[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

November 28



IRAN:

5 wildlife conservationists held by Iran could face the death penalty



Up to 6 conservation researchers accused of spying by the Iranian government 
could face the death penalty if convicted, according to multiple media reports.

Conservationists Niloufar Bayani, Taher Ghadirian, Houman Jowkar, Sepideh 
Kashani and Morad Tahbaz work with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation on 
the conservation of different wildlife species in Iran, which includes 
monitoring animals such as Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) with 
camera traps. The country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which reports to 
the country's supreme leader, alleges that the team used camera traps to 
collect information on Iran's missile program, Science magazine reported Oct. 
30.

The 8 environmentalists from the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation currently 
being held in Iran on charges related to espionage.

The 5 are among a group of 8 - which also includes Amir Hossein Khaleghi, 
Abdolreza Kouhpayeh and Sam Rajabi from the same organization - being held in 
custody, according to The Guardian newspaper and other media reports. A 
sociologist and manager of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Kavous 
Seyed Emami, who was arrested in early 2018, died under suspicious 
circumstances in February while in custody, observers said according to a 
report in The New York Times.

"This is a very bizarre charge to bring against environmental activists," Tara 
Sepehri Far, a researcher with Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Science.

After months of confinement, 5 of the 8 conservationists were charged with the 
crime of "sowing corruption on Earth" in early October, The Guardian wrote. 
(Science reported that only 4 of them - Bayani, Ghadirian, Jowkar and Tahbaz - 
were charged with the capital offense.)

"9 months of pre-trial detention with no clear charges and no access to a 
lawyer is an unusually long time even by Iran's dismal due process standards. 
It's hard not to conclude that the authorities are struggling to gather enough 
evidence to charge them with any recognizable crime," Sepehri Far wrote in a 
post for the Atlantic Council, a think tank, before the revelation of the 
charges.

The Asiatic cheetah, likely numbering fewer than 50 individuals, is found only 
in Iran. Image by Tasnim News Agency via Wikimedia Commons (CC 4.0).

She said an investigation at the behest of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani did 
not find that the accused environmentalists were spies, which put them at the 
center of a "domestic power struggle" with hard-liners in the judiciary and the 
Revolutionary Guard.

If convicted, the environmentalists could face sentences ranging from six 
months up to the death penalty.

"It is hard to fathom how working to preserve the Iranian flora and fauna can 
possibly be linked to conducting espionage against Iranian interests," a group 
of experts calling on the Iranian government to have the charges dropped said 
in a statement from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for 
Human Rights.

Jon Paul Rodríguez, a biologist at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific 
Research and chair of IUCN Species Survival Commission, highlighted the value 
of the work that the researchers had been doing.

"As far as I am aware, practically the only information we have on the Asiatic 
cheetah comes from camera traps," he said.

Asiatic cheetahs likely number fewer than 50 individuals, based on a 2017 study 
co-authored by Jowkar, 1 of the people charged in this case, and the IUCN has 
considered the subspecies critically endangered since 1996.

Because cheetahs live at low densities, the traps represent a much more 
efficient and economical tool to get an accurate picture of their population. 
In Botswana in southern Africa, scientists have used camera traps to 
demonstrate to ranchers that a cheetah on their property isn’t as dangerous to 
their livestock as they might think.

An Asiatic cheetah in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in Iran. Image by Behnam 
Ghorbani via Wikimedia Commons (CC 4.0).

The detentions and the charges leveled have rattled the international 
scientific community.

"IUCN is deeply alarmed by the charges," Rodríguez said.

First reported by Science, hundreds of scientists have signed a letter asking 
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, to ensure a fair and 
"transparent" trial for the 8 researchers.

CITATION

Khalatbari, L., Jowkar, H., Yusefi, G. H., Brito, J. C., and Ostrowski, S. 
(2017). The current status of Asiatic cheetah in Iran. Cat News, 66, 10-13.

(source: mongabay.com)








MALDIVES:

Maldives pledges to uphold moratorium on death penalty----The moratorium was 
lifted by former president Abdulla Yameen in 2014.



A 65-year moratorium on the death penalty will be maintained by the new 
administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the foreign ministry 
announced Tuesday.

It also announced that the Maldives would vote yes on a draft resolution before 
the UN General Assembly entitled "Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty."

The six-decade moratorium on capital punishment was lifted by former president 
Abdulla Yameen in 2014. However, despite religious campaign rhetoric and 
offering various dates, his previous administration did not resume executions.

A pledge to uphold the moratorium was also announced Tuesday by the Maldives 
delegation attending a review by the Committee Against Torture in Geneva, 
Switzerland.

The delegation led by president's office minister Ahmed Naseem, a former 
foreign minister, also pledged to criminalise marital rape, end corporal 
punishment of children and to respect all obligations under the Convention 
Against Torture.

3 young men are presently on death row after the Supreme Court upheld their 
sentences.

During the previous administration, rumours of their imminent execution led to 
international condemnation, including from philanthropist Richard Branson, 
Indian politician Sashi Tharoor as well as the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan.

In July 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee asked the government to halt the 
execution of Hussain Humam Ahmed pending the outcome of a review of his case. 
The 22-year-old was found guilty of murdering parliamentarian Dr Afrasheem Ali 
in October 2012.

According to Maldivian law, the death penalty can only be carried out should 
all of the murder victim's immediate relatives (heirs) choose to take the life 
of a convicted killer under the Islamic shariah principle of Qisas (retaliation 
in kind).

Dr Afrasheem's heirs requested Humam's execution be delayed until the 
high-profile murder is solved. The inmate may prove to be key in identifying 
the financiers of the brutal killing, they said.

Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or 
arbitrary executions, had also urged the government to maintain the de facto 
moratorium on the death penalty, calling the resumption of executions "a great 
setback for the country and the entire region".

International human rights groups Amnesty International and Reprieve, in a 
petition against the death penalty in the Maldives said Yameen was putting the 
country "on the wrong side of history" by this "reckless course of action".

(source: Maldives Independent)








MALAYSIA:

Carwash worker sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Johor



A carwash worker was sentenced to death by the High Court here for distributing 
99.16g of methamphetamine 2 years ago.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah meted out the sentence on Wednesday (Nov 28) to 
S. Satha Sivam, 44, after the defence failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the 
case.

According to the charge sheet, the accused was charged with distributing the 
drugs in a room located on the top floor of a coffee shop in Jalan Meldrum at 
about 7.40pm on Sept 9, 2016.

Satha's lawyer Nur Zafirah Norizan said her client appealed to be jailed 
instead of being sent to the gallows.

Amendments to Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 removes the mandatory 
death penalty for drug offences and gives judges full discretion in sentencing.

However, in his judgement, Sequerah said the accused had not fulfilled the 
compulsory condition for him to escape the death penalty.

DPP Nor Farhana Adham prosecuted.

(source: thestar.com.my)

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

Liew: Govt committed to doing away with death penalty



The death penalty is not an answer to everything as there is no credible proof 
that it deters crimes, says de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong.

In his speech during the dialogue session, "Abolition of Death Penalty: Way 
Forward", with the United Kingdom and Eire Malaysian Law Student's Union at the 
Malaysian High Commission in London on Saturday, Liew said the people should 
instead move towards becoming a humane society because hanging as punishment 
for causing a death is never the solution.

"As of Oct 29 this year, there are 65,222 prisoners and 1,281 of them are death 
row inmates.

"However, just one week before that, there were 59,997 prisoners and 1,279 
death row inmates. So, there is an increase of 5,225 prisoners and 2 death row 
inmates in a span of just 1 week," he said.

A text of his speech was released here.

Liew, who headed the Malaysian delegation for the 11th International Meeting of 
Justice Ministers on "A World Without the Death Penalty" conference, from Nov 
26 to Dec 1 in Italy, had made a stopover in London where he met the Malaysian 
university students.

He said the issue behind the country taking away a human life would always be a 
hot button issue and everyone has an opinion on this.

Liew said the government is committed to abolishing the death penalty.

"After the Cabinet decision made on Oct 10, I made an announcement that the 
death penalty in all laws in this country will be abolished. Coincidentally, 
the 'World Day Against the Death Penalty' also falls on the same day," he said.

To date, he said, there are 32 offences under 8 laws which are punishable with 
the death penalty.

They include the Penal Code, Strategic Trade Act 2010, Arms Act 1960, Firearms 
(Increased Penalties) Act 1971, Armed Forces Act 1972, Dangerous Drugs Act 
1952, Kidnapping Act 1961 and Water Services Industry Act 2006.

Miscarriage of justice

Liew said there was always the possibility of miscarriage of justice when 
imposing the death penalty.

For example, he said in 2017, a 20-year-old South Korean student, charged in 
the Seremban High Court for drug trafficking and facing the death penalty, was 
freed after a police officer, who was the most crucial witness in the case, 
admitted to lying during the trial.

"It is said that it's better that 10 guilty men go free than 1 innocent man be 
wrongly convicted," said Liew.

"If an innocent men is sentenced to death, it means that the guilty one is 
still at large.

"Of course, all these facts are not meant to disregard the feelings of the 
victims and their family members."

Liew said the government intends to replace the death penalty with imprisonment 
for life.

"I fully understand the pain and suffering of those who have lost their loved 
ones but life has to go on. It’s never easy to let go of the bitterness," he 
said.

"I am proposing a mandatory imprisonment for life for those who have been 
convicted for heinous crimes without the possibility of parole."

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)








INDIA:

SC upholds validity of death sentence for murder



The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the validity of the death sentence for 
murder under penal law while it commuted to life imprisonment the death 
sentence of one Channnu Lal Verma.

The bench of Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Hemant 
Gupta upheld the penal provision of death sentence under Section 302 of the 
Indian Penal Code (IPC) by a majority of 2:1.

While Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Hemant Gupta upheld the penal provision 
of death sentence under Section 302 of IPC, Justice Joseph differed, seeking a 
review of capital punishment as it has failed to be a deterrent to curb the 
heinous crime.

Justice Joseph, who is retiring on Thursday, has cited the 262 report of the 
Law Commission which has said that death penalty has failed to be a deterrent 
to curb the heinous crime.

However, Justice Deepak Gupta, also speaking for Justice Hemant Gupta, defended 
the retention of the death penalty on the statute book. The majority judgment 
referred to earlier judgments of the top court in Bachan Singh and Machhi Singh 
case, upholding the validity of capital punishment.

He said there was no need for re-examining the validity and correctness of the 
death sentence.

Section 302 of the IPC that provides for punishment for murder says: "Whoever 
commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall 
also be liable to fine."

Justice Joseph, in his minority judgment, said that trial court proceedings at 
times get impacted by public opinion and even the investigating agencies mount 
pressure for the conviction of the accused.

The top court had earlier, in the Delhi gang rape case, upheld the validity of 
the death sentence, and in the Bachan Singh's case in the 1980s, the top court 
had coined the doctrine of "rarest of rare" case for the award of the death 
sentence.

In the current case, three judges, while pronouncing a split verdict on the 
validity of the death sentence as punishment, commuted the death sentence of 
one Channnu Lal Verma of Chhattisgarh who was convicted and awarded the death 
sentence by the trial court and the same was upheld by the High Court.

Verma was convicted for the murder of 3 people who had appeared as witnesses 
against him in an alleged rape case. He was acquitted in the rape case.

He had murdered one 25-year-old Ratna Bai, her father-in-law Ram Sahu and 
mother-in-law Firtin Bai.

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

SC commutes death to life imprisonment to rape, murder case convict



The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted death sentence to life imprisonment to 
a man who was convicted in a rape and triple murder case, after noting that 
death penalty is awarded only in those cases where there is no chance of a 
convict's reform.

A 3-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Kurian Joseph, and 
comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Deepak Gupta, commuted the death sentence 
of Chhannu Lal Verma to life imprisonment.

The court did not agree with the submissions made by Atul Jha, standing counsel 
of Chhattisgarh, stating that there was no evidence to show that he (Verma) was 
beyond reform, adding that life term will prove to be an inadequate punishment 
for his crime.

Verma was convicted by a Sessions Court and then by the Chhattisgarh High Court 
for killing Anand Ram Sahu, his wife Firanteen Bai and raping and murdering 
their daughter-in-law Ratna Sahu in 2011, and was subsequently awarded a death 
penalty.

Jha had submitted to the apex court that Verma, with premeditation and 
planning, committed house trespass and assaulted Anand Ram, Firanteen and Ratna 
Sahu. He had submitted to the apex court that the evidence on record and 
testimonies of different witnesses clearly establish that there was precision 
and all the targets were well planned by Verma.

He further submitted that the accused crossed all limits of brutality and was 
in such mental state where he was not thinking of any other situation but to 
kill the persons belonging to the family of Ratna Bai.

Jha had submitted that the appellant (Verma) had previous criminal antecedents 
involving the same family. Therefore, it is a case where he failed to reform 
himself on more than one occasion, he noted.

Verma, in his defence, submitted that the conviction was based on the testimony 
of a child eyewitness, and thereby, should not be relied upon.

(source for both: business-standard.com)



BELARUS----executions

Belarus Executes 2 Convicted Murderers, Prompting EU Criticism

Belarus has executed 2 convicted murderers, the human rights group Vyasna 
(Spring) said, prompting the European Union to redouble its calls for President 
Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government to impose a moratorium on capital 
punishment.

Vyasna cited the mother of Ihar Hershankou as saying on November 28 that she 
had been officially informed that the death penalty imposed on her son had been 
carried out.

A day earlier, Vyasna cited relatives of Syamyon Berazhny as saying that they 
had been informed that the 31-year-old had been executed by shooting.

Belarus is the only country in Europe and the former Soviet Union that executes 
prisoners, drawing persistent criticism from rights activists and EU nations.

Berazhny, Hershankou, and two co-defendants were convicted of murder and 
kidnapping in July 2017, after investigators said they were members of a gang 
that killed elderly homeowners in order to acquire their apartments or houses.

Berazhny and one of his co-defendants, Ihar Hershankou, were sentenced to death 
and the other 2 were sentenced to 22 and 24 years in prison.

In June, the Supreme Court suspended the implementation of the death sentences 
against Berazhny and Hershankou amid calls by rights organizations not to 
execute the men.

Amnesty International, which had earlier raised concerns about the planned 
executions, praised the Supreme Court decision at the time.

The EU and rights groups have urged Belarus for years to join other countries 
in a moratorium on the death penalty.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that "the 
European Union reaffirms its strong and unequivocal opposition to capital 
punishment in all circumstances."

"The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is a cruel, inhuman, and degrading 
punishment," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said in a statement.

She called on Minsk "to introduce a moratorium on the use of the death penalty 
as a first step towards its abolition."

"Tangible steps taken by Belarus to respect universal human rights, including 
on the death penalty, will remain key for shaping the EU's future policy 
towards Belarus," Kocijancic's statement said.

According to rights organizations, more than 400 people have been sentenced to 
death in Belarus since it gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet 
Union in 1991.

2 convicts were reportedly executed in May.

Kocijancic's statement said that four executions have been carried out in 
Belarus in 2018 and 2 people remain on death row.

(source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)








EGYPT:

Egyptian Kangaroo Courts on death sentences spree



An Egyptian Kangaroo Court Sunday (Nov. 25, 2018) confirmed the penalty after 
being convicted in the death of Hisham Barakat, who was killed in a car bombing 
in eastern Cairo in 2015, according to the official MENA news agency.

The son of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Taha Wahdan was among those 
condemned to death.

There have been no credible claims of responsibility for the deadly bombing 
that killed the state prosecutor just outside his house. However, the 
authorities point the finger at members of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood 
movement.

Barakat was responsible for thousands of controversial prosecutions, including 
several widely deemed as politically-motivated resulting in death sentences, 
for hundreds of members of the movement.

The Egyptian government has been cracking down on opposition since the 
country's 1st democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a 
military coup led by General and current President Field Marshal Abdel Fattah 
el-Sisi in July 2013.

Hundreds of Morsi supporters have been sentenced to death, while the former 
president and top Brotherhood figures have also faced trial.

Human Rights groups say the army's clampdown on the supporters of Morsi has led 
to the deaths of over 1,400 people and the arrest of 22,000 others, including 
some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.

Following the coup, Cairo also labeled the Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist 
organization" in December 2013 and Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of 
Brotherhood members to death, including Morsi himself.

Egyptian military junta led by US-client Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, 
has executed 32 people since al-Sisi overthrew the first democratically elected 
President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

According to the New Khaleej, Egyptian authorities have executed 32 people in 
nine cases since the coup d'e'tat while 64 people are awaiting the death 
penalty in 13 other cases.

There is no precise count of the number of death sentences pending appeals in 
Egypt, however human rights organizations say they amount to hundreds.

Since 2013, Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds to death, with most of the 
sentences appealed, while few were carried out.

Egypt upholds death sentence against 80-year-old Quran tutor

The Egyptian government has upheld a death sentence against Sheikh Abdel Halim 
Gabreel, an 80-year-old Quran tutor, with Amnesty International campaigning for 
him to receive a presidential pardon.

On 24 September, Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences of 20 
Egyptians, including Gabreel, who had been convicted of killing 13 policemen 
during a 2013 attack on a police station in the Giza suburb of Kerdasa in 2013.

Gabreel was arrested while he was in the mosque and was put on trial after six 
months of investigations, all whilst he was denied a lawyer. Despite not having 
any political affiliation and stating that he was not involved in the Kerdasa 
attack, with 2 witnesses for the prosecution affirming his story, he was 
sentenced to death.

Some 156 defendants were also either sentenced to death or to lengthy 
imprisonment in the first trial, for their alleged involvement in the "Kerdasa 
Massacre" in which 13 police officers were killed.

The 80-year-old grandfather's health has deteriorated in prison since his 
detention; he has received inadequate treatment for his psoriasis and cannot 
walk long distances. Wadi Al-Natrun prison authorities have also prevented his 
family from bringing him medication.

The latest ruling by the Court of Cassation cannot be appealed. Amnesty has 
consequently called on the international community to write letters to Egyptian 
President Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the country's public 
prosecutor, urging for Gabreel to be granted a presidential pardon and that he 
is given regular and adequate access to qualified medical professionals.

They also urge Egyptian authorities "to halt any planned executions, to commute 
all existing death sentences and immediately establish an official moratorium 
on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty".

According to Amnesty, since the ousting of democratically elected President 
Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Egyptian civil and military courts issued more than 
1,400 death sentences, mostly related to incidents of political violence, 
following grossly unfair trials, with testimonies often obtained through 
torture.

The global human rights watchdog has described the situation in Egypt as the 
worst human rights crisis in the country in decades, with the state 
systematically using arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances to silence 
any criticism of the government. Hundreds of journalists and human rights 
activists have also been arrested and held without trial.

Egypt has justified its crackdown on opponents as necessary to protect national 
security. Last year, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi told US officials in New 
York that human rights should not be judged from a Western perspective, arguing 
that Egypt had taken numerous measures to ensure the economic and social 
wellbeing of its citizens.

(source: Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America; 
The Milli Gazette)








CAMEROON:

Cameroonian Separatists Risk Death Sentence Following Terrorism Charges



10 Cameroonian separatist leaders extradited from Nigeria earlier this year 
will face trial next month on terrorism charges that could lead to the death 
penalty, one of their lawyers said after a court hearing on Tuesday.

The accused include Julius Ayuk Tabe, the leader of an Anglophone separatist 
movement in western Cameroon fighting to break away from the 
Francophone-dominated central government.

Hundreds of people, including civilians, separatist fighters and Cameroonian 
security agents, have been killed in the past year's violence, which has 
emerged as the most serious security threat to President Paul Biya, in power 
for 36 years.

"Ten charges have been brought against them, including terrorism, advocating 
terrorism, secession, civil war and revolution," lawyer Christopher Ndong told 
Reuters after the charges were read out at the capital Yaounde's military 
court.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 6, Ndong added.

Tabe and his co-defendants were among 47 Anglophone Cameroonians arrested in 
Nigeria and deported to Cameroon in January. The remaining 37 suspects are 
still being held by the authorities and have not been charged, said Ndong.

Cameroon's government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

A separatist insurgency gained pace in 2017 following a government crackdown on 
peaceful protests by Anglophones, who complain of being marginalized by the 
French-speaking majority.

Violence from both sides of the conflict intensified this year, forcing 
thousands of civilians to seek refuge in Francophone regions.

Biya, re-elected to a seventh term in October, said in his inauguration speech 
last month the separatists must lay down their arms or face the full force of 
the law.

Cameroon regularly sentences people to death but has not carried out an 
execution in years.

(source: voanews.com)








ZIMBABWE:

Man who beheaded wife with axe gets death sentence



The Supreme Court yesterday confirmed the death sentence on a Binga man who 
axed his wife 11 times and chopped off her head before hiding it in a cardboard 
box following a domestic dispute.

Wonder Munsaka (33) of Zenka Village under Chief Siabuwa was last year 
convicted of murder with actual intent by Bulawayo High Court Justice Nokuthula 
Moyo and sentenced to death by hanging.

Munsaka axed his wife of 10 years, Fortunate Mutale (23) on the forehead, right 
palm and finger before chopping off the head in October 2014.

Supreme Court judge Justice Antonia Guvava sitting with Justices Rita Makarau 
and Francis Bere on circuit in Bulawayo dismissed his appeal, saying the bench 
was satisfied that Justice Moyo could not be faulted for passing a death 
sentence given the circumstances under which the offence was committed.

"The assault upon the deceased was vicious and protracted and the injuries were 
inflicted by the axe and directed at her head. The appellant struck the 
deceased no less than 11 times," said Justice Guvava.

She said Munsaka's version of events was contradictory, an indication that he 
changed his story as the trial progressed Justice Guvava said Justice Moyo's 
exercise of discretion to impose the death penalty in the circumstances could 
not be impugned since the murder was committed in aggravating circumstances.

"The murder was committed in aggravating circumstances. Accordingly, we are of 
the unanimous decision that the appeal both against conviction and sentence 
lacks merit and it is hereby dismissed," she ruled.

Munsaka, through his lawyers Shenje and Company, conceded that the conviction 
was proper. He however, sought an order for a life imprisonment, arguing that 
the sentence imposed by the High Court induced a sense of shock.

"Wherefore, the appellant seeks to impugn his sentence and pray that it be set 
aside and substituted with a sentence of life imprisonment," said Munsaka's 
lawyers.

Chief Public Prosecutor Mrs Tariro Rosa Takuva, in her head of argument, said 
the death sentence was proper since the murder was committed under aggravating 
circumstances.

"It is common cause that the murder was accompanied by mutilation when the 
appellant relentlessly struck the deceased with an axe to the point of 
decapitating her head. The murder was committed in aggravating circumstances 
and the death sentence is therefore appropriate in the circumstances," she 
argued.

According to State papers, on October 7 in 2014 at around 9PM, Munsaka and his 
wife had a domestic dispute at their matrimonial homestead.

He got angry and struck his wife using an axe once on the forehead, right palm 
and finger and behind the right ear. Munsaka also struck her on the upper lip 
and nose.

During the scuffle, Mutale bolted out of the kitchen screaming for help with 
her husband in hot pursuit.

She fell down and Munsaka chopped off her head with the axe. He put the head in 
a large cardboard box and hid it under their bed.

After committing the crime, he went to Nabusenga Dam where he washed his 
blood-stained clothes and the axe.

Ms Agnes Mutale, a neighbour who heard the deceased screaming for help went to 
Munsaka's grandmother, Ms Mavu Mwinde's homestead and notified her.

Ms Mwinde went to her grandson's place and found the deceased's body lying in a 
pool of blood in an open space in the yard and the head was missing.

A report was made to the police who combed the house and found the head hidden 
under the bed.

According to post mortem results, the cause of death was spinal cord injury, 
decapitation, chop wound and homicide.

Munsaka took his 2 minor children to his parents' home where he intended to 
leave them before he could proceed to Zambia. However, when he returned he 
found neighbours and the police officers gathered at his homestead. He tried to 
flee but was apprehended by the police officers.

Prior to the trial, Munsaka in 2014 claimed that he was mentally unstable 
prompting the courts to send him to psychiatrists for examinations.

Dr Nemache Mawere, a psychiatrist who examined Munsaka concluded that he was 
mentally stable.

(source: bulawayo24.com)








ZAMBIA:

President Lungu has commuted more death penalties to life imprisonment than any 
Zambian President-Lubinda



President Edgar Lungu has commuted more death penalties to life imprisonment 
than any other serving Zambian President.

Justice Minister Given Lubinda said this decision not to sign death penalties 
has earned Zambia's reputation internationally as an abolitionist country with 
regards to implementing the death penalty.

Mr. Lubinda was speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia yesterday when he transited 
to Rome to attend a conference on the 10th Anniversary of the campaign against 
the death penalty by an organisation called St. Egidio.

He said Zambia had gone further to vote in the affirmative at the United 
Nations - UN- on maintenance of a moratorium of the death penalty.

Mr. Lubinda said President Lungu made the bold decision in 2016 to allow the 
Embassy of the Republic of the Republic of Zambia in New York to start voting 
in the affirmative after having abstained from voting on the moratorium for 
years.

He said despite the death Penalty still being upheld in the constitution, no 
President has signed the death penalty since 1998.

Mr.Lubinda clarified that unlike other laws that can easily be amended; the 
death penalty was part of the bill of rights that could only be amended through 
a referendum.

And the Minister said Zambia has adequate laws to guarantee the safety of 
investors in the country.

He said it was unfortunate that some Zambians where taking the law in their own 
hands by attacking foreigners who had come in the country to invest.

Mr. Lubinda said the recent xenophobic attacks on the Chinese where unfortunate 
and urged Zambia to use better channels in channelling their grievances.

The Minister further said Zambia should resist the temptation of being used in 
what he termed an economic conflict against the Chinese.

He said it was unfortunate that some political leaders including 
parliamentarians where inciting Zambians to rise against government's decision 
to engage the Chinese in some developmental projects.

The Minister was received at Bole International Airport by Ministry of Justice 
Permanent Secretary, Andrew Nkunika and Zambia's Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ms. 
Susan Sikaneta.

(source: Lusaka Times)