[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 23



BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh trying to bring back founder’s killer----After 35 years of the 
murder, Bangladesh’s Apex court served capital punishment against 12 convicts



A top Bangladeshi official claimed that a Canadian court’s verdict has cleared 
the way of dialogue between the two states over bringing back of a convicted 
killer of country’s founder from Canada as he has been reportedly absconding 
there for many years.

“The verdict of the Canadian Federal Court is one step progress in the way of 
bringing back Nur Chowdhury [self-confessed and convicted killer of 
Bangladesh’s founding leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman],” Bangladesh’s 
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq told in an exclusive 
interview with the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency on late 
Saturday.

Canadian government earlier refused to return Chowdhury to Bangladesh as the 
Bangladeshi Apex court had already awarded capital punishment to him in his 
absence.

Mujib was killed along with his wife and 3 sons including 10-year-old Sheikh 
Russell on Aug. 15, 1975 while his 2 daughters, incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh 
Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, survived the carnage as they were 
then in abroad.

After 35 years of the killing, 5 self-confessed killers — all former top army 
officials — were hanged to death in 2010 while one died of natural causes. The 
rest six convicts are still at large and Nur is 1 of them.

Bangladesh government is trying to bring them home to execute the capital 
punishment. The ruling Awami League party also committed to hold trial of 
Mujib’s killers in its electoral manifesto in 2008.

The minister said: “It [Canadian court’s verdict] also allowed disclosing Nur’s 
immigration status in Canada which was, earlier, closed by the Canadian 
government, saying that it was a shut case.''

“We can now exchange information with the Canadian government and give correct 
documents if Nur had given any wrong information to the Canadian authorities. 
We will try to utilize this opportunity to expedite the extradition process of 
Nur,'' the report quoted Huq as saying.

Citing Nur’s latest situation in Canada, the minister added: “The Canadian 
government, earlier, used to tell us ‘There is capital punishment in your 
country. And you have already awarded him (Nur) that punishment. So, we will 
not handover him to you’. But we came to know that Nur was not given political 
asylum there rather his deportation was also postponed.”

(source: aa.com.tr)








INDONESIA:

Police thwart attempt to smuggle 6,000 detonators in Indonesia



Parepare Police in South Sulawesi have reportedly foiled an attempt to smuggle 
roughly 6,000 detonators out of South Sulawesi through Nusantara Port and 
arrested 3 individuals during the operation conducted on Friday.

Those arrested have been identified only as AM, 39, from Boya Baliase village 
in Sigi regency in Central Sulawesi and AM, 59, and NA, 57, both from Kampoti 
village in Bone regency in South Sulawesi.

The detonators were hidden under milk packages in 6 different sacks, Parepare 
Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Pria Budi explained, adding that the police were 
investigating where the detonators were to be sent and what for purpose.

"We have yet to discover the real owner of the detonators, as the 3 arrested 
individuals are refusing to give up any information," Pria said as quoted by 
Antara.

He said the 3 men could be charged under the 1951 Emergency Law on illegal 
firearm possession with a maximum punishment of the death penalty.

(source: asiaone.com)








KUWAIT:

Hoshiarpur man gets death penalty in Kuwait<>P>

Rajinder Singh, a resident of Taragarh village at Jalandhar Road, has been 
sentenced to death in Kuwait for drug trafficking. Rajinder’s family, calling 
him innocent, has requested the state as well as the Central Government to take 
up the matter with Kuwait to get him released. Rajinder had gone to Kuwait in 
2016.

He has been lodged in a jail since January.

His father Baldev Singh said Rajinder (30), his only son, first went to Dubai 
in 2014 and returned soon. He left for Gulf again and landed in Doha Qatar. In 
January 2016, he once again shifted, this time to Kuwait where he worked in 
Savi. His visa was to expire in February 2019 so he was about to return.

Here, his family was engaged in preparations for his marriage. In January, he 
went to Kuwait’s Kharbania town to stay with Sonu who too hails from Taragarh 
village. A few days later, the family received a call regarding Rajinder’s 
arrest.

The family said Rajinder phoned them from jail to inform that on January 15, 
2019, he was waiting at a station for his firm’s bus, along with his over 20 
colleagues, to go to work when another man gave him his bag to handle for a 
while, claiming that he had forgotten something in his room. Assuring that he 
would return soon, he left and then police turned up and frisked the workers. 
During search, drugs were found in the bag and Rajinder was arrested. The 
police arrested Sonu same evening.

The family said both of them had been in jail since then. They got a call from 
Rajinder three days ago that he had been sentenced to death and he didn’t have 
money even to hire a counsel. The family says it is too poor to hire a counsel 
in Kuwait to file an appeal. They have urged the Central and state governments 
to intervene for Rajinder’s release.

Arrested for drug trafficking

•In January, Rajinder Singh’s family in Taragarh village received a call 
regarding his arrest for drug trafficking

•The family says it is too poor to hire a counsel in Kuwait to file an appeal. 
They have urged the Central and state governments to intervene for Rajinder’s 
release.

(source: tribuneindia.com)








SOUTH AFRICA:

Bring back capital punishment, says ATM



The African Transformation Movement (ATM) is pushing for the re-introduction of 
the death penalty to deal with heinous crimes afflicting the country.

On Sunday, party leader Vuyolwethu Zungula confirmed that he wrote to National 
Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise requesting that the Constitutional Review 
Committee (CRC) be directed to hold public hearings on the re-introduction of 
the death penalty.

Zungula also confirmed that he wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for a 
referendum on the death penalty. Only Modise had responded to date, he said.

In her letter to Zungula, Modise said: “Your correspondence has been forwarded 
to the CRC for consideration."

Zungula said the decision to outlaw the death penalty was done by the 
Constitutional Court, but there was strong public opinion that it should be 
reinstated.

“We don't want the discussion to be limited to 400 MPs. It must be South 
Africans who say they want it or not,” he said.

Zungula cited the growing calls for the death penalty and petition he says 
attracted 700000 signatures as motivation for their submission.

He said the death penalty should be reserved for serial and repeat offenders 
who did not care about the lives of other people.

The CRC has dismissed representations it received on the death penalty over the 
years.

In its March 2019 report on 2016 submissions, the CRC said the reinstatement of 
the death penalty was in conflict with the Constitution which provides that 
everyone has a right to life.

Zungula was hopeful that the CRC would hold the public hearings at their 
request. “Once the Speaker refers a matter to a committee, the committee has no 
option but to do what the speaker says it must do.”

He insisted that it was not for the CRC to say the death penalty was 
unconstitutional, but it should rather take the matter to the public hearings 
like it did with the expropriation of land without compensation.

“Its role is to get views from the public on issues to be amended in the 
Constitution,” Zungula said.

In Botswana and Malawi, he said, they have the death penalty to deal with the 
problem of the killing of albinos, among other things.

In a recent parliamentary debate, Zungula argued that longer prison sentences 
were not good enough and the death penalty should be imposed on heinous crimes 
against women and children.

“We say the death penalty must go to referendum so that South Africans decide, 
not MPs or the executive. The problem is that there are people who govern not 
based on the will of the people but impose their ideas,” he said.

(source: iol.co.za)