[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

January 28



SAUDI ARABIA----executions

Saudi Arabia executes 4 Yemenis for guard's murder



Saudi Arabia on Sunday executed 4 Yemenis found guilty of murdering a security 
guard, the kingdom's interior ministry said.

The 4 men robbed and killed a Pakistani man who worked as a security guard at a 
company, said a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The execution took place in Mecca, the statement added.

20 people have been executed in the kingdom since the beginning of the year, 
according to the authorities. The ultra-conservative kingdom has one of the 
world's highest rates of execution, with suspects convicted of terrorism, 
homicide, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking facing the death penalty.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia carried out the death sentences of 120 people.

(source: nation.co.ke)








CHINA:

Canadian drug trafficker has likely appealed China death sentence: Lawyer



A Canadian sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking likely appealed the 
ruling Monday (Jan 28), his lawyer said, in a case that has further strained 
relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, was handed the death penalty at a one-day 
retrial two weeks ago after a high court decided that his previous 15-year 
sentence was not harsh enough given the severity of his crime.

The ruling dramatically raised the stakes in China's diplomatic row with Canada 
sparked by the arrest in Vancouver of a top Chinese telecom executive.

Schellenberg said during a consular visit last week that he planned to submit 
his appeal to the northeastern Liaoning High Court, his lawyer Zhang Dongshuo 
told AFP.

"Today (Monday) is the deadline... so based on what he previously told us, he's 
likely to have submitted the appeal," said Zhang, who has to wait to be 
notified by the court to know if the paperwork was filed.

Schellenberg is likely to lose the appeal and the case will go to the Supreme 
People's Court where it could languish for years, experts say.

'TOO MANY UNKNOWNS'

China says that he was a key member of an international drug trafficking 
syndicate which in 2014 planned to ship some 222 kilogrammes of methamphetamine 
to Australia hidden in plastic pellets in rubber tyres.

Schellenberg claims that he was visiting China as a tourist and had chosen the 
industrial port city of Dalian, where he was unwittingly swept up in a drug 
smuggling ring by a Chinese man recommended as a translator.

In the retrial earlier this month, prosecutors painted him as having especially 
flown in to oversee the drug shipment, visiting warehouses and hardware shops 
instead of the usual tourist sights.

Canada has urged China to grant clemency to Schellenberg.

The case comes amid a clash between Ottawa and Beijing over the arrest of 
Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou, who was detained in Vancouver on request 
of the United States, which says she violated American sanctions on Iran.

In a move observers see as retaliation, Chinese authorities detained 2 other 
Canadian citizens - a former diplomat and a business consultant - on suspicion 
of endangering national security.

Over the weekend, the row led to Canada's ambassador to China getting sacked 
after he suggested it would be "great" for Ottawa to release Meng.

Even if the upper court in Liaoning upholds the death sentence, it would need 
to be confirmed by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing, said Margaret Lewis, 
a law professor at Seton Hall University.

There are no time limits for how long this can take, and there are points 
during which the case can stall, including having the sentence downgraded to a 
suspended death sentence, she added.

"There are simply too many unknowns at this point to assess with any certainty 
how events will play out from here.

"The case is formally in the courts' hands, but it is highly politicised," she 
said.

(source: channelnewsasia.com)








INDIA:

Indian Court Convicts 15 Persons Over 2008 Bombings



An Indian court on Monday convicted 15 people over serial bombings in 2008 in 
the northeast state of Assam in 2008, and prosecutors are seeking the death 
penalty, local media reported.

A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Guwahati 
convicted the people, including Ranjan Daimary, founder of the National 
Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), designated a terrorist group by India.

In October 2008, multiple blasts took place in the state, killing at least 88 
and wounding nearly 500.

"Special public prosecutor TD Goswami said the state has demanded the death 
penalty. The CBI special court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Jan. 
30," the Hindustan Times reported Monday.

According to the report, a total of 22 people are accused in the case, 
including 7 fugitives from the law, 2 of whom are believed dead.

Local media reported that the state government in 2017 set up a special court 
in 2017 exclusively for putting the trial on a fast track.

(source: urdupoint.com)

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

Justice delayed: Wasting time while life and death decisions wait----By 
addressing the issue of prioritising cases and filling up judicial posts, 
India's courts could ensure speedier justice



It is no use just deploring the backlog of cases in court; corrective action is 
needed at every level. The Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, has come down 
heavily on the practice of lawyers’ orally mentioning cases before the CJI as 
master of the roster daily in the first hour, so that these can be heard out of 
turn. Urgency — leading to the avoidance of the system of filing — is the 
accepted reason for lawyers to mention cases that should jump the queue. Like 
other conventions, this too is anomalous, causing other cases to be thrown out 
of line when the priorities are adjusted, which can happen repeatedly to a case 
at the receiving end of such change. But the CJI’s declared concern is, 
reportedly, time. Over an hour is wasted with the case papers being studied to 
determine their urgency, the CJI has apparently said, although some cases, he 
had said earlier, did not later appear to have been as urgent as represented by 
the lawyer. The CJI’s perspective on the urgency, not of cases but of time 
management, was best reflected in his comment that the court cannot be seen to 
be wasting time while hundreds of death penalty cases were waiting for years to 
be heard.

The CJI has reportedly said that parameters will be worked out, presumably for 
a system to replace oral mentioning. Before that, the practice will be stopped 
except in cases where the need is glaring — someone to be hanged the next day, 
for example, or to be released the next day. If urgent cases do not come up 
before a bench within 4 days of filing, it can be brought to the court’s 
notice. The present CJI’s predecessor had instructed that oral mention should 
be made before the registrar for initial screening. Some kind of order was 
sought to be imposed by different chief justices earlier too, such as enforcing 
oral mention of 1 case per lawyer, but nothing has endured. Smoothing the 
system with an eye to speed may breed further benefits later. If such practical 
moves are accompanied by the filling of all judicial posts and ensuring that 
police and lawyers stick to a given time frame the justice system in India may 
actually speed up.

(soruce: Editorial, telegraphindia.com)








INDONESIA:

Duo charged with murder of businessman



A businessman and former employee of the murdered victim Tang Tung Kuok have 
been charged for the alleged crime.

No plea was taken from the accused Teng Jing Bian and Tiong Kim Kai as the case 
was still being mentioned in the Magistrates’ Court.

The chemist’s report as well as the findings of the autopsy, post-mortem, 
forensic DNA sample tests are still needed before it can be transferred to the 
High Court.

Businessman Tang, 37, was allegedly slained between Jan 12 and 15 at an 
unnumbered (and abandoned) house at Lorong Dusun, Off Jalan Ong Tiang Swee 
here.

Four other men, suspected to be Chinese nationals are still at large. It was 
also claimed that Tang was kidnapped first before the murder. It was believed 
that he was stabbed with a knife.

Murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code is a non-bailable offence that 
carries the death penalty upon conviction.

His remains were identified after a wristwatch and a gold ring purportedly 
belonging to the victim was found on the body, which was in a state of 
decomposition.

Counsels Roger Chin and Michael Kong represented Teng while Cousel Voon Lee 
Shan represented Tiong.

4 other men (locals) has been released on court bond of RM10,000 each.

(source: The Borneo Post)