[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 30



CANADA:

Canada should bring back the death penalty



The nationwide manhunt for 2 suspected murderers has gripped Canadians.

And while everyone is waiting to see how events will be brought to a 
conclusion, there are also questions to be asked about what will happen if they 
are captured alive, and found guilty.

In that scenario, Canadian taxpayers would be on the hook for sheltering, 
feeding, entertaining, clothing, and caring for those individuals in prison, 
just as taxpayers are on the hook for the worst of the worst within the 
“justice” system.

Meanwhile, many Canadian Veterans are homeless, many Canadian seniors are 
struggling in poverty, many Indigenous communities don’t have clean drinking 
water (while prisons have clean drinking water), and the hypocrisies go on and 
on.

Basically, we live in a country where some of the most vicious and vile killers 
and criminals get taken care of at taxpayer expense, while people who served 
our nation, people who followed the law, and people who seek a good standard of 
living are abandoned.

That is unacceptable.

The question then is what to do about it.

First, we need to make sure our own innocent citizens are taken care of. That 
means slashing foreign aid, and redirecting those billions of dollars towards 
Canadian Citizens in need.

Second, we need to bring back the death penalty for the worst of the worst, in 
cases where guilt is obvious and undeniable.

It’s simply outrageous that horrific killers can get a lifetime of 
taxpayer-funded service, which ends up being incredibly costly.

Additionally, the lack of the death penalty, combined with the pathetically 
weak laws that even give people like Mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonette the 
chance to apply for parole (after 40 years) revictimizes the families of those 
who were killed. That’s because when parole hearings take place, family members 
often have to go and argue against someone getting released, forcing them to 
deal with the brutal loss of their family member all over again.

So, instead of revictimizing families of those who are murdered, instead of 
spending hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars on caring for 
despicable killers, we should instead bring back the death penalty.

Properly applied, the death penalty sends a clear message that those who 
brutally take the lives of innocent people will lose their lives in return. And 
it sends the message that we prioritize the rights of victims of crime and the 
families of victims of crime ahead of killers.

Canada’s justice system has been anti-victim and weak for far too long. It’s 
time to bring back the death penalty.

(source: Spencer Fernando, The Post Millennial)








IRAN:

Former Iran VP Mohammad Ali Najafi gets death sentence for killing wife----He 
was also mayor of Tehran.



Iran's state TV says a former mayor of Tehran who also served as one of the 
country's vice presidents was sentenced to death for killing his wife.

Tuesday's report quotes judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying 
that Mohammad Ali Najafi was convicted of fatally shooting his wife, Mitra 
Ostad.

The verdict can be appealed within 20 days.

Police detained Najafi in May, after he went to authorities and confessed to 
the killing. At the time, officials said Najafi and Ostad, his 2nd his wife, 
were having domestic problems.

Najafi resigned as mayor in 2018, after hard-liners criticized him over a video 
showing he attended a dance performance by young girls at a school show.

Gun violence is very rare in Iran, especially among the country's political and 
economic elite.

A mathematician, professor and veteran politician, Najafi has previously served 
as President Hassan Rouhani's economic advisor and education minister.

He was elected Tehran mayor in August 2017, but resigned the following April 
after facing criticism from conservatives for attending a dance performance by 
schoolgirls.

Najafi married Ostad without divorcing his first wife, unusual in Iran where 
polygamy is legal but socially frowned upon.

(source: Khaleej Times)





SAUDI ARABIA:

G20 nations urged to boycott Saudi summit over wave of executions----Human 
rights lawyer Helena Kennedy says Riyadh has executed 134 people already this 
year, with cleric Salman al-Odah among those facing the same threat

Members of the G20 should boycott next year's summit meeting in Riyadh unless 
Saudi Arabia immediately halts its use of the death penalty, a leading human 
rights lawyer and member of the British parliament said on Monday.

'People live waiting with the anxiety that it is going to happen tomorrow or 
the next day'---- Baroness Helena Kennedy, human rights lawyer

The report by Helena Kennedy QC, a Baroness in the House of Lords, comes with 
at least 24 people currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia on protest or 
non-violent offences at imminent risk of execution, including renowned scholar 
Salman al-Odah.

"Execution of any of these 24 people would amount to a flagrant violation of 
international human rights norms and must be prevented at all costs," Kennedy 
said at the report's launch on Monday.

Kennedy was commissioned by the London-based Arab Organisation of Human Rights 
in the UK to investigate the kingdom's use of the death penalty and offer her 
legal opinion.

According to her report, 134 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia this 
year, a figure which she said could be higher given the lack of transparency 
around the use of the death penalty in the kingdom.

She said the death penalty is "particularly directed" at political opponents of 
the state as a way of silencing dissent, including towards religious figures 
and intellectuals swept up in a wave of arrests in September 2017 shortly after 
Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince.

"The kingdom’s authorities are threatening to exercise the death penalty and 
people live waiting with the anxiety that it is going to happen tomorrow or the 
next day," Kennedy said.

A "significant portion" of those killed this year were political dissidents, 
including 37 who were killed in a mass execution in April following lengthy 
periods in solitary confinement, torture and "grossly unfair trials", Kennedy 
wrote.

Many of those killed were members of the kingdom's Shia minority who were 
arrested and killed for participating in protests in the Eastern Province, 
including six who were children at the time of their alleged offences, 
according to the report.

One of the 37 was Haidar al-Leif, a man in his 40s, whose case had been taken 
up by a United Nations Special Rapporteur in July 2017.

In a December 2017 letter to the UN, the Saudi government said Leif had been 
sentenced to serve eight years in a final judgement. The UN rapporteur then 
designated him as "no longer at risk" in a report released last June. He was 
executed less than a year later.

“So peoples' public utterances seem to have no meaning,” Kennedy said of 
al-Leif's case.

In addition to Odah, a scholar known for his liberal views, the 24 at imminent 
risk of execution include clerics and scholars Awad al-Qarni and Hassan Farhan 
al-Maliki, and Ali al-Omari, a popular broadcaster who has supported women’s 
rights.

Odah has yet to stand trial after being arrested in September 2017 and charged 
with offences including 37 counts of terrorism for which the state prosecutor 
is seeking the death penalty.

Other charges Odah faces include allegations of exposing “injustices towards 
prisoners” and of “expressing cynicism and sarcasm about the government’s 
achievements”.

On Sunday, Odah's son said his father's trial had been postponed for several 
months, with his next court appearance scheduled for December.

Kennedy said the mode of execution was also "shocking". Most of those killed 
are beheaded, frequently in a group. "In some cases, mutilated bodies are left 
on display for extended periods, rather than being disposed of quickly and with 
dignity," she said.

The remains of the deceased, she added, are routinely not returned to families 
who frequently are not told where their loved one has been buried.

The rate of executions in Saudi Arabia has increased substantially since the 
Arab uprisings that began in 2011. "Should executions continue at this rate, 
the 2019 death toll will far exceed all previous recorded totals," she wrote.

In addition to halting the use of the death penalty, she recommends that the 
kingdom publish comprehensive information about who is on death row and explain 
why they are there.

She also said an international fact-finding mission by a politically neutral 
organisation should investigate concerns raised by her report and ensure the 
safety of those identified as at risk within it.

If the kingdom fails to comply with her recommendations, all G20 members should 
refuse to participate in the summit scheduled for November 2020.

"Once the rule of rule of law has been undermined...then I’m afraid the rule of 
law becomes meaningless. And that is dangerous for all of us," she said. "We 
cannot simply in the name of trading turn a blind eye to this."

Middle East Eye contacted the Saudi embassy in London for comment but had not 
received a response at the time of publication.

(source: middleeasteye.net)








BAHRAIN:

Bahrain Follows U.S. Lead on Executions



Citing the existence of the death penalty in the United States as 
justification, Bahrain’s government executed political prisoners Ali al-Arab 
and Ahmed al-Malali by firing squad on the morning of Saturday, July 27. 
Another man was also executed in a separate, non-political case.

The killings came 2 days after the Trump administration announced it was 
reinstating the federal death penalty after an absence of nearly 2 decades.

The two political prisoners had been convicted of killing a police officer in 
2017 in a trial that involved over 50 defendants. I’ve been in Bahraini 
courtrooms and seen how these mass, sham political trials work, how defendants’ 
claims of tortured confessions are dismissed, and fabricated evidence 
permitted. The process doesn’t much resemble anything recognisable as a fair 
hearing that would meet international legal standards.

In May, 5 United Nations experts called for the executions to be stopped “amid 
serious concerns that [the two men] were coerced into making confessions 
through torture and did not receive a fair trial.” The day before the 
executions, Agnes Callamard, UN Special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or 
arbitrary executions, urged that the men be spared. “I remind Bahrain that the 
only thing that distinguishes capital punishment from an arbitrary execution is 
full respect for the most stringent due process and fair trial guarantees,” she 
said.

Members of Congress tried to intervene too, with Representatives Jim McGovern 
(D-MA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairs of the Congressional Tom Lantos Human 
Rights Commission, urging, on the eve of the executions, that they not be 
killed. Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Senator Bob Menendez, 
(D-NJ) tweeted a similar appeal.

But the executions went ahead anyway, deepening the island kingdom’s 
long-simmering political crisis. Hours after the executions, protests broke out 
across Bahrain, and a demonstrator died from inhaling police tear gas fired in 
the Manama suburb of Bilad al-Qadeem, according to locals. News of the 
prisoners’ deaths was also met with jubilation amongst government loyalists, 
who posted congratulatory messages on Twitter. One local bakery made cakes 
celebrating the executions.

Bahrain is still reeling from its mass protests for reform in 2011, when the 
government crushed huge demonstrations with widespread violence, including 
torture. The crackdown has silenced most protests, but the tension remains, and 
it’s hard to see that time will heal the country’s wounds. If anything, the 
kingdom is more divided than it was a decade ago.

Local civil society has been virtually eliminated, with an increasing emphasis 
and responsibility on those based outside the country to press for reform. 
Protestor Moosa Mohamed, in a desperate attempt to stop the executions, climbed 
onto Bahrain’s embassy in London. Police eventually stormed the building when 
it appeared he was being attacked by embassy staff.

Bahrain isn’t headed towards safety, but for more unrest. It’s just a matter of 
time until widespread upheaval breaks out again. A failure to address the 
grievances that prompted the 2011 uprising, plus a policy of wholesale fear and 
intimidation, is not a recipe for sustainable security.

The ruling family has increased repression in recent years, banning opposition 
groups from existing and forbidding former members from taking part in last 
year’s cosmetic parliamentary elections. The country’s only independent 
newspaper, Al Wasat, was forced to close down by the authorities 2 years ago.

Prominent opposition figures and human rights leaders—including Abdulhadi 
al-Khawaja, Nabeel Rajab and Naji Fateel—remain in prison. Others have been 
forced into exile. Government promises of an inclusive “national dialogue”, 
once enthusiastically swallowed by gullible officials in Washington and London, 
have long disappeared.

Rising tensions between Iran and the U.S. play into the hands of Bahrain’s 
repressive regime, as Trump administration officials are happy enough to stay 
silent on the killings and other human rights abuses in exchange for Manama’s 
loyalty in the fight against Tehran. Local activists pleaded unsuccessfully 
with the U.S. embassy in Bahrain to say something publicly to halt the 
executions, and there appears little prospect of any meaningful censure from 
the Trump administration (or from a UK government headed by Boris Johnson) to 
force Bahrain’s regime to change.

Over the years, most foreign government officials with whom I’ve discussed 
Bahrain understand the fundamentals very well. They even agree, privately, that 
its ruling family is steering the kingdom to disaster and that its repression 
will eventually backfire, with damaging consequences not only for Bahrain but 
for its allies.

I’ve never met anyone from the State Department, or from U.S. intelligence 
agencies, or from the UK or various other foreign ministries, who actually 
think the Bahraini ruling family is anything but a time bomb. But because they 
don’t think it’s about to explode immediately, they advocate the path of least 
resistance, of preserving the status quo, hoping that by the time the trouble 
comes it will be one of their successors’ responsibility to resolve it.

Western government failure on Bahrain is as much about myopia as ideology. It 
makes it easier, in the short term, to stay silent about executions rather than 
to cause a diplomatic fuss. But ignoring the problems won’t make them go away. 
More executions on Bahrain are expected—8 prisoners are now on death row having 
exhausted all legal remedies, and 2 more are waiting for a final appeal against 
their death sentences.

We’ve seen what happens when U.S. officials turn a blind eye to abuses in 
Bahrain, and in the neighbouring countries of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab 
Emirates. It encourages greater state violence. What happened last weekend will 
eventually be part of the payback for years of repression, and when that 
happens the U.S. and Bahrain’s other western allies will regret not confronting 
the problem now.

(source: Brian Dooley is a senior advisor with Human Rights 
First----lobelog.com)





VIETNAM:

Australian woman sentenced to death for leading cross-border drug ring



A HCMC court Monday sentenced a Vietnamese Australian woman to death for 
running a drug trafficking operation between Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam.

Lam Kim Phung, 55, was arrested in late 2016 and identified as the leader of a 
gang that trafficked heroin and methamphetamine from Cambodia into Ho Chi Minh 
City.

She was charged with "illegal trading of narcotic substances." 3 of her 
henchmen, including Le Quang Cuong, Nguyen Duy Thach Thao and Tran Quynh Linh, 
got death sentences for the same charge at the trial court.

3 others were given life sentences while four, including Phung’s brother, also 
a Vietnamese Australian citizen, were jailed between 3 years and 6 months to 20 
years in connection with the drug ring.

According to the indictment, Phung returned to Vietnam from Australia in 2005 
and run restaurant and casino businesses in Cambodia. Due to business losses, 
she came up with idea of trafficking drugs.

>From July 2016, Phung bought drugs from Cambodia and hired her accomplices to 
deliver them from Tay Ninh, Dong Thap and An Giang border gates in southern 
Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City.

The court heard that she had sold a total of 5.5 kilograms (12lb) of 
methamphetamine at the price of VND380 million ($16,370) per kilogram and 16.5 
grams of heroin worth VND1.1 billion ($47,400) to Thao.

On November 28, 2016, police raided a house on To Hien Thanh Street in District 
10 and arrested Thao and Phung’s accomplices while they were doing a 
transaction. Officers seized a plastic nylon containing 3 kg of meth. Upon 
searching Thao’s house, police also discovered nearly 2 kg of meth and heroin.

One day later, police detained Phung’s brother and his wife for illegally 
possessing heroin at a hotel on Pham Hong Thai Street in District 1.

Based on testimonies of the detained, police captured Phung and other 
accomplices in the drug ring.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of 
possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 
kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal 
narcotics is also punishable by death.

Although the laws are strictly enforced with capital punishment handed down 
regularly, drug running continues in border areas.

(source: vnexpress.net)








BANGLADESH:

2 sentenced to death, 6 get life term for murder



A Kushtia court on Monday sentenced 2 persons to death and 6 others to life 
term imprisonment in a murder case filed in 2011.

The convicts who got death penalty are Jahed Ibne Sahid alias Rana, son of 
Sahidul Islam, a resident of the Chourhas Phultala colony area of the district 
town and Mostafijur Rahman Sajib, son of Golam Mustafa of the Phulchhari 
village under the Shailkupa upazila in the Jhenaidah district.

The lifers are Sohel Ahamed, Sohel Rana, Sahin Uddin, M Jony, M Ripon and M 
Sumin, all being residents of the Chourhas Phultala colony area of the district 
town.

The court also fined them Tk50,000 each.

Judge of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunals Munshi M Mosiar 
Rahman handed down the verdict in present of the convicts around 11am.

The convicts hacked Lalchand, son of Nur Islam, a resident of the area, to 
death over previous enmity in March, 2011, said Kushtia Judge Court PP Anup 
Kumar Nandi.

After the incident, Lalchand’s father filed a case with the Kushtia Model 
police station.

Police, after investigation, submitted the charge sheet before the court 
against them on December 31 of the year.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)






INDIA:

Guwahati: Court convicts 3 in Shweta Agarwalla murder case----Court convicts 
victim's boyfriend Govind Singhal, his mother Kamla Devi and sister Bhawani in 
the murder case



The District & Sessions Court of Kamrup (M) on Tuesday pronounced the judgement 
on the Shweta Agarwalla murder case, which took place in Guwahati on December 
4, 2017.

The court convicted accused Govind Singhal, his mother Kamla Devi and sister 
Bhawani in the murder case under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC.

The judgement was announced on the basis of evidences and statements given by 
20 witnesses before the court.

In favour of the accused 3 witnesses had given statements.

It may be mentioned that Govind Singhal had allegedly killed his girlfriend 
Sweta Agarwalla, a meritorious student of KC Das Commerce College, on December 
4, 2017 in his rented house at Bharalumukh area in Guwahati.

The house belonged to lawyer J. P. Mazumdar near Shantipur.

Later, the charred body of 20-year-old Shweta Agarwalla, who hailed from Paltan 
Bazaar area, was recovered in the bathroom of Govind Singhal at Bharalumukh 
area.

He was assisted by his mother and sister in the crime.

A case was registered at Bharalumukh Police Station and investigation was 
started.

Within a short period, the police arrested Govind Agarwalla, his mother and 
sister.

After the announcement of the judgement, Shweta Agarwalla’s father Om Prakash 
Agarwalla demanded that the accused be hanged.

Shweta’s father while expressing happiness at the judegment, thanked the 
judiciary.

While seeking death penalty for all the 3 accused, the victim’s father talking 
to the media before the court, said, “I will get peace if they are hanged.”

The court is likely to announce the punishment for all the convicts on 
Wednesday.

Shweta Agarwalla, who was among toppers in Higher Secondary (Commerce) 
Examination 2015, was a 5th semester student at the time of the incident.

(source: nenow.com)








PHILIPPINES:

Death penalty may lead to abuses – Atienza



Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza raised concerns that bringing back capital 
punishment might lead to “horrific abuses.”

“Once Congress revives the death penalty, these police crooks will surely 
brandish the death penalty as the ‘sword of Damocles’ to hang over the heads of 
their potential victims of kidnapping, extortion and evidence-planting,” 
Atienza said in a statement.

The former Manila mayor, a member of the House minority, said corrupt officers 
might come up with “false or fabricated evidence” against supposed perpetrators 
to protect themselves from certain anomalies.

“There are many corrupt officers everywhere. In fact, no less than President 
Duterte, himself, at one point tagged the police as ‘rotten to the core’ and 
reckoned that 4 out of 10 officers are engaged in all sorts of criminal 
activities,” Atienza said.

He cited the kidnapping-for-extortion and murder of South Korean businessman 
Jee Ick-Joo by anti-narcotics agents, and the case of a police officer in 
Manila, who raped a 15-year-old girl in exchange for the freedom of her parents 
who were nabbed for alleged drug offenses.

To curb illegal drug trafficking, Atienza urged the Duterte administration to 
first address rampant corruption at the Bureau of Customs.

“Besides capturing, prosecuting and locking up big-time traffickers, the 
government should also target devious officers, who are recycling back into the 
market illegal drugs seized from raids and arrests,” he said.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano had said the House of Representatives would 
hear the stand of those who oppose or favor the reimposition of death penalty.

Four death penalty bills filed by Representatives Bienvenido Abante Jr., Robert 
Barber, Victor Yap and Rozzano Biazon have been scheduled for first reading.

In 2017, the House approved on third and final reading a measure that sought to 
impose death penalty for heinous and drug crimes, but senators rejected it.

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(source: Manila Times)

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

Walang plunder! Sotto: Bill to revive death penalty could be rushed if for 
drug-related crimes only



Senate President Vicente Sotto III believes proposals to revive the death 
penalty would move faster in the Senate if its coverage is limited to 
drug-related crimes.

Sotto said longer debates at the Senate committee level will ensue if the scope 
of crimes punishable by death penalty were to be expanded.

“So far, many senators support the idea of re-imposing death penalty for 
high-level drug traffickers,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte asked Congress to reinstate the death penalty for 
crimes related to illegal drugs and plunder in his fourth State of the Nation 
Address on Monday (July 22).

Sotto expressed optimism that the bill to bring back the death penalty could be 
passed within Duterte’s term.

“This measure is expected to hurdle a lot of debates but I strongly believe 
that it can be passed during the 18th Congress,” he said.

(source: politics.com.ph)








SINGAPORE:

Brothel owner successfully appeals against death sentence for murdering pimp



A brothel owner who was sentenced to death 2 years ago for murdering a pimp 
over money was spared the noose and given life imprisonment instead on Tuesday 
(Jul 30).

The Court of Appeal granted Chan Lie Sian, 54, his appeal against the death 
sentence for bludgeoning 35-year-old William Tiah Hung Wai with a dumbbell rod 
on Jan 14, 2014, over S$6,500 that he believed the victim had stolen from his 
pocket.

The pimp suffered multiple skull fractures and had bone fragments embedded in 
his brain from the onslaught, and died later in hospital.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on Tuesday said he and Appeal Judges Judith 
Prakash and Andrew Phang found that Chan did not have the specific intention to 
kill the victim.

He had been convicted of murder with the intention of causing death, which 
draws the death penalty.

The court amended his conviction to murder with the intention to cause bodily 
injury likely to cause death, which can be punished either with death or life 
imprisonment and caning.

Chan cannot be caned as he is over 50.

HE HAD EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO KILL VICTIM, BUT HE DID NOT: CHIEF JUSTICE

Explaining the court's decision, Chief Justice Menon said it is well 
established that an accused person has to have the specific intention to kill 
the victim in order to be convicted of murder with intention of causing death.

"In our judgment, he didn't have the specific intention to kill the victim," 
said the chief justice.

"With no witnesses around and with the victim lying helpless on the bed, the 
appellant had every opportunity to bring any such intention to kill to 
fruition. Yet, he did not do so even though the victim was clearly alive."

The death penalty is warranted when the actions of the accused exhibit 
"viciousness or a blatant disregard for human life", said Chief Justice Menon.

? "The court was not satisfied that the manner in which the appellant acted 
evinced that blatant disregard for human life," he said.

"First, the court found that the appellant was not aware at the time of the 
attack or in its immediate aftermath, of the fatal nature of the victim’s 
injuries. Indeed, the appellant’s unchallenged testimony was that he did not 
know that the injuries were so severe as to be likely to cause the victim’s 
death."

Chan had left the victim unconscious on the floor of an illegal brothel in 
Geylang after hitting him several times on his head and body with a metal rod.

Chan's lawyer Wendell Wong had told the Court of Appeal that his client had 
wanted to teach the victim, whom he viewed as a "brother", a lesson for 
stealing money from him.

Chan told other witnesses about what had happened and splashed a pail of water 
on the victim, shouting vulgarities at him and accusing him of pretending to be 
dead.

If Chan had attacked the victim to kill him, his attempts to revive him and 
accuse him of feigning death would make no sense, said Chief Justice Menon.

CONVICTED OF MURDER UNDER DIFFERENT LIMB

The judges were satisfied that Chan fulfilled all 3 ingredients of murder with 
the intention to cause bodily injury likely to cause death.

They rejected Chan's defence, argued by Mr Wong, of sudden fight.

This was because there are 3 elements for the defence of sudden fight to stand: 
That there was a sudden fight in the heat of passion, an absence of 
premeditation, and an absence of undue advantage or cruel or unusual acts.

In Chan's case, he had undue advantage over the victim, given that he was armed 
with a weapon, and had an advantage over him in his physique, said the judges.

Chan was not aware of the fatal nature of the victim's injuries, said Chief 
Justice Menon, and his testimony that he did not know the injuries were so 
severe was unchallenged and consistent with his conduct at the time.

He said he would attack the victim again when he came to, and surrendered to 
the police as he thought it had not been fatal.

Indeed, he had initially been charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt 
with a dangerous weapon before his charge was switched to one of murder 
following the pimp's death in hospital.

For the court to impose the death penalty, the prosecution has to establish 
that the actions of the offender have outraged the feelings of the community, 
and this would be the case where these actions exhibit viciousness or a blatant 
disregard for human life, the court heard.

"Having reviewed the evidence, we are not satisfied that the prosecution has 
established that additional element," said Chief Justice Menon.

"We therefore allow the appeal and set aside the death penalty and impose a 
sentence of life imprisonment instead."

(source: channelnewsasia.com)








SRI LANKA:

President insists most Sri Lankans support death penalty



President Maithripala Sirisena insists most Sri Lankans support implementing 
the death penalty.

Speaking at a ceremony held in Ratnapura today the President said that he 
wanted to implement the death penalty on some convicts to control the drug 
menace.

However, he said some politicians protested against it and the convicts are now 
celebrating.

The President said that he is certain 90 % of the population support 
implementing the death penalty.

(source: menafn.com)