July 26
AUSTRALIA/SINGAPORE:
Death row delay for Melbourne man
A Melbourne man facing the death penalty for drug trafficking in Singapore
must wait another 3 or 4 weeks before a court rules on his appeal.
Singapore's Court of Appeal today reserved judgment in the case of Nguyen
Tuong Van, 23, who has been on death row in Changi prison since March,
when he was found guilty of smuggling nearly 400 grams of heroin.
Nguyen appeared in court wearing a prison uniform of green pants and a
white top, with both his hands and legs shackled.
He remained mostly expressionless throughout the proceedings, except at
the beginning when he saw his mother in court.
Nguyen's Melbourne-based lawyer Lex Lasry, QC, said the court was expected
to make a ruling on his appeal within 3 to 4 weeks.
If his appeal fails he will plead for clemency.
Nguyen was caught in transit at Singapore's Changi airport in December
2002, while on his way from Cambodia to Melbourne.
Singapore police testified that one packet of heroin was strapped to
Nguyen's back and another was found in his hand luggage after he was
stopped for a routine check.
The appeal court said it wanted more time to look at evidence - especially
why the drugs had different weights when tested by police and a lab.
Nguyen's local lawyer, Joseph Theseira, questioned why the two packets of
heroin weighed much less when they were sent to the Health Sciences
Authority for verification compared with the first time, when they were
measured by investigating officers at the airport.
Chief Justice Yong Pung How told the court that the discrepancy in drug
weight "has never happened before" in such a case.
"Admittedly it is only a marginal difference, but we have to be very
careful," Yong said.
Nguyen's lawyers also used his appeal to question the constitutionality of
Singapore's death penalty.
"A mandatory sentence is imposed without any regard to the circumstances,"
Mr Theseira told the court.
Singapore made the death penalty mandatory for drug traffickers and
murderers in 1975. Anyone caught with more than 15 grams of heroin in
Singapore is assumed to be importing or trafficking the drug.
All executions in the city-state are carried out by hanging.
If Nguyen loses his appeal, Mr Lasry will submit a written submission for
clemency with Singapore's president, SR Nathan.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has called for Nguyen's life to be
spared, but Mr Lasry said clemency appeals had had very little success in
the past.
In August 1994, Dutchman Johannes Van Damme became the first Westerner to
hang for drug offences in Singapore - despite pleas for clemency from the
Dutch government and the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix.
Nguyen is the 4th Australian sentenced to death by Asian countries on drug
charges, following the hanging of Brian Chambers and Kevin Barlow in
Malaysia in 1986.
In a lesser-known case, Queenslander Michael McAuliffe died by hanging in
Malaysia in June 1993 after serving eight years in jail.
Last year, an Australian woman condemned to death in Vietnam on drug
trafficking charges had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment in a
presidential amnesty after strong protests from Canberra.
Nguyen's mother fled Vietnam alone in a boat in 1980 and bore her twin
sons in a transit camp in Malaysia before being accepted into Australia 4
months later.
Nguyen has said he had the drugs because he was trying to raise money to
clear debts incurred by his twin brother.
(source: The Age)
INDIA:
JUSTICE SALDANHA DEFENDS DEATH PENALTY----'We have failed to reform
hardened criminals, murder is easier than pick pocket'
Some anti-social elements do not repent for their acts. It was not
possible to reform them either. Death sentence for such elements was
necessary, observed Mr. Justice M.F. Saldanha, former Judge of Karnataka
High Court, here yesterday.
Participating in a workshop at St. Philomena's College here yesterday, he
said that hardened criminals should not be condoned under the guise of
human rights.
He, however, said he had no fixed notion whether or not capital punishment
should be awarded.
The retired judge was delivering the keynote address at a workshop on
"Abolition of capital punishment in India" under the joint auspices of
Jeevodaya Prison Ministry of India, Mysore Unit and People's Legal Forum,
Mysore.
Heinous crimes
Certain crimes were so heinous that they necessitated the severest
punishment. There should be a nexus between the gravity of the crime and
punishment. There were enough safety measures in India's judicial system
in which the possibility of error in punishing the innocent was very
minimum and also, by and large, death sentence was not awarded at random
and to innocent people, Mr. Justice Saldanha explained.
The number of murders committed in India was far higher when compared with
picking pockets, he remarked.
There was no value for life in the sub-continent. The percentage of death
sentences awarded in India was 0.4 % while the actual execution was only
0.2 %, Mr. Justice Saldanha observed.
Bishop of Mysore Rev. Fr. Antony Vazhapilly, Secretary of People's Legal
Forum Mr. P.P. Baburaj, KSRTC Mysore Division Controller Mr. Moodnakoodu
B. Chinnaswamy and Diocesan Co-ordinator Dr. S. Geneveive were present.
Calculations go wrong
Interestingly, the Forum had apparently invited Mr. Justice Saldanha
hoping that he would support them in the campaign against the Supreme
Court's confirmation of death sentence to four of Veerappan aides.
The Forum, during the last few months, has been holding such seminars to
mobilise public opinion, including dignitaries in the society, in favour
of the mercy petitions submitted by the condemned criminals seeking
commutation of the death sentence into life imprisonment. However, the
Forum's calculations went wrong as Mr. Justice Saldanha, known for his
independent thinking, instead of supporting their cause, advocated death
sentence for hardened criminals.
The topic of the workshop too was partial: "Abolition of Capital
punishment." It did not leave scope for a debate. It would have been
impartial if the topic asked 'Whether we need capital punishment or not?'
(source: Star of Mysore)
CHINA:
China Farmers Get Death for Oil Theft----Chinese Court Sentences 5 Farmers
to Death for Stealing Crude Oil From a Pipeline
A Chinese court has sentenced 5 farmers to death for stealing crude oil
from a pipeline that ran through their county, the government said Sunday.
They were convicted on charges of damaging a flammable and explosive
substance, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
It said 12 other farmers who helped steal the oil were given sentences
ranging from 3 years to life in prison for the same charge.
China enforces the death penalty for numerous crimes, including many that
are economic and nonviolent.
Death sentences in China are automatically appealed.
The farmers, from Puyang County in the central province of Henan, were
caught drilling holes in the oil pipeline in late 2002 and early last
year, Xinhua said.
The People's Intermediate Court in Jiaozuo found that the farmers stole
450 tons of crude oil worth $118,000, the agency said.
The group also caused economic losses of $280,000, because oil
transportation through the pipeline had to be suspended, it said.
The report didn't say when the court delivered its verdict.
Puyang is about 320 miles southwest of Beijing.
(source: ABC News)
