death penalty news July 30, 2004
NIGERIA: Death penalty: Still necessary? The need to review the death penalty in Nigeria today has become most desirable given the obvious flaws in our criminal justice administration system. It is no longer a hidden fact that in virtually all cases where the accused is sentenced to death, the family is indigent, save for very few cases, where such cases have assumed a high profile status. It is only the poor that face the hang man today. Simply put, the family cannot afford first of all, getting the suspect on bail, even before he is charged to court. At the court, the family most often cannot afford the services of a good lawyers. The argument is simply, how many convicts do we have today, whose family or parents are rich. If any, it will most likely be less that 5percent, and this often times involve high profile cases. A visit or interaction with inmates and convicts in our prisons will reveal that, acses are charged to court, for those awaiting trial, most time because their family could not afford paying say N10,000 or more demanded by the police. Then for those convicted, because they could not afford good lawyers, who perhaps would have needed to call expert witness, in defence of the accused. It has become necessary for the death penalty to be reviewed given some of the problems associated in pre trial procedures, such as arbitrariness in arrest by the police especially in circumstances where they (police) have discretion to arrest without warrant, delay in arraignment after arrest, human right abuse by the Police, lack of facilities for case preparation, problems in securing bail leading to overcrowding in Police cells and prison congestion. I would not want to be drawn into the argument as to the need to deter would be criminals, which is perhaps why some have argued strongly in favour of retaining death penalty in our statute book. The argument has always been that, if a would be criminal will not be deterred by death, which is the punishment for his act, then what will. If that argument is to be extended any further, l will contend that, if killing has not solved the problem of crime till date, then why retain it. In fairness to proponents and those in opposition, it is neither here nor there. In a third world country like ours, where kids, young persons are arrested by the police in the nights and made to cough-out money ranging from N1,000 to N5,000 as the discretion of the policemen maybe, what happen in a case where the young man is taken to a police station, where the parents may not be able to trace him, or a case where the young man decide to fight the police because he feels he has committed no offence and though he is right, but the policemen out of rage shot him and framed him with say armed robbery, as some of the awaiting trial inmates I have personally spoken to at the Ikoyi prison, Lagos have told me. What happen if this young man is found guilty and sentenced to death, as is often the case. It is no longer news that criminal trial in our courts today extend to such a lengthy time, while prosecution often rely on police evidence that could hardly qualify to be called evidence, as they are most often doctored by the police, who obtain them to satisfy certain interests or simply to cover up their inefficiency and ineffectiveness. And the result is that many innocent Nigerians have been hanged or executed because the authority responsible for gathering evidence simply does not have the competence to do so or rather because they have played politics with such investigations. One does not need to argue this fact too further, when you consider the simple scenario that on being arrested by the police at say a police check post, once you argue with them, particularly if you are not that informed, he will insist on arresting you for daring to argue with him, and before you know it, mostly if he reads your psychology and sense that he could intimidate you, he will read over 10 charges to you, and if care is not taken, you may be detained at the station and charged to court the next day, only to swell the number of awaiting trial inmates. Even in police custody, we have heard of instances where the police plant materials in the houses, cars or frame innocent Nigerians with serious offences and before you know what is happening, you are standing trial for capital offence. Or is it the case where people are roped in, just because they could not meet the price demanded by the investigating authorities. Then can any system that is this bad be expected to offer any meaningful justice to the accused person. The answer is very obvious. Or can a death sentence passed relying on the evidence procured under these circumstances be reliable. Unfortunately, our courts rely on these evidence and the testimony of police officers in arriving at their decisions, which is why the arguments for the abolition of the death penalty seems to make sense. This remind me of the case of a young man in Akure, who was drunk and heading home. Unfortunately, on his way home and unknown to him, a dead body was lying on his way. The police patrol team arrested him over the death. In the course of effecting the arrest, he fought the policemen, after all what can one expect of a man who was drunk. He was later charged to court for murder. He spent so many years in detention while the trial dragged. But as fate would have it, some of his co-inmates in the prison, who one days, while busy in their usual boastful manner, recounting their exploit, specifically mentioned the lifeless body that was found at the particular corner of the street, where this young man was arrested, as one of their victims. It took this young man over 11 years to get out of prison for an offence he knew nothing about. As a matter of fact, on hearing the bragging of the co-inmates, the young man felt bad the more. Being in detention and facing trial for an offence committed by some other people. The most interesting aspect of the whole thing was that, on discovering the actual killers, the young man wrote several letters to the state attorney general, but the prison waders would always tear the letters instead of posting it. So, why should the warder tear a letter by an inmate to the authorities. The letter was smuggled out of prison and that was how the young man regained his freedom, after some non-governmenatl organisation intervened. Can one imagine what wound have happened if the other inmates hadn't boastfully said they were the ones that dropped the dead body. It is for this kind of case that I am in support of the abolition of the death sentence. Our criminal justice system is pitifully not working. In time past, it was a common saying among our people that what one does not know, hardly kills the person. But times have changed. In today's Nigeria, many people have died for what they know nothing about. I don't need start recalling cases. It is not a hidden fact that many innocent people have been forced into confessing to an offence they know nothing about, just because the police would want to be seen as doing its work well. But funny as the impression the police would want to create may be, Nigerians know better. Yet no body dare stand up to challenge them, which is perhaps why the question as to the desirability of the death penalty has arisen. Should people be condemned to death, even when the prosecution is 100 percent not sure of the facts upon which it is relying to conduct the trial? Or should any body be condemned to death, when even looking at the accused, it is obvious that the case made out against him or her cannot be true, but because the police report says so and it has to be relied upon? It realisation of these concern, the Nigerian Coalition on Death Penalty Abolition, a coalition of civil society groups has taken it upon itself, to lead the campaign for the abolition of death penalty, starting with a call for a moratorium on deathrool convicts in the country today. This in more so, given various shortcoming in the application of death penalty in the country, ranging from defective penal provisions, inefficient police and unwillingness of government to rise up to its duty and reform. We need an urgent reform of the criminal procedure rules to ensure expeditious dispensation of cases; diligence, dedication and fairness in the prosecution of cases and adequate remuneration for judicial officers. As a first step, for those who have been convicted, stay of execution, right of appeal, victims of crime, wrongful conviction and clemency proceedings, international appeal, introduction of new evidence on appeal, bail pending appeal, are some of the issues that must equally be given serious consideration. Appeal is of right in capital cases and such appeal acts as an automatic stay of execution in capital cases. The victims of crime have not been adequately taken care of by the various penal regime in the country, which is why the query as to the desirability of death penalty has become necessary. Who gains when a convict is killed? It can be the society, because the killing does not assuage the victim's family. So, then why kill them. Even for a more developed society like the United States of America, with a sophisticated security and better judicial system, incidence of wrongful conviction still abound, let alone Nigeria. By Innocent Anaba. (source: Opinion, The Vanguard) ========================== INDIA: Rights group mobilise support against execution : An Asian human rights group has launched an exercise to mobilise public opinion against the death sentence of a man convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl in West Bengal. The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is asking people to send a "strong letter" to the Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam requesting him to commute the death sentence of Dhananjay Chatterjee, who is in a Kolkata jail. Kalam is considering a mercy petition for Chatterjee, who raped and killed a 14-year-old girl in 1990 and was sentenced to death by hanging. The rights group in chain e-mail requests and public appeals has said Kalam was searching for ways to commute Chatterjee's punishment because the execution of the sentence had already been delayed by 10 years. Chatterjee had first been handed the death sentence on Feb 25, 1994. He was to hang on June 25 this year, but the execution was stayed after Kalam decided to hear a second clemency plea, just hours before the hanging. Kalam sought the opinion of the federal home ministry which upheld the court verdict, but the president is believed to be now inquiring if Chatterjee's fundamental rights wouldn't be violated because he had not been hanged for 10 years since the judgement was passed. Referring to an earlier case, the AHRC said death-row convict Chandra Nath Banik's execution was called off because the hanging was delayed for too long. The group said if a convict had to wait for so long for his death sentence to be carried out, it would tantamount to violation of the provisions of the Convention against Torture. "The rights guaranteed under the constitution cannot be applied selectively, and neither can they be randomly denied, including the right to life itself," an AHRC statement said. Certain groups opposing capital punishment are preparing to move the Supreme Court against Chatterjee's execution on the ground that he is mentally unsound. Defence lawyers would also argue that death row convict should be spared the noose because his execution had already been delayed so long. Amnesty International, which campaigns for the abolition of capital punishment, is aiding Chatterjee's defence lawyers. A city-based rights organisation campaigning for clemency for Chatterjee has said he was in no mental condition to be hanged. Chatterjee's lawyers argue that the dillydallying over his mercy petition has caused immense agony and it wouldn't be unnatural if he had lost his mental balance. Chatterjee's lawyers would cite a 1983 judgement in the Sher Singh Vs Punjab government case in which the convict's death sentence was commuted to a life term because his hanging had been delayed by two years. The European Union has also handed a demarche to India asking it to consider abolishing capital punishment as the country debates the possible hanging of Chatterjee. While Chatterjee's fate hangs in the balance, a debate is raging on the efficacy of capital punishment as a deterrent to crimes. The state government has recommended death for the convict. Most of Kolkata seems to want Chatterjee dead. A survey by a city-based English daily showed that 60 percent of those polled wanted Chatterjee to be hanged. People here said if Chatterjee was let off with a lighter sentence like a life term, it would give birth to many more Chatterjees. Several voluntary organisations and the school where the victim, Hetal Parekh, studied have held meetings demanding that the convict be hanged. Despite a longstanding debate, Indian authorities have never considered withdrawing capital punishment, but have only begun considering a more 'humane' method of execution such as by lethal injection. Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said earlier this month that death penalty would stay. (source: Indo-Asian News Service)
