Dec. 9
LIBYA:
Libya Said to Lift Death Penalty of 6 Convicted in H.I.V. Case
Libya will not execute five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who
were sentenced to death earlier this year for infecting more than 400
children with H.I.V. in 1998, according to a son of the Libyan leader,
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
"No one is going to execute anyone," Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi said
Wednesday.
This month or next, he said, the country will pass new laws that will
limit capital punishment to a small number of crimes. "Capital punishment
is going to be finished," he said.
Mr. Qaddafi, 32, who heads a charitable organization helping to negotiate
a resolution to the case, said Libya would like to extradite the nurses to
Bulgaria but suggested it might link that to the extradition of a Libyan
man serving a life sentence in Scotland for the 1988 downing of Pan Am
Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He did not say what might be done
with the Palestinian doctor.
Libyan officials said this month that they were willing to "re-examine"
the death sentences of the nurses and doctor but that such a move would
depend on Bulgaria's paying compensation to the families of the children
infected, more than 40 of whom have died. Bulgaria has refused, saying
that would acknowledge the medical workers' guilt.
The medical workers were arrested in 1999 and accused of knowingly
injecting H.I.V.-tainted blood into more than 400 children at a hospital
in the city of Benghazi. International AIDS experts testified that the
infections were most likely spread by using syringes more than once and
that the infections began before the medical workers arrived at the
hospital. Nonetheless, a Libyan court found the six guilty and sentenced
them to death by firing squad in May.
Mr. Qaddafi holds no official position in Libya, but he has acted as a
mediator in many international disputes between his country and the West
and is believed to speak with the backing of his father.
"I think we have to extradite them at a certain stage because we have an
extradition treaty with Bulgaria," Mr. Qaddafi said. "But first we have to
satisfy the families, compensation and a medical solution long-term for
their children."
"At the same time," he said, "we have to address the issue of the Libyan
prisoner in Glasgow. We can't expect to extradite someone from here and
not expect the same for our citizen."
Western diplomats here say Libya is eager to resolve the case but is
reluctant to release the medical workers without a solution that would
maintain the integrity of the country's judicial system and satisfy
domestic political expectations.
"We are talking about more than 400 families and that's not a small number
in Libyan society," Mr. Qaddafi said. "We have to show them that we are
getting something and that it's a good thing."
Separately, Mr. Qaddafi said a Libyan dissident missing since March, Fathi
al-Jahmi, was under police protection because of threats to his life.
Mr. Jahmi had previously served 18 months in jail for his criticism of the
Libyan government and his public calls for freedom of speech and political
pluralism in the country. He was freed March 12 after an international
campaign on his behalf but disappeared again later that month after giving
a series of interviews to international media.
(source: New York Times)
PAKISTAN:
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
AI Index: ASA 33/025/2004 9 December 2004
Pakistan: Death penalty for juveniles reintroduced
The recent decision by the Lahore High Court that the Juvenile Justice
System Ordinance (JJSO) be revoked so that children can once again be
sentenced to death, is a retrograde step which flies in the face of the
worldwide movement towards the abolition of the death penalty for
juveniles.
"The government of Pakistan must abide by its commitments under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and take immediate action to appeal
to the Supreme Court to review the judgment and stay its implementation,"
Amnesty International said.
A full bench of the Lahore High Court on 6 December 2004 revoked the JJSO,
reportedly finding it "unreasonable, unconstitutional and impracticable".
The High Court decision means that juvenile courts will be abolished and
children will once again be tried in the same system as adults and can be
sentenced to death. Convictions of juveniles who were spared the death
penalty while the JJSO was in force between 2000 and December 2004, will
not be affected by this judgement but cases pending against juveniles in
juvenile courts will be transferred to regular courts.
Background
Implementing obligations under the CRC which Pakistan ratified in 1990,
President Pervez Musharraf on 1 July 2000 promulgated the JJSO which
prescribes trials of juveniles separate from adult accused and prohibits
the imposition of the death penalty on anyone who has not attained the age
of 18 years at the time of the alleged offence. In December 2001,
following a meeting with Amnesty International Secrary General Irene Khan,
President Musharraf commuted the death penalty of all those juveniles who
had been sentenced to death before July 2000.
Implementing the JJSO has been slow; the setting up of juvenile courts
took time and police and many judges of the lower judiciary remained
unaware of its provisions. While the number of juveniles sentenced to
death declined, such cases continued to be reported. In 2003, two Afghan
refugee boys were sentenced to death in Quetta. Ziauddin, a handicapped
boy was 13 and Abdul Qadir was 16 at the time of a murder alleged to have
been committed by them. They are held in a small cell in Much Jail,
Balochistan, together with six adult men sentenced to death, most of them
for murder. The safety and physical integrity of the boys are a matter of
concern for Amnesty International. The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance
which came into force in July 2000, abolished the death penalty for people
under 18 at the time of the offence, in most parts of the country.
However, the Ordinance was not extended to the Provincially and Federally
Administered Tribal Areas in the north and west. One young man, Sher Ali,
was executed in the Provincially Administered Tribal Area in November 2001
for a murder committed in 1993 when he was 13 years old. To Amnesty
International's knowledge, no other juvenile has been executed in Pakistan
since 1997.
Only in October 2004, Amnesty International welcomed the extension of the
JJSO to the The Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA). Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Northern Areas and Azad Jammu and
Kashmir remained outside its ambit.
The commutation order of December 2001 remained only partially
implemented, partly on account of difficulties in determining the age of
the juveniles in the absence of adequate documentation.
The judgement of 6 December 2004 of the Lahore High Court arose from the
petiton filed by Farooq Naqvi, whose son had been sodomized and burned
alive by several young men including a juvenile who was sentenced to life
imprisonment. Farooq Naqvi believed that the juvenile should have been
sentenced to death as well and had been unduly protected by the JJSO.
The Lahore High Court judgment stated that legal provisions existing
before the promulgation of the JJSO were adequate to protect juveniles and
that courts were sufficiently sensitive to the needs of juvenile offenders
which rendered the JJSO superfluous. It also stated that the ban on the
death penalty had led to adults instigating juveniles to carry out capital
offences on their behalf in the knowledge that they would be treated
leniently under the JJSO. This it said, had led to an increase in the
crime rate. Moreover, the JJSO had encouraged corruption on a large scale
as families of accused had procured fake birth, school and medical
certificates to establish that the accused were juveniles.
The judgment further challenged the definition of a juvenile as a person
below 18 years, saying this was arbitrary. Social, economic, climatic and
dietary factors in Pakistan, it said, accelerated maturity. Laws derived
from Islamic understanding link majority to the attainment of puberty and
differentiate between male and female ages of majority. The judgement
moreover held that the preferential treatment of juveniles violates the
constitutional guarantee of equality before the law and equal protection
of the law. It held that "what is relevant is the capacity of an accused
person to understand the nature and consequence of his conduct and if an
accused is found of sufficient understanding then no special treatment is
warranted by the law."
The judgment also said that in practical terms trying a juvenile
separately from an adult presented diffuculties as juvenile courts and
courts trying adults had on occasion reached different conclusions.
Stop child executions! Ending the death penalty for child offenders:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacXeBabcoW3bb0havb/
View all documents on Pakistan at
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacXeBabcoW4bb0havb/
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You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is
not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International
and this footer remain intact.
(source: Amnesty International)
CHINA/TIBET:
Chicago hosts Midwest protest against Tibetan Monk's execution as global
outrage rises
With weary legs but determined spirits, scores of impassioned activists
from 6 states and more than a dozen organizations will converge on Chinas
Consulate in Chicago for an extensive and innovative protest on December
10, 2004. On the final leg of a 200+ mile "March for Tibets Independence"
from Indianapolis beginning on November 30th (www.rangzen.org), Tibetans,
supporters, and others engaging in their first act of political dissent
will join for the remaining 12 miles through downtown Chicago to Chinas
Consulate. Their primary demands are that Tenzin Delek Rinpoche be spared
an unjust execution, that Gendhun Choekyi Nyima (The Panchen Lama) be
released immediately, and that China ends its illegal and brutal
occupation of Tibet.
"For years we have protested at Chinas Consulate, but the urgency and
extent of this rally- held on International Human Rights Day and the 15th
Anniversary of His Holiness The Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace
Prize- exceeds any previous action," said Lindsey Rieger, sector
coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet. "With the life of an innocent
Monk whose only crime was to valiantly defend Tibetan culture and religion
hanging in the balance, the bar has been raised and we will make sure the
Midwest is a powerful voice in the global chorus for justice."
In past weeks, activists from Warsaw to Delhi, and from New York City to
Chicago have erupted in one of the most extensive outcries ever raised
against the oppressive tactics that Chinas government has inflicted upon
the Tibetan people since they began their illegal occupation more than 50
years ago. A glaring example of their intimidation, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche,
was arrested in April 2002 for alleged involvement in a series of unsolved
bombings in eastern Tibet. According to a report by Human Rights Watch,
however, Rinpoche was denied access to lawyers, the trial was unfair, and
the charges appeared to be fabricated. Currently, His death sentence is
under suspension, but the countdown has begun with His reprieve expiring
in January 2005.
"China plans to execute Tenzin Delek Rinpoche because they are afraid of
His positive influence inside Tibet, but this is just not acceptable,"
said Tsering Chonjor, President of the Tibet Alliance of Chicago. "Tens of
thousands of people have mobilized around the world to tell Chinas
government that they must not execute Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. We are
outraged, we are determined, and we will not stop until He is free."
On December 10th at 8:30am, the leader of the "March for Tibets
Independence," Jigme Norbu (son of Taktser Rinpoche) will lead his fellow
Core Tibetan Marchers from all over the United States, and other Tibetans
and supporters to Chinas Consulate. In part, Norbu is leading his 4th
Walk/Ride "to fulfill His fathers 45 year, worldwide effort to peacefully
return His brother, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, to His rightful place in
an Independent Tibet." The walkers will first gather at the Northeast
corner of East 71st Street and South Shore Drive and will then head North
up Lake Shore Drive to the Watertower where they will arrive at 1pm and be
greeted by the Chicago Tibetan community. From here, the entire group will
proceed to Chinas Consulate (100 East Erie Street) for a major
demonstration from 2 to 5pm. Along with political theater and the chanting
of slogans, there will be speeches given by representatives of the Tibetan
and Taiwanese communities.
According to Professor Larry Gerstein (President, International Tibet
Independence Movement), "This demonstration will coincide with 100s of
others occurring all around the world, signifying the unity and unyielding
determination of the international community to secure the release of
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche."
Gerstein also reported, "If China murders Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, it will
face the wrath of a Tibetan population fed up with the genocide happening
in Tibet, and disillusioned by the uncompromising policy of Chinas
government."
(source: Phayul News)
TAIWAN:
Film festival part of move to abolish death penalty
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty is launching a film festival
and discussion panels to present the topic of the death penalty to the
public in a more approachable manner.
"This social movement is not just about [speaking for the] wrongful
convicted, but about the value of life," said Wu Chi-kwang, an assistant
professor of law at Fu Jen Catholic University, a leading member of the
alliance.
Murder by Numbers
"Murder by Numbers," the name of the film festival, starts Friday at
Taipei's President Cinema and runs through Dec. 15. The festival consists
of 10 films which are of Taiwanese and foreign productions, all related to
the topic of capital punishment.
The featured Taiwanese documentary film is called Going Home, which was
about an aboriginal woman who forgave a death row inmate whose crime led
to the death of her brother. Moved by the woman's forgiveness through
correspondence, the convict repented for his wrongdoing. Nevertheless, in
the end, the convict served his death penalty.
"When this film was played at a youth correction center a few years, it
touched the hearts of a young people there. Years later, this boy
approached me and told me how much the film had touched his heart, and it
was the reason why he later became a counselor at the correction center,"
said Wu Hsiu-ching, the film's director.
Tsai Pi-yu, the director of the Ministry of the Justice's Prosecutorial
Affairs Department, said the plan to abolish the death penalty had long
been on the ministry's agenda.
In a press conference in 2001, Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan made a
promise to abolish the death penalty within 3 years. Although the promise
has yet to be delivered, the number of inmates serving the death penalty
has declined significantly over the years. According to Tsai, 17
individuals were put to death in 2000, 10 in 2001, 9 in 2002, 7 in 2003,
and down to 3 so far this year.
"The most important thing about the policy to abolish the death penalty is
communicating with the public, which is concerned about public safety
[once the penalty has been lifted]," Tsai said.
James Seymour, a senior researcher at Columbia University's East Asian
Institute, supports the abolition of the death penalty as he valued the
sacredness of life.
(source: Taipei Times)
INDIA:
Capital punishment for rape and murder
A court in Thalassery today awarded death sentence to a 45-year-old man in
the rape and murder of a minor girl near Mathamangalam in Payyannur town
here in 2001.
Delivering the sentence under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC, additional
sessions court (ad hoc-I) judge K R Jinan awarded the capital punishment
to Raju alias Samuel for raping the 17-year-old girl and subsequently
robbing her of her gold ornaments after strangling her, while she was on
her way home, at an isolated place on October 11, 2001.
Under the same Section, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 on the
culprit. Failure to pay the amount will attract an additional one-year
jail term, the court ruled.
The court also awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a
fine of Rs 500 under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of
offence) and three years RI and a fine of Rs 500 under Section 404
(dishonest misappropriation of property of deceased person).
Under IPC Section 376 (rape), the court also sentenced the man to 10 years
RI together with a fine of Rs 1,500 and in default of which he will have
to spend 10 more months in jail. All the sentences would run concurrently,
the court said.
The court had yesterday found Raju guilty of committing the crime and
reserved its verdict for today.
(source: Chennai Online)
