[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 5




SOUTH AFRICA:

The death of capital punishment in SA



The Constitutional Court abolished the death sentence in 1995, with a unanimous 
landmark judgment penned by then-ConCourt president Arthur Chaskalson.

Everyone has the right to life.

That’s the full text of chapter 2, section 11 of the Bill of Rights in the 
Constitution – and the phrases “capital punishment” and “death penalty” do not 
occur in the document.

According to a 2016 study by the South African Institute of Race Relations 
(IRR), Is there a case for South Africa to reintroduce the death penalty?, 
between 1910 and 1975, about 2 740 people were executed and another 1 100 
between 1981 and 1989.

The charge for the return of the death penalty began with the Inkatha Freedom 
Party (IFP) last year and was brought back to life last week by the African 
Transformation Movement (ATM).

“The last hanging took place in 1989, following which the then state president, 
FW de Klerk, put a stop to them pending a decision on capital punishment by the 
Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa),” the IRR study stated.

“Although Codesa adopted a comprehensive Bill of Rights as part of the 1993 
constitution, it did not outlaw capital punishment, leaving that matter to the 
court. When it issued its prohibition on further executions in 1995, possibly 
as many as 400 people were waiting on death row.”

Until it was abolished, capital punishment had been implemented not only for 
murder but also for rape, housebreaking and robbery or attempted robbery with 
aggravating circumstances, sabotage, training abroad to further the aims of 
communism, kidnapping, terrorism and treason.

The Constitutional Court abolished the death sentence in 1995, with a unanimous 
landmark judgment penned by then president of the Constitutional Court Arthur 
Chaskalson.

The judge was deciding on the futures of 2 accused convicted on four counts of 
murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of robbery with aggravating 
circumstances in S v Makwanyane and Another.

“Retribution cannot be accorded the same weight under our Constitution as the 
rights to life and dignity, which are the most important of all the rights in 
chapter three,” Chaskalson said before banishing capital punishment.

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

The EFF does not support the death penalty – Malema



Despite SA’s current wave of violence, the EFF leader says ‘our brothers and 
sisters will be the ones that are hanged’ if capital punishment returns.

Addressing the media at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Economic 
Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema disagreed with the death penalty as 
a way of dealing with the scourge of violence against women and children in 
South Africa.

“We don’t support death penalty. Anyone who suggests death penalty must give 
scientific evidence of where death penalty has succeeded in reducing crime,” he 
said.

“The legal system in SA is very expensive, you may be wrongfully accused and 
because you can’t afford proper legal representation, you will be hanged. In a 
system that hates black people, our brothers and sisters will be the ones that 
are hanged.

“We need a biting criminal justice system. The laws are there, our police are 
the ones that are failing us,” he continued.

This followed Malema addressing the recent murders of women Uyinene Mrwetyana, 
Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels, Janika Mallo, as well as Ayakha Jiyani and her 
siblings.

“The reality is that these are not unique cases, but a reflection of the daily 
experiences of women and children who face the threat of rape, abuse, and death 
in both private and public spaces,” he said.

“The solution to these problems must lie in fixing our public institutions of 
law enforcement; the police stations, prosecutors, and judges who care.

“Perpetrators of sexual crimes in our country know that women never get any 
help from the system and thus they perpetrate their crimes on them with 
impunity.

“Our criminal justice system is most toothless when it comes to dealing with 
rape, detecting psychopaths and unearthing violent domestic spaces.

“The power of the law must precisely be so effective that it is observed by all 
in public and domestic spaces because they know there are consequences.

“It is, therefore, the police and the criminal justice system that must take 
full responsibility for why rape and murder of women and children has become 
part of our daily lives.

“We call on a national emergency on police stations to be radically and 
urgently reconfigured as safe spaces for the report of sexual crimes. We call 
on investigative capacity to be immediately developed to detect sexual violence 
in domestic and private spaces,” the EFF leader said.

“We need caring judges; who are welcoming and sensitive, not those who seem to 
perpetuate the intimidating nature of court,” he added later in his address.

(source for both: The Citizen)

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

Department of Justice responds to calls for the death penalty in South Africa



The Department of Justice and Correctional Services has issued a lengthy 
statement shooting down calls for a referendum on bringing back the death 
penalty in South Africa.

South African citizens, civil rights groups and political representatives have 
called on government to take action, following a string of reports detailing 
brutal and violent crimes against women in the country.

The latest report, of the rape and murder of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana at 
the hands of a South African Post Office worker, spurred public outrage, 
underpinning police statistics such as the 3,000 women who are murdered each 
year, and 50,000 more who are victims of sexual offences.

Talk of the death penalty entered the fray through a Change.org petition, which 
drew over 500,000 responses, calling for a referendum on the capital punishment 
to be reinstated for those convicted of violent crimes, including crimes 
against women and children.

At a press conference on the murders and public response, justice minister 
Ronald Lamola said that the question of bringing back the death penalty would 
have to be taken to cabinet to discuss.

While many took this as the reinstatement of the death penalty being up for 
consideration, the department says this is not the case at all.

“Cabinet does discuss current affairs confronting the country – and therefore 
if this (death penalty) is one of them, it is conceivable that the cabinet 
would discuss these sentiments,” the department said.

However, it pointed out that the Bill of Rights, which provides the tapestry of 
human rights for all South Africans, protected under law, enshrines the right 
to life for all – and it is not something that can simply be removed through a 
referendum.

Specifically, the constitution is structured so as “to protect us from our own 
whims”; and to ensure that all are equal before the law.

“We cannot subject our Bill of Rights to a referendum. The basis of the 
constitutional order we are building is premised on the need to protect all 
those who may not necessarily be protected adequately through a democratic 
process – where sheer numbers will determine the extent of that protection.

“Today we will subject the prohibition of the death penalty to a referendum. 
Tomorrow, it will be to re-criminalise abortion. Later it will be to take away 
the protection accorded to the LGBTIQ community,” the department said.

“This is the effective dismantling of the constitutional supremacy and the 
vision of building a new society.”

The death penalty is a bad idea

The department said that the call to reinstate the death penalty in South 
Africa is flawed “in many ways”.

On top of the wider constitutional ramifications outlined above, there is 
enough evidence available to show that it simply does not work to deter or 
reduce violent crimes.

In South Africa, while violent crime is still too high, over the past 2 
decades, the incidence of violent crime has halved – from a murder rate of 67 
per 100,000 people in 1994 to 33 per 100,000 in 2015.

“Clearly the evidence shows that the death penalty was not a determining factor 
in reducing murder rates. In fact, the murder rate declined significantly after 
the death penalty was abolished,” the department said.

The department said that the death penalty also would not deal with femicide or 
other forms of violence against women, as there is a prevailing set of 
ideologies – that of male supremacy and entitlement – which drives these 
crimes.

This needs to be tackled in all spheres of society and government – from 
personal relationships to policing and policy.

The department said that South Africa needs to improve the entire value chain 
of criminal justice to combat violent crime – from investigation, arrest, 
prosecution, incarceration and rehabilitation and reintegration.

“As things stand, only 10% of those who commit murder are caught and convicted. 
This needs to change. A quick-fix populist approach is likely to make the 
situation worse over the long term,” the department said.

“There is therefore no easy fix. The ministry will not be tempted by rather 
populist calls for the return of the death penalty,” it said.

(source: businesstech.co.za)

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

No turning back on the death penalty ---- Outrage over violence against women 
puts focus on court ruling that section in Criminal Procedure Act allowing for 
capital punishment is incompatible with the constitution



The rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana in Cape Town rightly sparked an 
outburst of anger in a country that one would have thought has grown inured to 
gender violence.

But no one would have expected the justice minister turning it into a 
discussion about the sanctity of the constitution and inadvertently 
highlighting how populism is especially dangerous in a time of crisis. When a 
nation is mourning and angry, constitutional niceties can seem a luxury, and 
politicians, having seen their own impotence exposed by such events, cannot be 
counted on to defend it.

The crime against the young UCT student who was attacked and killed while 
picking up the post, alongside the shooting and killing of boxing champion 
Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels on Friday by a man serving as a police officer, is 
worthy of nationwide outrage.

These were not the first and won’t be the last crimes in this country that are 
so revolting that the reaction of some sections of a besieged society is to 
call for a return of the death penalty. It’s a natural reaction, though one 
that’s unlikely to offer a solution.

“Whether we are open to [a] referendum or not, at this stage I cannot say. It 
is something we can take further as a discussion to the cabinet"- Justice 
minister Ronald Lamola

It’s hard to blame citizens who think the return of the hangman might be 
justified in the face of this national crisis of violent crime. Some see it as 
a potential solution and deterrent, while for others an eye-for-an-eye revenge 
motive will do. So it’s not unsurprising to see more than half-a-million people 
have signed a petition calling for the return of the death penalty.

There’s no reason for us to replay the debates, though it’s worth noting that 
the lack of the death penalty in the UK doesn’t make it a centre of violent 
crime. In the US, rare among developed countries in embracing this sort of 
punishment, the possibility of being executed doesn’t seem to be a deterrent 
for those who would use guns to kill en masse.

For SA, the matter was settled by the Constitutional Court more than two 
decades ago when it found in the State v Makwanyane case that the section in 
the Criminal Procedure Act that allowed for the death penalty was incompatible 
with the country’s supreme law.

This is what justice minister Ronald Lamola should have referenced when asked a 
simple question about something that regularly comes up. Instead, he told a 
news conference on Tuesday: “Whether we are open to [a] referendum or not, at 
this stage I cannot say. It is something we can take further as a discussion to 
the Cabinet.”

In keeping with how the government has bungled communication on key issues of 
concern to the populace in the most recent past, the department backtracked in 
a statement later on Tuesday, saying all that Lamola meant was if the issue is 
brought to the Cabinet it would have to discuss it.

It did not say who would initiate such a discussion with the Cabinet and how.

Otherwise, it’s hard to argue against the points made in the statement 
detailing the legal and moral cases against the reinstatement of the judicial 
killings.

It quoted former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson: “The greatest deterrent to 
crime is the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended, convicted and 
punished. It is that which is clearly lacking in our criminal justice system; 
and it is at this level and through addressing the causes of crime that the 
state must seek to combat lawlessness.”

Citizens have to be vigilant when politicians even hint at meddling with 
constitutionally enshrined rights because that seems like the easiest option 
for them to distract us from wider social ills and the failure of governance, 
and offer easy solutions.

As the justice department itself points out, after the death penalty the 
demands “will be to recriminalise abortion and then later it will be to take 
away the protection accorded to the LGBTIQ community”.

You can add more and more to that list until the constitutional order has been 
dismantled.

(source: Editorial, Business Day)

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

No conclusive evidence that death penalty has deterrent effect - IRR



The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has warned against the calls in favour of 
a reinstated death penalty in South Africa.

The IRR's John Kane-Berman says studies have not been able to conclusively 
prove its deterrent effect.

In addition, Kane-Berman says there is documentary evidence that innocent 
people across the world have been put to death because of capital punishment.

The Justice Department issued a statement dismissing calls for a referendum on 
bringing back the death penalty in South Africa.

Listen to the discussion:

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola admits that the 
criminal justice system needs improvement.

“Our system needs improvement.”— Ronald Lamola, Justice and Correctional 
Services Minister

“Although the infrastructure has challenges, it does where. Let us be alerted 
where there are problems. It is not a perfect system.”— Ronald Lamola, Justice 
and Correctional Services Minister

Lamola says South Africa's constitutional ethos and aim for restorative justice 
cannot be dismissed amid discussions about the death penalty and chemical 
castration.

The minister says his department plans to open 11 sexual offences courts in the 
current financial year.

He's vowed to work with National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to publicly share 
more information on the conviction of perpetrators of sexual and gender-based 
violence.

This, Lamola says, is in a bid to change the perception that abusers and sexual 
offenders are not harshly promised

(source: citizen.co.za)








PHILIPPINES:

Angara backs restoration of death penalty for heinous crimes----Senator Juan 
Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Thursday said he would support proposals to restore 
the death penalty as capital punishment but only for heinous crimes.



Angara made the statement as the Senate investigates the Good Conduct Time 
Allowance (GCTA) law which is now under scrutiny following the early release of 
1,914 prisoners due to good conduct.

“I think for maybe really very, very heinous crimes. Let’s limit its 
application. Not like in 1993 where it was applicable to carnapping and to 
things like that,” Angara said in an interview over ANC.

“Crimes against property. ‘Yung talagang robbery with homicide. ‘Yung mga 
ganun. Really heinous crimes, I think,” he further said.

Angara earlier expressed belief that proposals on the death penalty bills 
warrant extensive debate.

At the same time, the lawmaker said he supports President Rodrigo Duterte’s 
order for the re-arrest of the 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes.

According to Angara, it was clear that these convicts’ release was made based 
on “faulty orders.”

The senator said there was a general impression among the senators that 
“there’s an awful lot of discretion on the part of Bureau of Correction (BuCor) 
officials” when it comes to determining good conduct time allowances for the 
early release of prisoners.

Angara noted that the existence of Department Order 953 requires the approval 
of the Justice Secretary for the release of inmates sentenced to life 
imprisonment or reclusion perpetua or high risk inmates recommended for release 
due to expired sentences.

“It appears that the released prisoners did not go through this process so 
talagang may merit na they should not have been released,” he said.

“That’s the argument. Faulty ‘yung orders na inisyu nila and the provision of 
the law cited earlier that these (GCTAs) are irrevocable, probably does not 
apply because they did not follow the right procedure,” Angara said.

In a press conference on Wednesday night, Duterte advised the 1,914 released 
prisoners to turn themselves in to either the Philippine National Police (PNP) 
or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as they are now considered 
fugitives.

The President said the grant of their GCTAs would be investigated and 
recomputed to determine if these were aboveboard.

“So they have to review the cases and see if the entitlement to the GCTA was 
correct in law,” Angara said.

Angara said that if there are questions regarding the order of the President to 
rearrest the prisoners, it would be best to take this up to the Supreme Court.

“But at this point, I think there’s no doubt that even the President makes what 
you call a contemporaneous interpretation of the law. That is his 
interpretation of the law. And we have to respect that until it’s questioned 
and overruled,” Angara said.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

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

Duterte Fires Philippines Prison Chief----The president fired the government’s 
top prison official amid outcry over a mass prisoner release.



The Philippine president on Wednesday fired the government’s top prison 
official amid a public outcry over the release of hundreds of prisoners, 
including convicted drug traffickers and rapists, under a law rewarding good 
behavior with shorter jail terms.

President Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised news conference that 
Undersecretary Nicanor Faeldon of the Bureau of Corrections would immediately 
resign for disobeying his order to halt the releases of convicted prisoners 
under the 2014 law. Officials are now demanding a review of the “Good Conduct 
Time Allowance” law.

Prison officials will be investigated by a special anti-corruption prosecutor 
called the Ombudsman in connection with the massive releases of convicts, 
Duterte said. A Senate Blue Ribbon committee has opened a formal inquiry into 
the releases.

Duterte ordered at least 1,700 prisoners who have been freed since the law took 
effect to surrender in 15 days, either for a re-computation of their jail time 
or for investigations to determine if they paid their way to freedom in corrupt 
deals with prison officials.

“If you do not, then beginning at this hour, you are a fugitive from justice,” 
Duterte said.

Some legal experts say the government cannot re-arrest convicts who have been 
freed under the law.

Duterte said he was considering a large bounty for the capture of the freed 
convicts “dead or alive,” adding he preferred that they end up dead.

“If you die, that will save us some money because we don’t have to feed you,” 
he said, adding he needed to act firmly because people were angered by the 
releases of criminals convicted of heinous crimes.

“I am the president, there is a fire burning,” Duterte said. “I’m a 
firefighter. I should go and I have to put out the fire.”

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief, praised Duterte’s action. 
Lacson has said about 1,900 convicts were actually freed under the law, 
including at least four convicted Chinese drug traffickers who were to be 
deported by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation. Officials have moved to 
block their deportation.

National police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde ordered the deployment of police to 
track down the convicts, who police said in a statement “will be treated as 
fugitives if they choose not to surrender.”

The releases sparked an outcry after it was reported that one of the convicts 
being considered for freedom was former Mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was 
convicted in 1995 in the killings of 2 university students. One was gang raped 
and then shot.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution abolished the death penalty but capital 
punishment was reintroduced in 1993, then abolished again in 2006. Duterte, who 
took office in 2016, has advocated harsh anti-crime measures and the return of 
the death penalty in the largely Roman Catholic nation.

(source: thediplomat.com)








THAILAND:

Chief of General Staff visits 2 Myanmar citizens facing death penalty in 
Thailand



Chief of the General Staff (Army, Navy and Air) General Mya Tun Oo visited the 
2 Myanmar citizens, who have been sentenced to death for the Koh Tao murder in 
Thailand, on September 3, the website of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief 
of Defence Services reported.

The general visited Win Zaw Tun and Zaw Lin in Bang Kwang Central Prison) that 
had received the death penalty over the murder of two British tourists, David 
Miller and Hannah Witheridge, in September 2014 to encourage them.

During the visit, the general explained to them the Myanmar government's effort 
for their appeal to the Thai King and Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services 
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing's calls for Thai officials to render assistance 
for the case.

Director of the Thai prison Sophoon Yimpreecha explained good care being 
provided for the 2 Myanmar prisoners.

Koh Samui Court gave the death sentence to the 2 Myanmar migrant workers on 
December 24, 2015.

An appeal was filed on January 2017 but the district court dismissed it and 
approved the sentence.

Again, an appeal was filed to the Thai High Court and it was again turned down 
on August 29 this year.

(source: elevenmyanmar.com)








INDIA:

Death row prisoner on the run after killing 11 in Karnataka nabbed at 
Salem----When Muruga was grilled, he reportedly confessed to having murdered 11 
people.



The arrest of a 55-year-old death row prisoner — convicted of 5 murders — from 
the hinterland of Salem district on Tuesday marked the end of a 4-month-long 
concerted hunt by the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka police. The condemned man had 
broken out of the Hindalga Central Prison in Karnataka on April 22 last.

Sources said that A Muruga alias Murugaesan (55), a resident of Kannamoochi 
near Mettur in Salem District, was arrested in connection with the murders of 
five persons in 2015. Interrogations revealed that Muruga had murdered 11 
people in Karnataka.

The murders

Working at a sugarcane farm at Kollegal in 2015, he misbehaved with co-workers 
Sivamma (35) and Rajamma (35), who told on him to their husbands Kasi (40) and 
Rajendran (37) . When the husbands landed at the farm to accost Muruga, he 
reportedly hacked all 4 to death. Muruga did not spare the 8-year-old daughter 
of Rajamma as well. He then proceeded to bury the five bodies on the farm. When 
the murders came to light, he was arrested.

The trial

When Muruga was grilled, he reportedly confessed to having murdered 11 people. 
This was besides a range of cases, including kidnapping, registered against 
him. The case was tried by Chamrajanagar Court, which slapped the death penalty 
in 2017. He was condemned at Hindalga Central Prison.

The escape

Muruga planned his escape by making good use of the slim security on account of 
Lok Sabha polls. He climbed jail walls and jumped out during the night. After 
climbing the wall with the help of a rope, he spread a thick blanket on the top 
of the wall to avoid getting hurt by the sharp-edge iron rods. He then used the 
same ropes and iron rods to climb down the other side. He is believed to have 
planned his escape with the help of some other inmates.

On the trail

The Karnataka police formed a team and landed at Kannamoochi to inquire with 
Muruga’s wife and son. However, despite their keeping a tight vigil, Muruga was 
not found. After their efforts yielded nothing, the Karnataka police roped in 
their Tamil Nadu counterparts. Abreast of the risks of having a convicted 
murderer amidst the gentry, Salem SP S Deepa Ganiger formed a special team.

Another murder

The special team learnt that Muruga was planning to kill Palanisamy, who was 
allegedly having an illicit affair with his wife. Investigations led the team 
to a brick kiln at Sathyamangalam in Erode district, where Muruga had found a 
job. After tracing him, the special team began monitoring his movement and 
swooped down on him when he reached Kannamoochi to meet his son on Monday 
night.

Once the word on Muruga’s detention reached Karanataka, the police and the 
prison department officials reached Salem and arrested him. The Rs 1 lakh 
reward announced for information leading to Muruga’s arrest would be given to 
the Tamil Nadu police special team.

(source: The New Indian Express)








IRAN:

UN Secretary-General urges Iran to introduce moratorium on death penalty



UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Iranian government to 
introduce a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, according to its report 
on the situation in the field of human rights in Iran.

The report includes information received from the Iranian government, state 
media, NGOs, from open sources and individual conversations with those 
sentenced to death, as well as their relatives and lawyers. It says that from 
November 2018 to May 2019, the Iranian government continued to interact with 
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 
Management officials visited Tehran in March 2019 and held meetings to discuss 
the human rights situation in the country, including the ongoing death penalty 
of minors.

The Secretary-General urges the government to abolish the mandatory death 
penalty and introduce a moratorium on its use, prohibit the execution of 
juvenile offenders in any circumstances, the Iranian government has been told 
in the recommendations.

According to the report, the death penalty in Iran continues to be used as a 
punishment for crimes that do not contain an element of intentional homicide, 
as well as for crimes whose definition is vague.

OHCHR has received information that at least 253 people were executed in 2018. 
This, according to the authors of the report, is significantly less than in 
2017, when at least 437 cases of the death penalty were registered.

(source: news.am)