Sept. 16
JAPAN:
Nurse, facing death penalty, dies of cancer
In Fukuoka, a woman who prosecutors demanded receive the death penalty for
murdering her husband and her friend's husband for insurance money has
died of cancer before receiving a ruling, her lawyers said Wednesday.
Kazuko Ikegami, 43, a former nurse who was charged with murdering her
husband in 1998, died Sept 1 at a hospital in the city of Fukuoka and her
death prompted the Fukuoka District Court to dismiss the case against her.
Ikegami's health deteriorated in June and since then she had been
receiving treatment at Fukuoka prison and a Fukuoka hospital.
(source: Kyodo News)
BANGLADESH-----impending execution date set
Yasmin rape & murder: Execution date set for Sept 29 for 3rd cops
The execution of a third Bangladeshi policeman for the rape and murder of
a 14-year-old girl Yasmin in 1995 has been fixed for later this month,
officials said on Wednesday.
Amritlal Burman will be hanged on September 29, officials told AFP. 2 of
his former colleagues, Moinul Haque and Abdus Sattar, went to the gallows
for the same crime earlier this month.
His appeal has been rejected by the president and we have received the
official letter from the jail instructing us to make preparations for the
execution on September 29, said sub-inspector Rezaul Islam.
The three were convicted in August 1997 of raping and murdering a
14-year-old servant girl in the northwestern town of Dinajpur.
Anti-graft watchdog Transparency International in August ranked the police
as the most corrupt public institution in Bangladesh, which topped the
groups list for 3 straight years as the country with the most perceived
corruption.
Authorities only prosecuted the policemen after mass protests over the
incident, including a demonstration in which seven local people were
killed.
Although executions are rare in Bangladesh, death sentences have been
handed down with increasing frequency since November 2002 when fast-track
courts were established as part of a crackdown on crime.
(source: Matamat.com)
INDONESIA----impending executions//foreign nationals
2 Thai men on death row to be executed later this month: Police
2 Thai citizens sentenced to death in 1994 for heroin possession will be
executed by the end of September, North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen.
Iwan Pandjiwinata announced on Wednesday.
He said his office received approval last Tuesday from prosecutors to
execute Saelow Praseart, 62, and Namsong Sirilak, 32.
"We are planning the executions ... for late this month," Iwan told The
Jakarta Post after attending a meeting at the governor's office to discuss
preparations for the final round of the presidential election on Sept. 20.
He said the relevant authorities had yet to decide whether the two
convicted drugs smugglers would face the firing squad together, or would
be executed in turn.
However, he said the police preferred to execute the 2 men separately, and
sometime in the 2 weeks after the presidential election.
"We will still discuss the plan with all the related agencies,
particularly the local prosecutor's office," he said.
Hadiningtyas, a lawyer from the Medan Legal Institute representing the 2
convicts, confirmed plans for the immediate execution of his clients.
At the soonest, the executions of Praseart and Sirilak will be carried out
on Sept. 23, he said.
"Our clients are prepared to be executed any time. It's no problem,"
Hadiningtyas told the Post.
The Medan District Court sentenced Sirilak and Praseart to death on Dec.
14, 1994, for smuggling 12.19 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia. The
drugs were discovered in their bags.
The two Thai nationals were arrested on Jan. 24, 1994, hours after landing
at Polonia International Airport in Medan. Also arrested was Indian
national Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey, who was executed on Aug. 5, 2004.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri turned down the Thais' plea for clemency
after the Supreme Court dismissed their final appeals.
The planned executions would be the 2nd and 3rd of the year. The 1st
execution was Chaubey, who died by firing squad in Medan.
In 2001, Indonesia executed 2 people who had been convicted of multiple
murders 12 years earlier. Theirs were the 1st executions in 6 years. The
execution of Chaubey was carried out despite appeals by the Indian
government, Amnesty International and the European Union to spare his
life.
Local human rights groups also oppose the death sentence, arguing that it
has been proven that the death sentence is not a deterrent to drug
dealers.
However, antidrug activists have pressured the government to punish drug
dealers with death in an effort to fight the rising incidence of drug
abuse in the country, especially among the young.
Chaubey and the 2 Thai men are among the more than 2 dozen people on death
row in Indonesia for drug offenses. Most of them are foreigners.
3 Indonesians -- including 2 women -- sentenced to death on drug charges
have had their final appeals rejected.
Amnesty International has said that at least 66 people are facing capital
punishment in Indonesia.
(source: Jakarta Post)
