[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Janaury 18



MALAWI:

Malawians have called for death sentence for anyone found guilty of killing 
people with albinism.

This comes after the police in the country admitted that they were unable to 
track the market where body parts of people with albinism are sold.

Malawians expressed their feelings about the killing of people with albinism in 
a Malawan24’s Facebook post. The news source asked for people’s views on the 
solution to end this scourge in the country.

“That’s a good idea but my worry is for those who are still young under 18 how 
would it work. Let us approve death penalty for those who kill person with 
albinism,” commented Jekel Khalani Lwazi.

It is a known myth that body parts of people with albinism are used for 
traditional medication that brings luck and for making people rich. Some 
commenters blamed traditional doctors for the killings.

Yolam Nyirenda said superstitious beliefs should be uprooted in most people. He 
suggested that people needed to be taught that a person only earn money through 
hard work.

“Witch doctors should be licenced. Anybody who contravene stipulated laws the 
license be revoked, everybody should be taught about love to one another thus 
including albino.

“Stiff punishment for those found to be in business or harassment of albino. 
The whole society should be alert in protection of albino,” wrote Nyirenda.

Northern Region Police Commissioner, Hannings Motha recently addressed the 
community in a campaign against killing people with albinism.

“For now, we can admit that we cannot say where these body parts are. But we 
are working hard to get as many leads as possible,” he said.

Local Chief, Inkosi ya Makhosi M’bwelwa who was present during the event 
disagreed.

“There is no way bones would make someone rich,” said Inkosi ya Makhosi 
M’bwelwa.

According to reports, 26 people with albinism have been killed since 2013 in 
Malawi. The recent incident was of Yasin Kwenda Phiri (54) who was killed at 
his home in Kande Trading Centre on New Year’s Eve. The brutal murder happened 
in front of Phiri’s 9-year-old son.

(source: africandailyvoice.com)








INDIA:

Kerala man sentenced to death for rape, murder of woman, daughter----He was 
also sentenced to lifetime imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000.



The Thodupuzha second additional sessions judge KK Sujatha on Thursday awarded 
death penalty to Jomon, of Peruvelipparambil house, Kumily, who raped and 
killed a woman and her daughter at Vandiperiyar in Idukki 12 years ago. He was 
also sentenced to lifetime imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000.

“Though Jomon pleaded innocence, the prosecution proved the case on the basis 
of scientific evidence following which the court awarded capital punishment to 
him under section 449, 376 and 302 of the IPC,” said special prosecutor A E 
Rahim.

The murder happened on the night of December 2, 2007. “Jomon, who was heavily 
drunk, along with his co-accused Rajendran broke into the house where the 
victims Moly (55) and her daughter Neenu (22) lived.

(source: New Indian Express)








CHINA----execution

Former Party Chief Of China's Drug-producing Village Executed



A former Communist Party chief of Boshe Village, once notorious for its drug 
production, was executed on Thursday, according to a court in south China's 
Guangdong Province.

Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court said the death sentence of Cai 
Dongjia had been reviewed and approved by the Supreme People's Court.

Boshe, under the jurisdiction of the city of Lufeng, used to supply over 
one-third of the nation's crystal meth. About 20 percent of its households had 
been involved in drug production and trafficking.

In December 2013, over 3,000 police officers raided the village, seizing 3 
tonnes of crystal meth and capturing more than 180 suspects, including Cai who 
was then the village's Party chief.

After a trial in 2016, Cai was sentenced to death for smuggling and 
manufacturing drugs and covering for criminals. The court found that Cai had 
colluded with others to manufacture 180 kg of crystal meth and offered bribes 
in attempts to free his accomplices who had been detained by police.

Cai's appeal against the verdict was rejected by Guangdong Provincial Higher 
People's Court in August 2018.

(source: urdupoint.com)

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

China executes notorious drug lord billed as the 'godfather of crystal meth'



A Chinese drug lord known as the 'godfather of crystal meth' was executed 
today.

Once a Communist official, Cai Dongjia was the former chief of Boshe village in 
Guangdong Province.

He used his political power to make crystal meth, also known as 
methamphetamine, and provide protection to local drug dealers, according to 
Xinhua News Agency.

During Dongjia's 6-year tenure, Boshe grew to be China's infamous 'village of 
drugs' and produced 1/3 of the country's crystal meth supply at one point.

(source: daiymail.co.uk)

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

Rapid verdict and death sentence for Canadian was 'very abnormal' in Chinese 
system, says his Beijing defence lawyer



A Chinese court’s rapid-fire sentencing to death of Canadian Robert 
Schellenberg was “very abnormal” in a system that often deliberates for months 
in capital-punishment cases, the B.C. man’s Beijing lawyer said Thursday.

Zhang Dongshuo confirmed analysis by Western experts that Schellenberg’s 
drug-smuggling case was handled with extraordinary haste, even though Chinese 
authorities criticized Prime Minister Trudeau and other Canadian officials for 
calling the process arbitrary.

“It’s very abnormal, very abnormal,” Dongshuo said about the retrial in a 
telephone interview.

“If a court wants to sentence someone to death, they will discuss very 
carefully and a lot of times maybe send it to a high-level committee to discuss 
about it,” he told the National Post. “In this case it was so quick, just one 
hour after the retrial, their final verdict.”

Western analysts have speculated that Schellenberg’s speedily arranged retrial 
and subsequent death sentence – after the court handed him a 15-year jail term 
barely a month earlier – were designed to pressure Canada over the Dec. 1 
arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

2 other Canadians – an ex-diplomat and businessman – were detained on 
unspecified national-security allegations shortly after Meng’s arrest, which 
has infuriated China’s government.

Zhang declined to comment on whether Schellenberg’s case might be connected, 
but noted that his client does consider the timing “significant.”

Trudeau called the sentence “arbitrary,” while Foreign Affairs Minster Chrystia 
Freeland labelled it “inhumane.” But Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua 
Chunying chastized the prime minister later, saying he should “respect the rule 
of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making 
irresponsible remarks.”

Zhang said he met with Schellenberg Tuesday, the day after the retrial on 
charges of trying to ship 220 kilograms of methamphetamine to Australia. The 
Abbortsford, B.C., native made it clear he wanted to appeal, but Zhang said 
Schellenberg had been prepared for the penalty, one a family spokeswoman called 
the worst-case scenario.

“When he heard the verdict on Monday, he was calm, because I had told him about 
this possibility,” Zhang said.

Zhang is a criminal-law specialist and part of the law firm of Mo Shaoping, a 
prominent human rights lawyer who has himself been the target of persecution by 
the Chinese government.

Schellenberg, 36 – who has a lengthy criminal record in B.C. for mainly 
drug-related offences – was arrested in the port city of Dalian in 2014. His 
trial was not held until 2016, with the original sentence meted out this past 
November.

He appealed the verdict, and after years of obscurity around the case, Chinese 
media suddenly publicized the appeal hearing that was held Dec. 31. The court 
quickly agreed to a request by prosecutors to retry the Canadian on more 
serious charges that can carry the death penalty.

The new trial date was set with just 4 days’ notice, the case heard and decided 
in a day.

Chinese courts are believed to be the world’s most prolific users of capital 
punishment, but they usually order executions after considerable deliberation, 
said Zhang.

“Maybe 1 month, 2 months, maybe even 6 months, 1 year could be possible,” he 
said. “But certainly not 1 hour.”

The retrial featured new testimony from Xu Qing, a translator who said 
Schellenberg had seemed deeply involved in the alleged conspiracy to send 
crystal meth to Australia, directing Xu to make arrangements that included 
buying tires in which to hide the drugs.

Schellenberg claimed he played no part in the smuggling venture and that the 
translator had framed him. Zhang suspects Xu used the Canadian as a “scapegoat” 
to deflect blame from himself.

“There were so many inconsistencies between Xu Qing’s testimony and other 
testimony and other material. So I don’t believe him. He’s not telling the 
truth,” the lawyer said. “I think he told the police a fake story, and the 
prosecutors believed him.”

(source: nationalpost.com)








PAKISTAN:

Man gets death penalty in murder case



A sentenced a murder accused to death and have a life term to another on 
Thursday for their involvement in a case in Dera Ghazi Khan. The judgment was 
announced by Additional District and Sessions Judge Shahbaz Ahmed.

The prosecution told the court that Mohabbat Khan, Mureed Hussain, Abdul 
Majeed, Muhammad Hussain, Abdul Jabbar and Sajjad had gunned down a man named 
Muhammad Ashiq over a dispute in July 2017 in Bindi Hakeem area.

The Jhok Atra police registered a case against the culprits and presented the 
challan before the court. After hearing the arguments, the judge handed down a 
death sentence to Mohabbat Khan and life imprisonment to Mureed Hussain. The 
judge also imposed a fine of Rs0.3 million on the convicts. The judge also 
ordered that the convicts will have to undergo an additional term of 6 months 
if they failed to pay the penalty.

Meanwhile, the court acquitted the other co-accused, giving them the benefit of 
doubt due to the lack of evidence.

In December 2018, a court awarded a death sentence to an accused for his 
involvement in a murder case in Faisalabad. The judgment was announced by 
Additional Sessions Judge Asadullah Siraj.

Accused Fakhar Imam had killed his wife Hina and son Hasnain Ali over a 
property dispute in 2015.

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 on 2 counts to Fakhar, along with a fine of Rs0.5 million.

(source: The Express Tribune)








MALAYSIA:

Support for referendum on death penalty



Lawyers have voiced their support for the proposal for the government to 
conduct a referendum before deciding on abolishing the death penalty, which 
started a debate among Malaysians in recent months.

Lawyer Christina Teng said a referendum is the only way to find out whether the 
majority of Malaysians wanted the death penalty to remain in the legislative 
system.

(source: thestar.com.my)

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

No refendum on abolishing death penalty, says minister



The government will not hold a public vote on the proposal to abolish the death 
penalty.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said the 
matter was an ongoing process and not finalised.

“It is not completed yet because the papers have to go through various 
ministries.

“We are not going to have a referendum on that matter. That’s for sure,” he 
told reporters after the opening of the Sabah and Sarawak Legal Year at the 
Kota Kinabalu Court Complex, here, today.

Liew was responding to a Facebook poll by Berita Harian, where 85 per cent of 
Netizens agreed for the government to hold a referendum before deciding on 
abolishing the death penalty.

In October last year, the cabinet gave the green light for the death penalty to 
be abolished.

Liew had said the necessary paperwork to abolish the death penalty already 
received the go ahead from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) to be tabled 
in Parliament.

In Malaysia, the death penalty carried out by hanging is mandatory for crimes 
such as murder with intent to kill, for trafficking excessive amounts of drugs 
and possession of firearms.

The proposal to repeal the death sentence has seen opposition from various 
quarters, including former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor 
and lawyers.

Abdul Rahim had said the government should seek public opinion first as the 
death penalty was an important issue.

Lawyer and DAP MP Ramkarpal Singh also said the people’s view must be taken 
into account and that the necessary stakeholders must come to an agreement on 
the best way to hold the referendum.

(source: nst.com.my)