April 5
JAPAN:
Ogawa has no qualms about executions----Justice minister says lay judges,
public call shots on inmates' fate
The 3 executions Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa approved March 29 ended a
20-month spell during which no death-row inmates were hanged.
Ogawa, who assumed his post in January, has declared he will not hesitate to
issue more death warrants, raising the prospect that more hangings are due on
his watch. His stance presents a stark contrast to that of his two
predecessors, who were reluctant to sign off on executions.
"It is the people who decide what type of penalty should be meted out for each
crime," Ogawa told the press on the morning the three death-row prisoners were
hanged.
The inmates included Yasuaki Uwabe, 48, who was convicted of killing five
people and injuring 10 others in a 1999 rampage at a train station in Yamaguchi
Prefecture.
"The death penalty has been supported in lay judge trials," Ogawa said,
referring to the new system that makes use of lay and professional judges.
While the death sentence is the heaviest punishment that can be handed down in
such trials, which began in May 2009, the justice minister still has sole
responsibility for approving executions and deciding when they will be carried
out.
At the news conference on the day of the hangings, Ogawa repeated that "issuing
an execution order is the duty of a justice minister," and stressed that
capital punishment is based on "a judgment made by the nation." He had approved
the 3 men's death warrants 2 days earlier.
Lay judge trials have resulted in death sentences on more than 10 occasions,
and earlier in March, an appellate court supported a death sentence handed down
by a lay judge trial.
Referring to such rulings, prosecutor-turned-lawyer Masaru Wakasa said that
each case represents "the conclusion that ordinary citizens drew after going
through the agony (of judging whether a person should live or die)."
A justice minister "must give weight to the fact that death penalty rulings
have been issued by lay judge panels," Wakasa said.
With more than 130 inmates on death row — a record high — officials at the
Justice Ministry who support executions praise Ogawa's determination to follow
through with hangings.
"We have finally returned to the way it should be, carrying out executions in
line with our professional responsibilities," one of Ogawa's aides said.
Some officials at the Justice Ministry are even speculating the 3 hangings may
herald a return to the days of former Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, who sent
13 death-row inmates to the gallows during his 11-month stint.
Ogawa's predecessors, however, took a completely different stance on the death
sentence. In an interview last August, then Justice Minister Satsuki Eda
expressed reservations about authorizing executions at a time when the nation
was mourning the loss of nearly 19,000 people in the March 2011 quake and
tsunami.
"With a large number of people having died in the calamity, it is time for the
nation to calmly consider the issue of capital punishment," he said.
Eda said that he believed the death penalty "contained various flaws" when he
became justice minister that January. He later retracted the remark, however.
Hideo Hiraoka, Ogawa's immediate predecessor, was also reluctant to use
executions.
"A national debate is necessary about whether to keep or abolish" the death
penalty, Hiraoka said.
Ogawa, however, has shown no such reservations since he assumed the post in a
Jan. 13 Cabinet reshuffle.
He indicated that executions were in the offing when he told a Diet session
that the death penalty "should be implemented in line with the justice
minister's professional responsibility. I will issue orders."
The executions dismayed Hideki Wakabayashi, executive director of Amnesty
International Japan, especially as there were no hangings during 2011 — the
first such occurrence in 19 years.
"Last year, the world was happy," Wakabayashi said, referring to the absence of
executions.
An official at another human rights group voiced a sense of urgency in light of
the March 29 hangings, saying, "We have to do whatever we can to make this
round of executions the last."
In early March, Ogawa also decided to scrap an internal study group on the
death penalty within the Justice Ministry.
The group had been set up by former Justice Minister Keiko Chiba after she
authorized the hangings of two inmates in July 2010, the first executions under
the Democratic Party of Japan's administration.
Since its inaugural meeting in August, the group has convened on 10 other
occasions to solicit the views of academics, lawyers, crime victims and
opponents of the death penalty.
On Friday, Ogawa said the need for a national debate on capital punishment
would not blunt his determination to execute more prisoners.
"Just because debate is taking place doesn't necessarily mean that I would not
fulfill my obligation to issue execution orders," he said.
He also said he has ordered Justice Ministry officials to identify any issues
surrounding the treatment of death-row inmates, and to disclose all relevant
information for debate.
(source: Japan Times)
SINGAPORE:
Jurong West murder suspect to be evaluated, family 'shaken'
The man accused of murdering 24-year-old Lie Lek Chee in a Jurong West flat
will be held for 3 more weeks at Changi prison for psychiatric assessment.
37-year-old Gabriel Lee Haw Ling, represented by Mr Subhas Anandan and Mr Sunil
Sudheesan, did not attend the mention at a district court on Thursday as he was
ill.
He had a medical certificate valid till Thursday, but it did not list any
details of his illness, Mr Sudheesan said.
He also told local media that he had not met or spoken to his client, but hopes
to visit him in prison in three weeks' time to prepare the defence.
According to local media reports, Mr Sudheesan also said Lee's family members
were shocked at the turn of events and were said to be "quite shaken", but
remain "extremely supportive" of him.
Paramedics found Elsie Lie's body on the queen-size bed in one of the bedrooms.
She had suffered injuries and was pronounced dead at 7.30am.
A bald man, said to be the dead woman's boyfriend, was subsequently arrested at
the scene. If found guilty, he faces the death penalty.
He allegedly slashed his lover, gouged out or tore out certain body parts and
threw them out of the window.
These were subsequently retrieved by the police.
(source: Asia One News)
LIBYA:
Hand over Saif Gadhafi, court tells Libya
Libya must make arrangements to hand over Saif al-Islam Gadhafi to the
International Criminal Court immediately, court officials said Thursday,
complaining that the son of Libya's deposed leader has been mistreated and
"physically attacked" since he was captured last year.
Gadhafi is in a "legal black hole," held for 139 days in "total isolation"
except for visits from officials, his ICC-appointed defense said in a strongly
worded statement.
He also suffers dental pain because he hasn't had treatment, and Libyan
authorities have given him nothing to remedy the pain, lawyers Xavier-Jean
Keita and Melinda Taylor said.
"At no point have the Libyan authorities been legally justified in their
failure to surrender him to the ICC," the lawyers said.
"The brutal death of Moammar Gadhafi deprived the Libyan people of their right
to justice, and their right to the truth. It would be a travesty for the
prospects of a free and fair Libyan state if the same were to occur to his
son," they said.
Saif al-Islam Gadhafi was facing an arrest warrant from the ICC for alleged
crimes against humanity at the time of his capture, and the court, based at The
Hague in the Netherlands, is still seeking to prosecute him.
Domestic authorities told Gadhafi only that he was being investigated in Libya
for "trivial allegations" of not having a license for camels and irregularities
concerning fish farms, his ICC lawyers said. When the ICC requested that Libya
surrender him to the court, Libyan authorities then said they wanted to
prosecute Gadhafi for more serious crimes, Keita said.
Amnesty International called on Libya to hand over Gadhafi at once in light of
the ICC statement.
"An unfair trial before a Libyan court where the accused could face the death
penalty is no way to guarantee justice and accountability," the rights group
said.
Amnesty said that Libya did not have a functioning court system and that the
country was "unable to conduct effective investigations," so "the ICC will be
crucial in delivering accountability in Libya."
Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, once his father's heir apparent, was captured in
November and has been held in the Libyan city of Zintan since then.
Libya and the ICC have been going back and forth since his capture about where
he will be tried.
Human Rights Watch said after visiting Gadhafi in custody last year that he
should have a lawyer, but Interior Minister Fawzy Abdilal implied in February
that he had not asked for one.
"He may have a lawyer if he asks for a lawyer," the interior minister told CNN
in an exclusive interview. "Should Saif demand a lawyer, then a lawyer would be
provided."
(source: CNN)
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