June 3
TAJIKISTAN:
Tajikistan: Parliament Follows Regional Trend By Adopting Moratorium On
Death Penalty----Tajikistan's lower house of parliament yesterday adopted
a moratorium on the death penalty. The move is part of a broader trend in
Central Asia toward the abolition of the death penalty. The Tajik
moratorium leaves Uzbekistan as the only republic in the region that
continues to carry out executions.
Tajikistan's lower house of parliament unanimously adopted yesterday a
moratorium on the death penalty. The Majlisi Namoyandagon set no end date
for the moratorium, which is to take effect immediately after becoming
law. Once that happens, the stiffest penalty in the Tajik Penal Code will
be 25 years in prison.
The moratorium must still be approved by the upper house of parliament.
This step, however is largely considered a formality. President Imomali
Rakhmonov, who proposed the moratorium in April, must then sign it into
law.
Rakhmonov's representative in parliament, Shermahmad Shoev, said Tajik
courts are already abiding by the moratorium. "Keeping in mind the
experience of most of the countries in the world that have abolished or
suspended this kind of punishment, Tajikistan has also chosen this path,"
Shoev said. "In Tajikistan, the death sentence will be not carried out
anymore and this kind of punishment has been already suspended [in the
courts]."
Last year, Tajikistan reduced the scope of the death penalty by decreasing
the number of crimes punishable by death from 15 to five and revoking its
use against women and minors. "There has been quite a lot of political
pressure on the Central Asian states in this regard, particularly from the
European Union, which meant the abolishment of the death penalty as one of
the main elements of its foreign policy in relations with third
countries." -- Crawford of the OSCE.
The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International last year
recorded 34 death sentences in Tajikistan. But as in the other Central
Asian republics, authorities have not disclosed comprehensive statistics
on the issue.
Anna Crawford is a Warsaw-based human rights officer for the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), of which all five Central
Asian states are members. She told RFE/RL that the Tajik move is part of a
broader trend in Central Asia and the OSCE region.
"The move of Tajikistan is part a wider trend within the OSCE region. Over
the past years we've gradually seen the OSCE states introducing
moratoriums and moving to full abolition of the death penalty. There are
55 participating states in the OSCE region. And following this move of
Tajikistan there are now only three states that carry out executions in
the OSCE region: Belarus, the United States of America, and Uzbekistan,"
Crawford said.
Turkmenistan abolished the death penalty outright in December 1999. The
maximum penalty is now life imprisonment. Both the Kyrgyz and Kazakh
presidents have said their countries will also abolish the death penalty
in the near future. In the meantime, Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev has
extended the moratorium on executions each year since 1998. In December,
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev ordered a moratorium on executions
and a review of all pending death sentences for people on death row.
Amendments and addenda are being made to the country's legislation to
reduce the scope of death sentences.
Crawford said pressure from the international community has helped the
introduction of the moratoriums in the region. "There has been quite a lot
of political pressure on the Central Asian states in this regard,
particularly from the European Union, which meant the abolishment of the
death penalty as one of the main elements of its foreign policy in
relations with third countries," she said. "Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the
former [OSCE] chairman in office, when he traveled to Central Asia [last
year] also called for a moratorium on executions."
Concerns remain about Uzbekistan. A UN special rapporteur on torture,
following a visit to the country in late 2002, strongly urged the
government to introduce a moratorium on executions. The Uzbek parliament
in December approved a bill specifying death-penalty verdicts could be
handed down only in cases of terrorism and premeditated murder with
aggravating circumstances.
But Anna Sunder-Plassmann, a researcher on Central Asia at Amnesty
International, expresses concerns about the country's commitment to reduce
the scope of death sentences and executions. "In Uzbekistan there have
been moves in recent years to reduce the number of offenses in the
Criminal Code that carry the death penalty," she told RFE/RL. "But it is
not possible to verify whether this has led to any changes on the ground,
because of the articles that were dropped, many of them hadn't been in use
for years."
Some local NGOs say Uzbek authorities execute at least 200 people every
year. Tashkent has not issued any formal statistics on the issue.
(source: Radio Free Europe)
PAKISTAN:
Editor's death sentence commuted---Mr Afridi's family say they want an
outright acquittal
A High Court in Pakistan has spared the life of a newspaper editor
sentenced to death for drugs pushing charges.
Rehmat Shah Afridi, the owner and Editor-in-Chief of the English language
Frontier Post, has been in prison since his arrest in April 1999.
Officials of Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force recovered over 20 kgs of
cannabis from his car outside a hotel in Lahore.
Human rights groups have condemned his detention, arguing the charges
against him may be politically motivated.
Half million dollar haul
The BBC's Shahid Malik in Lahore says that Mr Afridi is one of around 50
people who have been sentenced to death in Pakistan for drugs pushing, but
very few of the sentences have actually been carried out.
The prosecution said that soon after his arrest a lorry was seized which
belonged to him in the west Punjab district of Faislabad, containing
nearly 630 kgs of cannabis.
The entire quantity was worth $500,000 on the international market,
according to estimates provided by anti-narcotics authorities.
In June 2001, an anti-terrorism judge in Lahore sentenced Mr Afridi to
death. The court sentenced 2 men found guilty of being his accomplices to
life imprisonment.
But on Thursday Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gilani, the presiding judge of a
two-member bench of the Lahore High Court, commuted the death penalty.
Instead the court sentenced him to life imprisonment, which in Pakistan is
normally 25 years.
The High Court also heard an appeal by the two alleged accomplices, but
upheld their life sentences.
Speaking to journalists outside the courtroom, Mr Afridi's son Jalil
described the ruling as a relief.
"But we will most certainly file an appeal before the Supreme Court to win
an outright acquittal," he said.
The human rights group Amnesty International has criticised Mr Afridi's
imprisonment, complaining that he has not had proper medical treatment for
a heart condition and that the prosecution has not provided compelling
evidence against him.
(source: BBC News)
