death penalty news December 19, 2004
INDIA: Convict demands execution date, goes on hunger strike A convict in Jalpaiguri, sentenced to death for murder of a minor boy, is on a hunger strike demanding his hanging date be fixed soon to save him mental trauma. Sagar Saha, a 32-year-old convict, had kidnapped the boy from his village and hacked him to death after two days. His wife and mother-in-law, who helped him commit the crime, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Police said Saha began the hunger strike two days back and had to be shifted to the hospital as his condition deteriorated. "Yesterday evening at about 7.30 p.m. we shifted him from Jalpaiguri correctional home to our prisoners cell. We have assisted him clinically also and today we have constituted a medical board comprising physicians, psychiatrists and our social welfare officer of this department. They have assisted him though he is clinically more or less stable, all parameters are fine," said S. Chakraborty, Superintendent of Jalpaiguri jail. (source: ANI / webindia123.com) ================ JAPAN: Hanging spotlights Japan's system - Child killer's execution also shows approach different from U.S. Mamoru Takuma's wife had heard executions happened only when parliament was in recess, and rumor had it the justice minister was planning to resign in the next week or two, another bad sign. But the voice on the intercom caught her off guard. She had been doing some midmorning research on the Internet for a lawsuit her husband was working on. The prison official was businesslike, even curt. "Your husband died well," he said. "As soon as he opened his mouth, I fell to the ground and covered my ears," she said. On June 8, 2001, Mamoru Takuma burst into an elementary school on the outskirts of Osaka and began slashing the terrified children around him. Eight died. Takuma had no particular connection to his victims. He simply wanted to die, and to take others with him. He saw killing children as the best means to that end ? knowing that a crime so heinous would ensure he was hanged. Takuma made no appeal, offered no apologies and demanded he be put to death immediately. His attitude pushed both advocates and opponents of capital punishment into a corner. Supporters feared the more he demanded death, the more the government would appear to be merely acting as his tool. Opponents found it hard to rally behind such an unrepentant man who had nothing but contempt for their cause. So, with record speed, Japan's most notorious killer got his wish to be hanged. He was pronounced dead on Sept. 14 at 8:16 a.m., in Osaka Prison where he was being held, about 1 1/2 hours before the prison official arrived at his widow's apartment. Japan and the United States are the only advanced industrialized countries that retain the death penalty. In Japan, with much less violent crime, death is a rare sentence. There are currently 62 condemned prisoners here, and only two have been executed this year. In the United States, 3,374 prisoners were on death row as of the end of last year and 65 were executed. What also separates the two is the thick wall of secrecy hiding the Japanese system. Death row inmates are carefully isolated from the general prison population. To avoid political debate, executions are not carried out when parliament is in session. By the time executions are carried out, the prisoners usually have little or no connection to the outside world. Often, their crimes are likely to have been forgotten. Opponents of the death penalty in Japan claim the capital punishment system is rife with human rights violations. "The protection of human rights in Japanese prisons in general has deteriorated severely," said opposition party member Nobuto Hosaka. (source: AP / Houston Chronicle) ======================== UK / WORLD: Charles wants to end Islam's conversion death penalty Britain's Prince Charles was leading efforts Saturday to end the death penalty for Muslims who convert to other faiths, the Telegraph reported. Charles held a summit with Christian and Muslim leaders at Clarence House to discuss an Islamic law that mandates persecution and even executions of those who convert from the religion. The summit followed reports of poor treatment for Muslims who have converted to Christianity in a number of Islamic states. (source: UPI / World Peace Herald)
