[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

January 29



BANGLADESH:

Death penalty handed to wife of murdered lawyer Rathis Bhowmik



The wife of Rathis Chondro Bhowmik, the lawyer whose body was found buried in a 
construction site last year, has been sentenced to death for the murder of her 
husband. Dipa Bhowmik was present in court on Tuesday when District and 
Sessions Judge ABM Nizamul Haque announced her verdict.

More than 100 lawyers from the Rangpur Bar Association were in the courtroom 
when police produced Dipa in handcuffs before the judge.

On Mar 30 last year, Rathis went missing after leaving his home at Babupara on 
his motorcycle with another person in the morning, his family had said.

The disappearance of Rathis, who had been a prosecution witness of the 
International Crimes Tribunal, had caused a stir, leading the police to 
investigate possible links to militancy and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The Rapid Action Battalion then arrested Tajhat High School teacher Dipa and 
her 2 colleagues, Kamrul Islam and Motiar Rahman.

Following their arrest, Rathir’s body was found buried under sand in a 
construction site for a building owned by Kamrul’s brother on Apr 3.

The 55-year-old had been buried there for 4 to 5 days, officials said. Dipa 
told law enforcers that she had been involved in an affair, which was the cause 
for Rathis’ murder.

Police then filed charges in court against Dipa and Kamrul, saying the 2 killed 
Rathir so they can get married. Both were teachers at Tajhat High School.

Kamrul, who had been ill from diabetes and heart disease, died in jail on Nov 
10, according to authorities.

Rathish was a special public prosecutor in the murder trial of Japan national 
Hoshio Kuni, law secretary of the ruling Awami League’s Rangpur District 
Committee, president of the district unit of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad, 
a trustee of the Hindu Welfare Trust and general secretary of Sammilita 
Sangskritik Jote in Rangpur.

The couple had 2 children, a son and a daughter. The son is a law student while 
the daughter is studying at night grade.

(source: bdnews24.com)








CHINA----execution

China executes man who killed 15 people in car attack



Chinese authorities on Tuesday executed a man who killed 15 people after 
ramming a car into a crowded square in central Hunan province last year. Last 
September, Yang Zanyun ploughed a Land Rover into pedestrians at a public 
square in Hengdong city before slashing at people with a shovel and dagger.

15 people were killed and 43 others were injured. The Hengyang Intermediate 
People's Court in Hunan province said Tuesday it "carried out the death 
penalty" on Yang Zanyun for "endangering public security through dangerous 
methods".

Local police had called him a "vengeful repeat offender" at the time, naming 
drug charges, theft and intentionally causing hurt as previous offences in 
their statement. China has experienced a spate of similar incidents in recent 
months.

In late November, a car ploughed into a group of children crossing a street in 
front of an elementary school in northeastern Liaoning province, killing five 
people and injuring at least 19. The driver said he "chose his victims at 
random" and had reportedly been contemplating suicide due to domestic troubles 
before the tragedy occurred.

In December, 8 people were killed and 22 injured after a man hijacked a bus and 
crashed into pedestrians in eastern Fujian province. He had killed a local 
official and police officer before commandeering the bus, according to reports 
by Chinese media.

(source: timesnownews.com)








INDIA:

The Big Bloody Year: 162 Death Sentences in 2018 Make it Highest in Nearly 2 
Decades----The data form part of the 3rd edition of ‘The Death Penalty in 
India: Annual Statistics 2018’, which has been released by Project 39A at 
National Law University, Delhi under the guidance of its executive director Dr 
Anup Surendranath.

The year 2018 saw 162 persons sentenced to death by trial courts — the highest 
in nearly 2 decades.

With 22 death sentences, Madhya Pradesh topped the list, using the capital 
punishment mostly in cases of sexual assaults on children. Courts in Madhya 
Pradesh applied the 2018 amendments to the Indian Penal Code for handing out 
death penalty for the rape of girls below 12 years.

There were 16 death sentences in Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka and Uttar 
Pradesh that witnessed 15 capital punishments each last year.

The data form part of the 3rd edition of ‘The Death Penalty in India: Annual 
Statistics 2018’, which has been released by Project 39A at National Law 
University, Delhi under the guidance of its executive director Dr Anup 
Surendranath.

While the trial courts handed out death sentences highest in number since 2000, 
the Supreme Court, in contrast, commuted death to life term in 11 cases. In its 
review jurisdiction, the apex court, however, confirmed death penalty for 3 
convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.

Further, as on December 31, 2018, there are 426 prisoners on the death row. 
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra lead with 66 prisoners each on 
the death row.

There were no death sentences in some states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Goa and 
in 6 of the 7 north-eastern states, excluding Assam.

Last year, the top court also saw some orders and judgments triggering fresh 
debates on the necessity and validity of death penalty. In one such judgment, 
Justice Kurian Joseph, who was in minority in a 3-judge bench, called for 
reconsideration of the constitutionality of the capital punishment.

By a judgment in November last, the Supreme Court ruled against summary 
dismissal of appeals against death sentences and made it a necessary 
requirement for the courts to specify reasons in final orders.

By another judgment, the Supreme Court recognised the right of death row 
prisoners to access mental health care; meet mental health professionals at a 
reasonable frequency and for reasonable lengths of time, at all stages as part 
of their right to effective legal representation.

The death penalty project has been tracking death sentence cases across the 
country since 2016. “We hope that such regular documentation will contribute to 
more considered discussions on the death penalty in India,” stated the summary 
of the report released on Monday.

(source: news18.com)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan blasphemy case: Aasia Bibi's acquittal upheld, she's free to leave



Pakistan's top court on Tuesday upheld its acquittal of a Christian woman 
sentenced to death for blasphemy, clearing the last legal hurdle and freeing 
Aasia Bibi to leave the country to join her daughters, who have fled to Canada 
and been given asylum.

The 3-judge panel of the country's Supreme Court said the arguments of the 
lawyer acting on behalf of the petitioners did not satisfy the judges.

Radical Islamists had demanded the court reverse its Oct. 31 acquittal and 
execute Bibi, who spent 8 years on death row and has remained under guard at a 
secret place since her acquittal.

Following that decision last year, radical religious parties took to the 
streets to protest, calling for the killing of judges who acquitted her and for 
the overthrow of Prime Minister Imran Khan's government. They also filed a 
last-minute appeal for a review of the Supreme Court acquittal. The protests 
were spearheaded by the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, whose single point 
agenda is protection of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Bibi, who always insisted that she was innocent, had said she would leave the 
country as soon as her legal battles were over. Her lawyer, who fled the 
country after receiving death threats, returned to Pakistan for the final 
review.

The blasphemy law and its backers

Bibi's case goes to the core of one of Pakistan's most controversial issues -- 
the blasphemy law, often used to settle scores or intimidate followers of 
minority religions, including minority Shiite Muslims. A charge of insulting 
Islam can bring the death penalty.

But the accusation on its own is sometimes enough to whip up vengeful mobs, 
even if the courts acquit defendants. A provincial governor who defended Bibi 
was shot and killed, as was a government minority minister who dared question 
the blasphemy law.

Bibi's ordeal began on a hot day in 2009 when she brought water to fellow 
farmhands who refused to drink from the same container as a Christian woman. 2 
of her fellow farmworkers argued with Bibi and later accused her of insulting 
Islam's prophet Mohammad. Bibi has steadfastly denied the charge.

Since her acquittal Bibi has spent her days in seclusion for fear of being 
targeted by angry mobs clamoring for her death. In her hideout, protected by 
Pakistani security, she has longed for her children, speaking almost daily to 
her daughters in Canada, according to a friend who was interviewed by The 
Associated Press. He asked not to be identified fearing reprisal from radical 
religious groups.

Following protests that accompanied her acquittal, the authorities arrested 
radical clerics Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Mohammad Afzal Qadri, both leaders of 
the Tehreekk-e-Labbaik Party, and several of their followers for destroying 
public property during rallies against Bibi and for inciting their followers to 
violence. The clerics and the others remain in custody.

The cleric petitioning the court for Bibi's return to death row, Qari Salam, is 
linked with Rizvi's Tehreek-e-Labbaik party.

Rizvi's party said Monday it will not accept any decision in favor of Bibi's 
release and asked its followers to prepare for more mass protests.

Pakistani police have stepped up security around the Supreme Court in Islamabad 
ahead of its decision Tuesday.

(source: CBS News)