[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

October 30



MALAYSIA:

Death penalty not a deterrent, says ex-judge



Retired Court of Appeal judge Mah Weng Kwai believes that the death penalty is 
not a deterrent and that there are other ways to prevent crimes from being 
committed.

Recalling an execution he witnessed 35 years ago when he was a rookie 
magistrate, Mah said that unless the execution was made known to the press or 
to the public, it would not have served as a deterrent.

"Was it (the execution) ever made known to the press or to the public? If it 
wasn't, what good is it to say that it will serve as a deterrent when there is 
no information for the public to make an informed decision?" Mah asked the 
audience at a talk on whether the death penalty served as a deterrent.

The talk was organised by the St Ignatius Church and the Catholic Lawyers 
Society.

Mah also vividly recounted his experience witnessing the execution.

He said in 1973, as a magistrate, he not only had to visit prisons, but also 
witnessed executions.

He recalled the execution of 2 brothers, aged 19 and 21, who had been sentenced 
to death over the murder of a policeman. The 2 boys, Mah said, had attempted to 
rob a policeman of a revolver, after which a struggle ensued, the gun went off, 
and the policeman died.

Mah said to his horror, he, the imam and a doctor had to walk past the death 
row cells.

“The 2 boys were very quickly taken out of the cell, their hands cuffed behind 
them. Their heads were covered with a cloth.

"They stood on the trap door, with the rope around their heads, the next thing 
you know, the trap door opens, and then bang! It was the loudest bang I have 
ever heard. After that, there was silence. No one said a word.

"Can you imagine. One moment, the 2 guys are walking, alive, and the next thing 
you know, they are dropping," he said.

Mah said he had also noticed a chart behind him, where the weight and height of 
those who would be executed were used to determine the length of the rope that 
would be needed.

Mah said within seconds of the trap door opening, the person will lose 
consciousness, but does not immediately die.

In reference to the 2 boys, Mah said their bodies were left hanging for 30 
minutes before they were taken down and certified medically dead.

"After the execution, the prison governor invited us to go to the office for a 
cup of coffee. Can you imagine, after just witnessing 2 guys being killed, and 
to have the bodies remain hanging, and the prison governor invites us for 
coffee," he said.

Mah further pointed to the double standards practised by the public. He said 
that in general, the public did not like seeing a public execution of a person, 
and they would call it uncivilised and inhuman.

However, if the person had, for instance, murdered someone, they believed that 
the murderer should be hanged, but in prison.

Mah said executions generally go by unnoticed unless there was a big clemency 
drive.

De facto law minister VK Liew had reportedly said that amendments to abolish 
the death penalty would be tabled at the current Parliament sitting.

Liew had also said that death row inmates would serve 30 years' life 
imprisonment under the proposed abolition of the death penalty.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)








SINGAPORE:

International human rights groups plead with Singapore to abolish the death 
penalty after six men were recently hanged



Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Office appealed to 
Singapore to stop the hangings and abolish the "cruel and irreversible' death 
penalty. The wealthy city-state has recently executed six men convicted of drug 
offences in October, despite pleas of clemency from the rights groups and 
neighbouring country Malaysia, which just this month announced that it was 
eradicating capital punishment by the end of the year.

Just this month, Singapore hanged 6 men, all for drug-related offences.

Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International's Singapore Researcher said that the 
death penalty "has no place in any society, as more than 2/3 of the world's 
countries have come to recognise".

1 of the men executed was 31-year-old Malaysian national Prabu N. Pathmanathan. 
Pathmanathan, who was on death row since 2014 for possession of diamorphine, 
was hanged at Changi prison on Friday morning, October 26.

Singaporean Irwan bin Ali was also put to death alongside Pathmanathan, 
following the "secret" hanging of Selamat bin Paki, according to the 
International Federation for Human Rights.

Legal counsel for Pathmanathan's family, N. Surendran, said that their petition 
for clemency was unlawfully denied by the office of Singapore President Halimah 
Yacob, which had delivered a letter to Prabu's family in response, saying it 
was "unable to accede to [their] request".

Pathmanathan, according to Surendran, had become "a new man" and "very 
spiritual" after his time in prison.

"He wanted to live. He wanted to have another chance," Surendran said.

He said that it was "extremely unfair and prejudicial to the prisoner and his 
family" to be given less than a week's notice of Pathmanathan's execution.

In light of the recent hangings, human rights groups have restrengthened their 
pleas for Singapore to finally abolish the death penalty.

Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International's Singapore Researcher, said the 
death penalty contravened international law.

"It is time for Singapore to re-establish its moratorium on the death penalty 
and follow the government of Malaysia's example, who have suspended all 
executions and announced plans to abolish the use of this cruel punishment for 
all crimes.

"The fact Prabu Pathmanathan's family in Malaysia received news of his 
impending execution - all while their own government have just resolved to end 
this abhorrent practice - makes this case even more troubling", she added.

"This cruel and irreversible punishment has no place in any society, as more 
than 2/3 of the world's countries have come to recognize."

On October 10, World Day Against the Death Penalty, Malaysia delivered the 
shocking announcement that it was abolishing the death penalty. The law is set 
to be in effect by the end of the year.

The largest number of Malaysia's previous executions were mainly because of 
drug-related offences, though crimes like murder, kidnapping and treason were 
also previously subject to capital punishment.

Amnesty International is aware of a total of 6 executions this year in 
Singapore, all for drug-related crimes. In 2017, Singapore carried out 8 
executions, also for drug offences, but details of all the executions were not 
released to the public.

(source: theindnependent.sg)








INDIA:

Man gets death sentence for raping, killing minor; Record death penalty 
verdicts in child rape cases



A Madhya Pradesh court on Monday awarded death sentence to a man for raping and 
killing a 3 1/2-year-old girl, saying his barbaric crime showed that he even 
lacked sensitivities found in animals, according to the prosecution officer.

According to police, death sentence has been awarded in 14 cases involving 
minor victims in Madhya Pradesh in 2018, the highest number of capital 
punishments in child rape cases secured in a year in any state.

Additional Session Judge of Gauharganj (Raisen district) Surekha Mishra 
convicted Jitendra Uike (24) here under IPC Sections 376 (A) (rape causing 
death) and 302 (murder) and sentenced him to death, prosecution officer Anil 
Kumar Tiwari said.

He was also found guilty under other IPC sections as well as those of the 
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added.

Accordingt to Tiwari, while delivering the verdict, judge Mishra observed that 
"even animals don't behave in such a manner with those who love them, but the 
convict has committed barbaric crime with the daughter of his nearest relative, 
who gave him shelter in his home.

"His action shows that he not only lacks human feelings but also is not having 
sensitivities found in animals."

The prosecution officer said that Uike was a close relative of the victim, who 
used to call him "chacha" (paternal uncle).

On August 13 this year, the accused picked up the victim from her grandparents' 
home on the pretext of dropping the minor at her father's home.

However, en route Uike raped and strangulated her and then dumped the body in 
the forest, he said.

Director General (Public Prosecution) Rajendra Kumar said capital punishment 
was awarded in 16 cases during this year in MP.

Of these, 14 cases were related to rape, 1 of sodomy, all involving minor 
victims, and another of murder, he informed.

"This is the highest number of capital punishments secured in a year in the 
history of Madhya Pradesh. No other state in India has secured so many capital 
punishment in child rape cases," he said.

(source: business-standard.com)








SAUDI ARABIA:

UN experts call on Saudi Arabia to halt death sentences on children



UN human rights experts* are urging Saudi Arabia to immediately halt the 
execution of 6 individuals sentenced to death for alleged crimes committed when 
they were under the age of 18.

Mr. Ali al-Nimr, Mr. Dawood al-Marhoon, Mr. Abdullah al-Zaher, Mr. Mujtaba 
al-Sweikat, Mr. Salman Qureish and Mr. Abdulkarim al-Hawaj face imminent 
execution. They were arrested and sentenced to death for charges that the 
experts previously have considered to represent criminalization of the exercise 
of fundamental rights, including freedom of assembly and expression, when they 
were aged less than 18 years old. They were allegedly tortured and ill-treated, 
forced to confess, denied adequate legal assistance during trial and never had 
access to an effective complaint mechanism.

"Death penalty sentences and executions for crimes committed by persons below 
the age of 18 at the time of the offence run contrary to international law and 
standards," the experts said. "As a State Party to the Convention on the Rights 
of the Child, Saudi Arabia is under an obligation to treat everyone under the 
age of 18 as a child. Children should never be subject to the death penalty, 
this practice violates an existing norm of customary international law and 
renders the punishment tantamount to torture".

"In these circumstances, the execution of these six individuals would 
constitute arbitrary executions," the experts said.

The experts recalled that Saudi Arabia recently embarked on a review of its Law 
number 114 on Juveniles. They regretted, however, that the amendments 
introduced into the legislation continue to fail to adequately protect 
children. The new law still allows for the death penalty to be imposed on child 
offenders aged between 15 and 18.

"Saudi Arabia must ensure that children who have not benefited from a fair 
trial be immediately released and that those among them who were sentenced to 
death have their sentence commuted in line with international juvenile justice 
standards and the Committee of the Rights of the Child's recommendations in 
2016," the experts said.

"Saudi Arabia should promptly amend its legislation with a view to 
unambiguously prohibiting the imposition of the death sentence on children."

The experts are in contact with Saudi authorities regarding the cases.

*The UN experts: Ms. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, 
summary or arbitrary executions; Ms Renate Winter, Chair of the Committee on 
the Rights of the Child; Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and 
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Mr. David Kaye, 
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the rights of opinion and 
expression; Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to 
freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

The Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts are part of what is known as 
the Special Proceduresof the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the 
largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the 
general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring 
mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues 
in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary 
basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They 
are independent from any government or organization and serve in their 
individual capacity.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child is the body of 18 independent experts 
that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by 
its State parties. It also monitors the Optional Protocols to the Convention, 
on involvement of children in armed conflict and on sale of children, child 
prostitution and child pornography; as well as a third Optional Protocol which 
will allow individual children to submit complaints regarding specific 
violations of their rights.

For further information and media requests, please email eje at ohchr.org

(source: reliefweb.int.)