Jan. 26
KENYA:
Death penalty for man who ate wife's heart
A Kenyan man has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of
murdering his wife and eating her heart.
Justice Kalpana Lawal sentenced Lolwakenju Lengironi to death in the High
Court yesterday for the gruesome crime committed on September 11, 2001, in
Nairobi's sprawling Kayole slums.
Police testified they had arrested the man with the heart of his wife on a
plate and blood on his mouth and hands, but Lengironi insisted he had
drunk too much the day before to recall what happened, the official added.
Lengironi, a maasai tribesman, has 2 weeks to appeal the sentence.
Kenya still has capital punishment on its books but has not used it in
years.
(source: Herald Sun)
CHINA:
Tibetan monk death penalty commuted to life in prison
The Higher People's Court of Sichuan Province, in southwestern China,
commuted the death penalty with a two-year reprieve for a Tibetan monk
involved in terrorists bombings to life term on Wednesday.
A'an Zhaxi, also known as Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, was deprived of his
political rights for life, according to the court verdict, which was
handed down to him during the day.
The court commuted death penalty on A'an Zhaxi to life term because he did
not intentionally violate the relevant law specifications again during the
execution period of the past 2-year reprieve, the court verdict said. The
Tibetan monk was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Dec. 2,
2002 by the Intermediate People's Court of Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
of Garze in western Sichuan, for a crime of conducting terrorist bombings
and inciting secession activities.
A'an Zhaxi then refused to accept the verdict from the trial
offirst-instance and appealed to the Sichuan provincial higher court,which
rejected his appeal and upheld the original verdict in the 2nd-instance
trial and, on Jan. 26, 2003 handed down the verdict.
The court verdict noted that judicial authority had informed A'an Zhaxi of
his legal rights as a suspect, provided the relevant legal documents in
Tibetan when investigating and hearing the case.
The monk, hiring 2 defence lawyers at the court, had confessed to the
crime, the court added.
After A'an Zhaxi's 2-year reprieve ended, the provincial higher court
heard and reviewed the case when the jail handed in aproposal of commuting
his penalty.
Working hand in glove with his accomplice Lobsang Dondrup, A'anZhaxi
carried out bombings, which claimed one life and injured many others, some
of them seriously, and handing out leaflets carrying secession contents at
public sites time and again from January 2001 to April 2002.
A'an Zhaxi, born at Litang County of Garze in Sichuan in 1950, is
currently serving his term in a local Sichuan jail, where is fairly and
well treated.
(source: Xinhua News)
**************
China Spares the Life of Tibetan Monk
A Chinese court on Wednesday spared the life of a Tibetan monk convicted
in a series of fatal bombings, commuting his death sentence to life in
prison, the government said, in a case that prompted an international
outcry.
Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, 54, was convicted in December 2002 and given a
death sentence with a two-year reprieve, which expired Wednesday. The
official Xinhua News Agency said a court in the southwestern province of
Sichuan commuted the sentence because he obeyed unspecified legal
conditions during the reprieve.
The monk and his 28-year-old aide, Lobsang Dhondup, were convicted in 2003
of seeking independence for Tibet. They were charged in connection with a
series of bombings in 2001-02 that killed one person in Sichuan, which
abuts Tibet and has a large ethnic Tibetan population.
The monk's conviction prompted protests by activists who said he was
targeted because of his status as a community leader. A group of United
Nations human rights experts said he received an unfair trial and was
mistreated in detention.
Washington's top human rights official, Assistant Secretary of State Lorne
Craner, expressed concern about the cases during a visit to Beijing in
December 2002.
Chinese authorities say the monk and Lobsang Dhondup confessed to the
bombings. Lobsang Dhondup was executed in January 2003.
The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, and foreign activists called on
China to spare his life.
Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche suffers from high blood pressure and heart disease
but Xinhua said in an earlier reports that he receives medical care in
prison.
The report Wednesday said he is `"fairly and well treated."
In a report issued last April, U.N. experts cited "serious procedural
flaws" in the proceedings against him, including the violation of rights
to a public trial, to choose his own lawyer and to examine evidence
presented against him in court.
Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950. Beijing says it has been part
of China for centuries and has spent decades trying to suppress
pro-independence sentiment.
(source: Associated Press)
*****************
Tibet: Monk Leaves Prison a Broken Man
Chinese authorities should immediately provide urgent medical care to
Tashi Phuntsog, a Tibetan monk who was released from prison on January 6,
Human Rights Watch urged today.
The imprisoned monk, who is in his mid-forties, suffered serious physical
deterioration in prison and is no longer able to walk or to speak clearly.
The Chinese authorities released Tashi Phuntsog after he served two years
and 9 months of his seven-year sentence. "Tashi Phuntsog entered prison as
a healthy man in his early forties, and he was cast out literally as a
broken man", said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "We
welcome Tashi Phuntsog's early release, but Chinese officials have to
explain how they allowed this to happen to someone in their custody."
Typically, Chinese prisoners in need of medical attention must pay for
these services while in prison or after going free.
Tashi Phuntsog was detained on April 17, 2002, 10 days after Tenzin Delek,
the locally renowned lama with whom he worked, was seized in a night-time
raid. Tenzin Delek was later tried in a flawed proceeding and given a
death sentence suspended for two years for "causing explosions [and]
inciting the separation of the state". His alleged co-conspirator was
executed on January 26, 2003, immediately following a high court review of
the case. Human Rights Watch documented the irregularities surrounding
Tenzin Delek's arrest and conviction in its February 2004 report, "Trials
of a Tibetan Monk."
Chinese authorities intensely questioned Tashi Phuntsog, described as
Tenzin Delek's "right-hand man," for 10 days before they detained him,
sources told Human Rights Watch. Nothing else is known about the charges
against him, the evidence presented, the trial, or details of his
treatment in prison in Dartsedo (Kangding in Chinese), the prefectural
capital of the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province.
In the years leading up to both men's arrests, Tashi Phuntsog was
instrumental in stopping a government deforestation program in Kardze. In
1998, after Tenzin Delek hid to avoid arrest for trying to improve his
community's educational facilities and social service net, Tashi Phuntsog
helped persuade officials that Tenzin Delek should be allowed to return
home.
"Now it's Tashi Phuntsog who needs help. He needs immediate competent
medical attention, either in a hospital or at home." said Adams. "Here is
a man who dedicated much of his life to preserving the culture and
physical environment of Tibetan areas, and he was physically broken while
being held by Chinese authorities. The Chinese government should do all it
can to make restitution to him for his suffering."
Only one other person associated with the Tenzin Delek case remains in
prison. Lobsang Taphel, a local businessman, has served one and a half
years of his 5-year term. The official charges against him are still
unknown. Chinese authorities briefly detained at least 60 other associates
of Tenzin Delek for questioning. 3 monks received administrative sentences
of one year in "re-education through labor" camps. An elderly village head
sentenced to a 5-year prison term was released after serving 13 months. At
the time of his release, he could barely walk and he had trouble seeing
and eating. 2 other associates of Tenzin Delek were reportedly severely
beaten while detained for questioning, and one of them sustained kidney
problems that kept him bedridden for 6 months.
The 2-year suspension of Tenzin Delek's death sentence expires on January
26. On December 30, China's official news agency Xinhua reported that the
chief warden at Chuangdong Prison said that Tenzin Delek, as an inmate,
had followed prison rules and committed no further crimes. Chinese law
provides that in such cases, the death sentence usually is commuted to
life imprisonment.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
