Oct. 6
INDIA: HC confirms death sentence Kerala High Court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence awarded by a district court to a man, who murdered a widow and her 3 young children 5 years ago. A division bench of the High Court, comprising Justice J B Koshy and Justice J M James, held that the Kollam district Trial Court was justified in awarding the death sentence. According to the prosecution, the accused, Ramasubramanian, who was the caretaker of a poultry farm, owned by the widow Sabita Beevi (38), killed her and her 3 children, aged between 14 and 9 years, on September nine, 1999, angered over being sacked. He also robbed the woman of her jewellery. (source: The Times of India) INDONESIA: Do Away With Death Sentences, Urge Rights Campaigners Hours before her execution, Thai national Namsong Sirilak had a rare chance to talk over the phone with her 12-year-old son in Bangkok. Sirilak's son, who had not seen her for the past 10 years, asked her when she was coming home. The 32-year-old mother replied that she did not know because she was "still too busy". Few hours after the brief conversation, Sirilak was executed in the wee hours of Oct. 1 by a firing squad in Medan, North Sumatra for drug trafficking. Executed along with her was fellow Thai national Saelow Prasert, 62, who was also convicted of the same criminal offence. Both Sirilak and Prasert were tied to oil palm trees and shot to death. Before he was executed, Prasert listed among his final wishes that Indonesia does not carry out anymore executions after his. Their executions have renewed debates on the imposition of death penalty in the country, where the judiciary system is often associated with corruption and incompetence. "It's now time for Indonesia to abolish the death penalty. It violates a person's right to life and does not deter crimes," Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas-HAM), told IPS. "You will not be able to solve crimes by using the death penalty because the major roots of crimes are economic and social factors," Nusantara pointed out. Instead of imposing the death penalty, the human rights chief proposed the implementation of life sentences without parole. "The death penalty should be totally scrapped. We all commit mistakes and repent. So why don't we give offenders a chance to change?" Gustaf Dupe, executive secretary of the Working Group for Service to Prisoners said in an interview. At least 60 people have been sentenced to death in Indonesia and the government appears to be unmoved by calls from human rights campaigners and legal experts to scrap capital punishment. Over the past years, the number of death sentences handed down to those convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia, majority of whom are foreigners, has been increasing. A large number of these sentences had been passed by the Tangerang District Court, dubbed by former justice minister Muladi as a "judicial killing machine" in Banten province. But proponents of the death penalty argue otherwise. "Whatever the method is, the death penalty should be carried out in the country especially against drug traffickers because too many of our youths have fallen victims to drugs," said said Togar Sianipar, former director of the National Narcotics Agency. "What is important is that drug convicts are dead," he stressed. It is estimated that in 1 in every 10 families in Jakarta, someone is struggling with substance abuse. "The death sentence should be enforced against convicted drug traffickers. Don't wait until your child gets hooked to illegal drugs," said Samsul, an anti-illegal drugs activist. Sirilak and Prasert, along with Indian national Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey, were arrested in 1994 for allegedly smuggling 12.19 kilogrammes of heroin into the country through Polonia Airport in Medan. Chaubey, 67, was executed on Aug. 5. His execution was the 1st to be carried out since 2001. The three were executed after their appeals for clemency were rejected by President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who had come under strong pressure to take a tough stance against rampant drug trafficking in the country. Their appeals were turned down after a legal struggle of almost 10 years. But incoming vice president Jusuf Kalla earlier accused Megawati of being too indecisive in signing execution orders for prisoners on death row. "When I still held the office of coordinating ministry for people's welfare, I had directly asked the president to have the sentences immediately carried out. But she admitted she was not yet ready to give her signature," said Kalla. "She even performed a ritual Islamic prayer. Obviously, she wasn't tough enough to implement death penalty," he added. Kalla resigned from Megawati's administration in April to join the elections. This week, former Indonesian general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was declared the official winner of last month's 1st direct presidential election. An election commission official confirmed on Monday that Yudhoyono won 61 %of the vote, against incumbent Megawati's 39 %. Kalla was Yudhoyono's running mate. While Kalla has thrown accusations against Megawati, human rights activists, in turn, have criticised her decision to reject the appeals for clemency, arguing that it meant a double punishment for the offenders - namely imprisonment and a death sentence. "The President's decision to turn down pleas for clemency came after the convicts waited for many years in prison," said Hendardi, director of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association. A closer look at the president's decision to reject the appeals, however, suggested that she was significantly influenced by the country's social and political atmosphere and the public perception that the government was weak in enforcing laws. In Indonesia, majority of whom are Muslims, many favour the imposition of the death penalty as a "shock therapy" to reduce the country's crime rate. A number even have demanded public executions, practised in some Muslim countries. Unofficial executions are common in Indonesia in the form of street justice, where mobs kill criminals on the spot. "Executions should be open to the public to allay suspicions by the people that death-row convicts are allowed to escape," said Novita, a resident of Medan. Capital offences in Indonesia include the production and distribution of illegal drugs, terrorism, crimes against national security, subversion, murder and gross human rights violations. However, a study on the enforcement of capital punishment in Indonesia conducted by the Habibie Centre and released last September showed that "the death penalty is not an effective way to deter crimes." The study also stressed that the death penalty tends to justify killings and does not give room for re-trials in cases where new evidence could prove innocence. According to Komnas-HAM, the death penalty is biased against the poor who cannot bribe corrupt judges and pay costly legal fees. "The majority of convicts on death-row come from low-income families," said Nusantara. "They also come from areas where the crime rate is relatively high. When you have an economic crisis and the state fails to provide social security, what can you expect?" asked Nusantara. However, abolishing the death penalty in Indonesia would not take place anytime soon as it will require amendments to the existing Criminal Code. To complicate things, even president- elect Yudhoyono is in favour of the courts handing down death sentences. (source: IPS)
