed, including all the appeals at different stages. 
"This, as you can see, constitutes quite a long process. Additionally, the 
burden on Indian courts makes it difficult for cases to move too fast," 
Rajeshwar said.

Executions In India In The Recent Past

On August 14, 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged at Alipore Central Jail in 
West Bengal on his 42nd birthday, convicted for the rape and murder of a 
teenage girl.

On November 21, 2012, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab the only terrorist to have 
survived the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was hanged in Pune's Yerwada Jail.P> 
On February 9, 2013, Mohammed Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2001 Parliament 
attack case, was hanged inside Delhi's Tihar jail.

On July 30, 2015, Yakub Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blast case, 
was hanged at a jail in Nagpur, in Maharashtra.

'India becomes 14th country to introduce death penalty for child rape'

The gangrape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in January 2018 in Kathua, Jammu 
& Kashmir, and the 2017 rape of a 17-year-old girl in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, had 
led to calls for more severe punishment for such crimes. 3 months later, the 
government passed the ordinance.

"India has become the 14th country now to have introduced death penalty for 
rape of child (without murder). The primary argument, especially in popular 
discourse initiated by political rhetoric, has been that death penalty has a 
certain deterrent effect on potential offenders and hence it should continue to 
be a practice of punishment for heinous crimes," Rajeshwar said.

Empirical evidence has yet to suggest that the death sentence can work as a 
deterrent, she said, citing the 2013 study, Deterrence and the Death Penalty, 
by the National Research Council of the National Academies. "It concluded that 
deterrence is a flawed concept, at least in the context of the death penalty," 
Rajeshwar said.

The Law Commission, in its 2015 report on the death penalty and the Justice 
Verma Committee, questioned its deterrent effect and did not recommend its use 
for sexual crimes, Rajeshwar added.

86% death sentences in 2017 for murder/murder involving sexual offence

Of the 109 prisoners awarded death sentence in 2017, 43 persons (39%) were 
sentenced to death for murder involving sexual violence - where the main 
offence along with the murder charge was rape. This was up 79% from 24 persons 
who were awarded the death sentence for similar crimes in 2016.

Most death sentences - to 51 persons (47%) - were awarded to prisoners 
convicted only for murder, termed as 'murder simpliciter' in 2017. Other 
offences leading to death sentences are 'rioting and murder' (5),'terror' (5), 
'kidnapping and murder' (3), and drug offence (2).

Death sentences under murder simpliciter and murder involving sexual violence 
accounted for 86% of all death sentences awarded in 2017.

In 2017, the most death sentences - to 23 people (21%) - were awarded in 
Maharashtra, followed by Uttar Pradesh (19) and Tamil Nadu (13).

The most death sentences were awarded in 2007 (186), followed by 164 in 2005, 
IndiaSpend reported in July 2015, based on the analysis of government data 
between 2004 and 2013. 95 prisoners were awarded death sentence in 2014, and 1 
executed in 2015 with 101 granted death sentences.

As many as 720 prisoners have been executed in India since 1947, Centre on the 
Death Penalty data show. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly half (354) of all 
executions in India since 1947, followed by Haryana (90) and Madhya Pradesh 
(73).

India among 56 countries to retain death penalty

Death sentence has been abolished in 142 countries in law or practice across 
the world while 56 have retained it, according to this March 2018 report by 
Amnesty International, a global human rights advocacy.

Apart from India, other prominent countries that have retained death penalty 
are United States of America, China, Japan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, 
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

More than 1,000 death sentences and executions were reported in China in 2017, 
Amnesty data show. The exact number of executions is not known as China 
classifies them as state secret.

The US reported 23 executions and awarded 41 death sentences, while India's 
neighbour on west, Pakistan, executed more than 60 people and awarded death 
sentences to over 200 in 2017.

(source: indiaspend.com)

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

Indian child killer sentenced to death 23 days after arrest, raises fears over 
trial fairness----Naveen Gadke was arrested on April 20 and charged with the 
rape and murder of a baby girl in central India.



3 weeks later a court sentenced the 26-year-old odd-job man to death in the 
fastest such trial known to have happened in modern India, a nation where 
public outrage is running high because of a series ofrapes and related 
killings.

Police, prosecutors and the district court in the city of Indore worked at a 
furious pace to get the conviction quickly, amid a backlash on the streets, 
including marches in this city of about 2 million, 550 miles south of Delhi.

This is in a country where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government last month 
introduced the death penalty for rapes of girls under 12 years in response to 
public pressure but which has a notoriously slow court system, with cases 
taking at least 6 years on average to final ruling, according to governance 
tracking group Daksh.

But the pace of the trial, the intensifying push for speedy hearings in rape 
cases, and questions about the legal defence provided to Gadke - who pleaded 
not guilty - have raised concerns among some legal rights advocates.

They are fearful there will be wrongful convictions and hangings when a 
defendant cannot afford to hire a good lawyer.

"While expeditious trials are ideal, these should not be at the cost of fair 
trial safeguards like the right to adequate time to prepare a defence and the 
presumption of innocence," said Leah Verghese, senior campaigner at human 
rights group Amnesty International India, in an email response to questions.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Rebecca John said she was concerned. "As a 
principle, I am opposed to rushing through investigative processes and trial 
processes" she said.

But reflecting the mood of the nation, well-known Supreme Court lawyer Dushyant 
Dave, a vocal supporter of capital punishment, said India "needs to send at 
least 500 people to death in the next one year to end this endemic" of rape.

"Our system is archaic and extremely inefficient," he added.

Such views have resonated with the mother of the dead 3-month-old girl as she 
sat on the front yard of a 200-year-old palace where her homeless family sleeps 
in the open.

She told Reuters she was happy with the swift verdict but her daughter would 
get justice only when Gadke is hung to death, just as quickly.

"Once such men are hanged, no one will dare to do anything like this to any 
girl," she said.

Rape victims and their families cannot be identified under Indian law.

Gadke could not be contacted as journalists are not allowed to speak with 
convicts in jail as per a home ministry directive. Sachin Verma, Gadke's 
lawyer, said his client told him that his estranged wife "framed" him, but said 
little else.

Reuters could not trace Gadke's wife to seek comment.

SLAPPING AND SHOVING

At trial, the mother, police officers and the prosecution lawyer said security 
cameras showed Gadke taking away the infant as she lay asleep by her parents. 
15 minutes later, he was seen coming out of the basement of a nearby building, 
where her blood-smeared body was found, police said.

Medical tests, completed quickly under instructions from government officials, 
confirmed she was raped, and the semen from a vaginal swab was found to be a 
DNA match with Gadke, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters.

Gadke's lawyer Verma, who specialises in matters related to crimes against 
children, said he reluctantly took the case on state government orders.

That was after four other lawyers refused to defend Gadke, Verma said. In a 
sign of how high temperatures were rising in the community, around a dozen 
lawyers attacked the defendant outside the court when he first arrived, 
slapping and shoving him, according to police.

Prosecutors presented 29 witnesses, including police and shopkeepers who found 
the victim's body, and "everybody supported the prosecution", said Verma. He 
presented no witnesses for Gadke's defence.

Verma said he could have done better if he had more time to prepare for the 
case.

"They had to create a story and they had to decide quickly," said Verma, who is 
expecting to receive 4,000 rupees ($58) from the state government for 
representing Gadke. "My client told me: 'Everyone has already decided I am 
guilty. What's the point of all this?'"

Special prosecutor Mohammad Akram Shaikh said that they had "conclusive 
evidence" against Gadke.

Judge Varsha Sharma, who deals with matters related to crimes against children 
and ruled on the case, declined to comment.

SENDING A MESSAGE

Police pressed charges against Gadke within 7 days of the crime, said Police 
Inspector Shivpal Singh Kushwah.

"All of us wanted to send a message that the law can work fast, and we 
succeeded," he said.

The court sat for seven straight working days to hear the case, unusual in 
India where one court is often dipping in and out of several cases on the same 
day. A government-run laboratory conducted tests on forensic evidence within 4 
days of a police request. This usually takes more than a month, Kushwah said.

After hearing details of his crime from Shaikh and the witnesses, Judge Sharma 
found Gadke guilty and ordered his death by hanging.

"This falls under the rarest of rare case and it would be appropriate to hand 
such a criminal the toughest punishment," the judge declared.

The sentence has to be confirmed by a higher court, for which Gadke will be 
provided a different lawyer by the state government. The court's decision can 
be challenged in the Supreme Court. An appeal toIndia's president is the last 
resort. The entire process can take years.

ACCELERATION DEMANDED

Even before Gadke's trial, there were growing calls to speed up child rape 
trials.

Lower courts take an average of 5 years to complete cases of prisoners 
sentenced to death, high courts 1 year and 4 months, and the Supreme Court 2 
years and 1 month, according to a 2016 report by the Centre on the Death 
Penalty in the National Law University of Delhi.

The university study found that 74 % of 373 death row prisoners they 
interviewed were economically vulnerable. The majority were from low castes and 
religious minorities. In the Indore case, Gadke did various jobs like cleaning 
utensils in eateries.

By contrast, trials involving India's rich and powerful sometimes take more 
than 10 years. Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a wealthy self-styled godman who had many 
followers, was convicted last year on charges of raping 2 followers - 15 years 
after the case was registered.

Government statistics show that since 2012, when a young woman was gang raped 
in a moving bus in Delhi igniting national uproar, reported rape cases have 
climbed 60 % to around 40,000 in 2016 - about 1 every 15 minutes - with child 
rape accounting for about 40 %.

(source: The Jakarta Post)








PHILIPPINES:

Solons support death penalty for drug cases



Death penalty advocates in the House of Representatives are upbeat over Senate 
President Vicente Sotto III's pronouncement of allowing the passage of the 
restoration of the capital punishment only for drug cases.

Led by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House 
Committee on Illegal Drugs, administration lawmakers agree with Sotto's 
position that the death sentence be reimposed in the country even if it will 
cover only high-level drug traffickers.

Reps. Arnolfo Teves (PDP-Laban, Negros Oriental); Sherwin Tugna (CIBAC 
Partylist) and Carlos Uybaretta (1-CARE Partylist) all voted for the passage of 
House Bill 4727 that provides for the restoration of the death penalty for 
drug-related cases.

Barbers explained that his original bill called for the imposition of the death 
sentence against persons found guilty of drug trafficking.

"But my bill was later consolidated with other bills seeking to re-impose the 
death sentence on a number of heinous offenses, including plunder," said 
Barbers.

Sotto, who has been supportive of the Catholic Church's stand against death 
penalty, divorce, and same-sex marriage, said he is willing to discuss with 
senators the proposal to reinstate the death sentence if it will be limited to 
illegal drugs cases.

The Senate president is a fierce anti-drug abuse crusader. He was chairman of 
the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, the Dangerous Drugs Board and the 
Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs.

A reformed drug user and now another vigorous anti-drug abuse advocate, Teves 
said Sotto's pronouncement provides a good opening that would revive the bid to 
reinstate the death sentence.

It will be revealed that the death penalty was abolished in 2006 by then 
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after it was re-imposed during the term of 
former President Fidel V. Ramos.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

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

OP to look into case of OFW on death row in Bahrain



Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go on Sunday 
expressed willingness to help an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) on death row in 
Bahrain.

During his visit to fire victims in Malabon on Sunday where he extended 
assistance to them, President Rodrigo R. Duterte's top aide told Precy 
Aguinaldo, mother of an OFW languishing in death row in Bahrain, that the 
Office of the President will seriously look into her son's case.

"For the sentence to be commuted, we will knock on the doors of your majesty's 
big heart and we will seek his safety from capital punishment through 
commutation of (the death) sentence to life imprisonment. That's what we're 
requesting from them, I hope Bahrain will hear us, let's pray," he said in 
Filipino.

Go also encouraged Aguinaldo not to lose hope and to keep praying for 
positivity regarding her son's case.

Go earlier facilitated the speedy repatriation of the remains of Angelo 
Claveria, the OFW found in a septic tank in South Korea.

According to Claveria's sister, Go personally called her to inquire about the 
details of his case and committed to help repatriate the remains of the 
Filipino worker.

Claveria's skeletal remains arrived in the country at the Iloilo International 
Airport on Sunday morning.

(source: ptvnews.ph)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi prosecution demands death for terrorists----Accomplices provided bomber 
with explosive belts, led him to mosque

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor demanded the death penalty for 2 terrorists 
who plotted to blow up a mosque in Qatif in the Eastern Province.

The pair, a Saudi and a Yemeni, had been instructed by the Daesh terror group 
to cause the explosion, the court heard as the trial opened in the Saudi 
capital Riyadh.

The 2 men were tasked with leading a Pakistani national who had been designated 
to blow himself up in Al Mustafa Mosque in the town of Um Al Hamam.

The scheme failed after the police in the area became suspicious and fired at 
the Pakistani, killing him before he had time to detonate his 4-kilo explosives 
belt.

The Saudi man faced charges of belonging to, and operating for, the Daesh 
terror group, communicating with its members in Syria, participating in their 
terror schemes in Saudi Arabia, carrying an explosives belt from Riyadh to the 
Eastern Province to target a mosque and accompanying the would-be suicide 
bomber.

He was also charged with illegal financial operations and traveling to Syria to 
join terror groups.

The Yemeni suspect was charged with embracing a terrorist ideology, membership 
of the Daesh group, working on its behalf in Saudi Arabia, contacts with Daesh 
members in Syria, assisting with the terror attack by selecting a Shiite mosque 
to blow up and monitoring movements around the mosque to inform his Daesh 
contacts who commissioned the attack.

Saudi Arabia has had to deal with terrorists who attacked or planned to target 
mosques, mainly in the Eastern Province, but also in other regions of the vast 
country.

In January, it put on trial of a woman who helped her husband carry the 
explosives belt used in a deadly attack on a mosque on August 6, 2015.

The woman concealed the belt under her feet as her husband drove more than 
1,000km from Riyadh to Aseer province in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

The attack on the mosque inside the Special Forces headquarters in Abha during 
the duhr (noon) prayers killed 5 soldiers, 6 military trainees and 4 
Bangladeshi workers.

In an address at the start of Ramadan on May 17, King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz 
said that Saudi Arabia remained fully committed to fighting extremism and 
terrorism.

"When terrorism spread out across the world, the kingdom continued to use all 
its means, political weight and international prestige to combat extremism and 
terrorism, and to emphasise in all international forums that they are not part 
of any religion or culture," he said.

(source: Gulf News)








PAKISTAN:

Justice served: 2 get death sentence in murder case



A court sentenced 2 men to death for their involvement in a murder case in 
Faisalabad. The judgment was announced by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad 
Amir.

The prosecution told the court that accused Muhammad Rafique, Muhammad Fayyaz 
and Muhammad Khan had killed Aun Abbas over a monetary dispute on October 21, 
2016.

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 Muhammad Fayyaz and Muhammad Khan along with a fine of Rs0.2 
million each. However, the judge acquitted Rafique after giving him the benefit 
of doubt.

The court also ordered the accused to undergo 6 months additional imprisonment 
if they failed to pay the penalty.

(source: The Express Tribune)

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

Country's death-row population increases to 8,000----4,000 inmates await 
execution in Punjab



The fate of thousands of death-row prisoners hangs in the balance as the 
federal government failed to come up with a clear-cut policy to deal with 
convicts over the last 5 years.

The general elections 2018 are due in July with Pakistan having largest 
death-row population in the world. Perhaps, the new government will be able to 
decide the fate of condemned prisoners languishing in jails for decades.

Currently, at least 6,000 to 8,000 prisoners await execution across the 
country. Most of those put on the death row were convicted in murder cases. 
Hundreds among them have exhausted their appeals and their clemency appeals are 
rejected as well.

In December 2014, Pakistan lifted 7-year unofficial moratorium on the death 
penalty in response to the deadliest attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. 
The executions picked up momentum in 2015 with 332 convicts sent to gallows.

However, the executions dropped drastically in 2016 and 2017. At least 87 
convicts were hanged across the country in 2016 while 44 convicts were executed 
in 2017. According to Justice Project Pakistan, at least 495 convicts have been 
hanged in the country since the moratorium was lifted.

It is not clear yet why the executions of murder convicts are halted this year 
again. But key international players called for an immediate halt to executions 
after the country had suspended the ban on the death penalty for all convicts.

Many among those hanged to death in recent years were terrorists in addition to 
murderers.

In 2016, several inmates were hanged to death in murder cases reported by 
police almost 20 years ago. They remained in the prisons for 15 to 20 years 
before they were executed. Among them were double-murder convicts Mansha Munees 
and Salman Munees who were hanged in the Lahore's Central Prison on February 4, 
2017. The police had reported the offense in 1996.

Similarly, Allah Ditta who had murdered his wife in 1999 was executed in 
district jail Jhang on January 19, 2016 after remaining on the death row for 
more than 15 years.

While rights activists call for reforms in the criminal justice system stating 
that the death penalty does not deter crimes, the police officers think 
otherwise.

Police investigators and jail officers interviewed for this story say 
executions help control crime particularly murders in this society where 
thousands of people are killed each year.

Police official Mubarak says if the convicts will not be hanged for many years 
the impact of the punishment will vanish. "We are bound to follow the law that 
awards death penalty to the killers. If the convicts will not be executed on 
fast-track, the rising murder rate will not be controlled. If the punishment is 
awarded after 15 or 20 years, it will not make any different because even the 
victim family, after so many years, will forget what had happened to them," he 
said.

Police officer Ahmad, who works at a police station in Lahore to exclusively 
investigate the murder cases, said thousands of people are murdered due to one 
or another reason each year in this province. "The suspects are arrested by 
police, sent to jails, and convicted in the courts. They must be punished under 
the laws," he said.

In recent years, the Punjab Police established special homicide cells at each 
police station to probe murder case. Nayab Haider, a police spokesman said, the 
murder cases are thoroughly investigated.

He says the police use multiple resources and techniques to probe homicides and 
ensure conviction. "The Homicide Investigation Cells are set up in each police 
station of the province to exclusively investigate murder incidents. This 
(murders) has become a complete subject for the policing because of high murder 
rate in the province," he explained.

Farooq Nazir, former Inspector General of Prisons says that 95 % of those put 
on the death row were sentenced to death in murder cases. A few drug convicts 
are also on the death row in Punjab, he said.

Nazir, who served in Punjab for many years to lead the Prisons Department, 
defends the capital punishment stating that it works as deterrence. "Hundreds 
of people are murdered (in Punjab) every month. But only a few convicts are 
hanged," he said. "The convicts are given fair trails. Even they can compromise 
with the heirs of the deceased under the laws."

The former prisons police chief said at least 4,000 convicts are on the death 
row in the Punjab province where police reported 1,213 murdered cases during 
the first 4 months of this year.

According to him, when suspects are convicted in homicides and awarded death 
sentence by the district courts they are called "unconfirmed condemned 
prisoners" and when their appeals are rejected by the higher courts they are 
named as "confirmed condemned prisoners." Once the black warrants are issued, 
the convicts are hanged in jails within a week, he said. The convicts can 
appeal to the higher courts and the superior courts and even they can file 
mercy petitions, he argued.

He went on to say the ratio of homicides is zero in the countries where murder 
convicts are executed on fast-track like Singapore, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. He 
said only a few murder convicts are hanged in Pakistan after years long legal 
wrangling. "The impact of the punishment disappears if the convicts are 
sentenced after 20 years," he said.

Rimmel Mohydin of Justice Project Pakistan, a group which follows the cases of 
the death-row inmates, said most of the murder convicts belonged to poor 
families.

When asked whether the capital punishment helps downgrade murder ratio, she 
rejected the police claims. "This is, in fact, untrue," she said. "There are up 
to 8,000 prisoners on death row in Pakistan. The only common factor is that 
they are poor and therefore unable to afford lawyers who can prove them 
innocent. There are no millionaires on the death row," she said.

Rights activists say the country's criminal justice system is too complicated 
and mired in corruption. They say the poor can't hire strong defense lawyers. 
"None of the millionaire is put on the death row. The lawyers of poor convicts 
don't appear in the courts even after accepting fees," said Mohydin, Head of 
Communications at the Justice Project Pakistan.

"Pakistan's legal infrastructure is faulty, mired in red tape, and beholden to 
power. This creates a permissive environment for the routine miscarriage of 
justice," Mohydin said.

Akram says he was working in the fields when he came know that one of his 
relatives was shot dead by another. Consequently, 3 men were charged in the 
murder case and Akram was 1 of them.

"I had nothing to do with that murder. But nobody was ready to listen to my 
requests," Akram told The Nation during a brief interview. "Ultimately, I was 
handed life-term while the other 2 men were sentenced to death by the district 
courts."

All the 3 convicts spent almost 10 years in the Sahiwal District Jail before 
they appealed to the Lahore High Court from the prison. The Lahore High Court 
last year acquitted all the 3 men in the murder case of the ex-schoolteacher.

"There were many flaws in the investigation (of this murder case). The police 
and the lawyers failed to establish the facts before a 2-judge bench. So, the 
trio acquitted by the court," said Mr Riaz who represented one of the convicts.

"Jails are hell. Life is outside," said Akram who returned to his fields after 
spending 10 years in the prison for the crime he say he never committed. "Poor 
convicts are humiliated, tortured, and abused in the prisons," Akram recalls. 
"We had to do hard labour in the jail to skip torture."

But Madad Ali, the eldest son of the murdered schoolteacher, asks a simple 
question. He says that if the trio was innocent then who killed his father. "My 
father was shot dead in broad daylight. Who killed him and why?"

Ali has the right to challenge the High Courts' decision and file an appeal in 
the Supreme Court of Pakistan. But he says that his family was already 
hand-to-mouth after fighting a lengthy legal battle.

Mubeen Butt is one of thousands of prisoners put on the death-row in Pakistan. 
He was arrested in connection with a murder case registered in Lahore's Mozang 
police station almost a decade ago.

Mubeen's brother spoke to the Nation last week and said that the family would 
badly miss him on the upcoming Eid, a religious festival celebrated across the 
Muslim World by at the end of fasting month.

"We visit the jail to see Mubeen once in a month because we can't pay the jail 
staff for the meetings. The jails staff is too much demanding. They rob us 
whenever we go to the jail to see my brother. They also steal food items," he 
said.

Dozens of prisoners die in jails across the Punjab province each year because 
of diseases caused by poor sanitary conditions and lack of healthcare.

"All the prisons are overcrowded," said Zaman who spent several years in 
Faisalabad Jail after being arrested on house-robbery charges. "The jail staff 
tortures the inmates to extort cash from their relatives. The poor prisoners 
are abused and humiliated every day in jails," he said.

Rimmel Mohydin says that there is an urgent need to improve our sentencing 
laws, with an emphasis of rehabilitation and human right. "We have proven that 
the death penalty does not deter crimes. So, the solution lies in the broader 
societal problems that engender and encourages crimes. It's not the easy way 
but it's the right way," she said.

According to Justice Project Pakistan, Iqbal was just 17-year-old when he was 
sentenced to death for a botched robbery. His case was tried by an 
anti-terrorism court even though his crime had nothing to do with terrorism. 
The fact of his juvenility, doubts in the prosecution's case, and even 
forgiveness by victim's family failed to save him.

"He is almost 40-year-old now and still remains on the death row in a Punjab's 
jail. His case is a stark reminder of the dire need to reform Anti-Terrorism 
Act, starting with how it defines terrorism itself," said Mohydin.

Iqbal's death warrants were suspended last year on the intervention of the 
National Commission for Human Rights, she said. The convicts remain on the 
death as authorities are asked to determine his age first.

(source: The Nation)








MALAYSIA:

Malaysians seize record 1.2 tons of shabu hidden in tea packets



Malaysian authorities said Monday they have seized a record 1.2 tons of crystal 
methamphetamine that was shipped from Myanmar hidden in tea packets, the latest 
huge drugs haul in Southeast Asia.

Six people were arrested after the drugs were found during an operation by 
customs officers on May 22 at Port Klang on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

The stash was worth 71 million ringgit ($18 million) and had been shipped in a 
container from Yangon in Myanmar, said Customs director-general Subromaniam 
Tholasy.

It was the latest massive crystal meth seizure in Southeast Asia, as the 
notorious "Golden Triangle" - an ungovernable border zone that crosses Myanmar, 
Laos, Thailand and China - experiences a boom in production.

Subromaniam told reporters the crystal meth haul was the biggest ever in 
Malaysia in terms of value and weight.

"We believe the drugs were for the local market and it is the work of a local 
criminal syndicate working with a Myanmar criminal gang," he said.

3 Malaysians and 3 Myanmar nationals aged between 22 and 48 years had been 
arrested, said the customs chief.

Under Malaysia's tough anti-narcotics laws, they could face the death penalty 
if found guilty of trafficking.

Customs officers also found heroin weighing 750 grams and about one million 
contraband cigarettes.

Myanmar in particular has become a major supplier of meth, with producers in 
its conflict-riddled northeast pumping out narcotics for Southeast Asia and 
beyond.

(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)