Jan. 21
GLOBAL:
The Australian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has a list of reported
world executions from 2000 to 2005. The list is updated daily. The list
can be found at the following website: http://ACADP.net
(source: ACADP)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan places ban on tribal tradition of 'honor killings'
In the eyes of their families and tribes, Shahid Mustafa and Imam Khatoon
committed an unpardonable, heinous crime: They eloped.
The young lovers fled from a remote village of Pakistan's southwestern
Sindh province and were married in a Karachi court 2 years ago. Back in
the village, the girl's parents felt their daughter's actions had brought
dishonor upon their family. They took their anger to a tribal jirga, or
gathering, where the couple were placed under a death threat known as Karo
Kari.
"The armed men of the tribe are chasing us. They threatened me to send my
wife back to her family, attacked our house, and shot twice at me and my
wife to kill us," Mustafa said.
10 months ago, when Mustafa was away from home, the men of his wife's
family kidnapped her and their infant son. Mustafa has not seen or heard
from them since.
Banning honor killings
Though it may be too late for Mustafa's wife and more than 1,200 other
women in Pakistan killed last year in the name of "family honor,"
President Pervez Musharraf signed a bill last week making honor killing an
explicit criminal act punishable by death. Rights activists say that it is
a small step forward and that more must be done to change tribal and
feudal attitudes that treat women like property.
"It is a landmark decision as the law protects the rights of women and
eliminates such archaic rituals," said Wasi Zafar, federal minister for
law and parliamentary affairs. "But the problem is securing the rights of
women, and it will be solved gradually and slowly by collective efforts of
the society. Such inhumane crimes occur due to the tribal system,
illiteracy and poverty, and we have to solve these issues."
Under the British penal code that Pakistan's judicial system inherited,
there was a clause of grave and sudden provocation that was often used in
cases of honor killings to skirt convictions for premeditated murder. The
acquittal ratio has been more than 80 % in recent cases of honor killings.
Social activists and opposition politicians say the government still needs
to offset the Islamic law of qisas and diyat (retribution and blood
money), which allows families of the deceased to either forgive the
murderer or to ask for blood money in return. Since most honor killings
are committed by brothers, fathers or other kin, the perpetrators go
unpunished after they are pardoned by other members of the family.
"So a son could forgive his father for murdering his mother, a mother
could forgive her husband for killing their daughter, a father could
forgive his brother and so on," said Saba Gul Khattak, executive director
of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a women's rights
activist.
On suspicion of being a Kari, or "blackened girl," the female is killed
usually by the men of her family. Then the role of a feudal lord or a
tribal chief comes in as they decide the fate of the murderer as well as
the Karo, or "blackened man."
If deemed "justified," then the tribe will sanction the killing of the
"blackened man." The aggrieved family men can ask for compensation for the
loss of their honor in exchange for allowing him to live. And if the
murder is not "justified," then the killer is fined before being set free.
Often jirgas ignore the court rulings. If the couple have eloped, both are
liable to be killed.
Honor killings in Pakistan can be triggered by a wide range of activities
or even mere suspicions. Teenage girls and women of all ages can be issued
death warrants for conversing with men, working with men in farm fields,
or even speaking fondly of a man over the telephone, said Mashooq Udano, a
well-known critic of the ritual. In December 2002, a 16-year-old girl was
killed after she joined a dance along with relatives at a wedding
reception in Larkana, a town in Sindh province. One of the young men
present caught hold of her hand; she quickly snatched it away, but her
male relatives noticed the exchange and later killed her.
'Un-Islamic' ritual
The Koran does not permit or sanction honor killings, and religious
leaders in Pakistan have on many occasions condemned Karo Kari and other
honor killing rituals as "un-Islamic" and a "murder of humanity." Honor
killings have taken place in other Muslim nations like Jordan and Egypt,
as well as non-Muslim countries like Ecuador and Brazil.
However, the view of women as property with limited rights of their own
has become rooted in Islamic culture, some social rights activists argue.
"Women are considered the property of the males in the families
irrespective of their social status, ethnic or religious group. Thus the
fate of the property is in the hands of the owner, and that perception has
changed women into a commodity that can be bartered, bought and sold like
cattle," said Rukhunda Naz, director of Auruat Foundation, a group working
for women's rights in Pakistan.
Analysts say that Musharraf moved to end the practice because it conflicts
with his efforts to present Pakistan as a moderate Muslim country.
But Mustafa is still in search for his love in Pakistan. He is concerned
about his wife because she was kidnapped by her family members. "I don't
know whether she is dead or alive," Mustafa said. "I only know that she
was declared Kari. They won't let her live."
(source: Christian Science Monitor)
VIETNAM:
Hanoi asks for 16 death sentences
Vietnamese prosecutors are seeking death sentences against 16 accused drug
traffickers, contending they are part of a ring that smuggled 824
kilograms (1,813 pounds) of heroin into the country, state media said
Thursday.
Their trial is Vietnam's biggest ever in terms of the amount of heroin
involved. A 29-member drug ring is accused of smuggling the heroin from
neighbouring Laos and Cambodia from 1998 until their arrests in 2003,
officials said.
In Vietnam, possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.3 pounds) of
heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium are punishable by death.
In the trial, prosecutors are also seeking jail terms of between 7 years
to life imprisonment for other defendants accused of drug trafficking or
illegal ransportation of money, the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper
said.
(source: Associated Press)
AFRICA:
Should Africa ban the death penalty?
The Ugandan government argues the death sentence is a deterrent
More than 400 prisoners on Uganda's death row this week launched a legal
challenge against capital punishment - the lawful infliction of death as
punishment.
The prisoners are especially opposed to hanging, which they consider a
cruel and degrading punishment and therefore unlawful.
The challenge is being supported by Uganda's department of prisons because
they say hangings traumatise wardens.
But the Ugandan government argues that the death sentence is a strong
deterrent against crime and should be retained.
What do you think about the death penalty? Should it be banned and
prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment instead? Or does it force people
to take greater responsibility for their actions? Is hanging any less
cruel than other methods of execution like lethal injection or
electrocution?
The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so
far:
The death penalty is by all means - lethal injection, gallows, shooting -
ineffectual at best and savagely cruel at worse. It is high time those
countries that practice it learnt that paying one back in one's coin is
not the panacea to their problems. Simply rehabilitate these people and
show them the right path! ---- Victor Nwokocha, New York City, USA.
The death penalty does not bring back those who are killed. The death
penalty must, however, be retained as a deterrent and used only in extreme
situations of premeditated murder.----Kabango Kabango, Malawi
Is the death penalty cruel? What a question! Of course it is cruel! The
real issue is whether this cruelty is justified. In the case of murder, I
believe that the death penalty may be permissible, (although hanging does
cross the line there are more humane methods). In Europe we have the
resources to attempt the rehabilitation of criminals. Why should a country
spend for this if they are struggling against starvation and
disease?----Oliver, France
Death penalty should not be banned, if prisoners say it is cruel then why
should they continue to commit crime? ---- Mosa, Maseru, Lesotho
Capital punishment for what ever form of crime is unaacceptable. It is
cruel and degrading to say the least. It is neither a deterrent nor a
remedy to the victims or their families. Moreover, it is not reversable in
case of miscarriage of justice. There are in prison many innocent
souls.----Adam Mfundisi, Gaborone, Botswana
The death penalty should be banned because only people who can't afford
good lawyers end up on death row. ---- Dagmar Timler, from South Africa
Death penalty does not sound nice or fair but when people commit bizzare
atrocities like murder and armed robbery leading to death of some innocent
people, one is left with no other option.----Kingsley Chimaobi Iheanacho,
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
The death penalty serves the purpose of a deterrent. It should be brought
back at least to ensure criminals think twice before taking another
persons life. In South Africa at times I think that in some parts people
must think that life is cheap and that they will escape justice when they
murder someone, which they do [escape justice] a majority of the
time.----John Cogan, South Africa
Point1: Justice is about making someone who has hurt you feel the pain you
feel or felt when you got hurt. It is about punishing a wrong-doer. But no
matter how much we want our enemy dead, his death will not relieve that
pain or equal it. Be it by hanging or by any other means, death is not a
punishment but an end. The foe is actually laid to rest. If he rests in
peace depends on his creator. He will never suffer on earth the suffering
he caused on earth. I therefore do not believe that any form of the death
penalty can be declared a punishment. This kind of sentence should be
banned in africa and abroad. Point 2: Someone who is not afraid or shows
no compassion while killing his fellow human being most likely does not
fear death. The death penalty as a deterrent is therefore utterly useless
and deterrs no one.----Anon, Lagos
Justice is done when the punishment fits the crime.Is not that the truth?
When a criminal resorts to violent crimes that leads to the death of
innocent people,the death penalty should be the punishment-Tit for Tat
Amadu Barrie, New York City,USA
(source: BBC News)
