March 18
UZBEKISTAN:
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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Note: Please write on behalf of this person even though you
may not have received the original UA when issued on
January 15, 2003. Thanks!
18 March 2005
Further Information on EXTRA 05/03 (15 January 2003)
and follow-ups (7 March 2003; 24 June 2003; 29 April
2004) - Death penalty
UZBEKISTAN Farid Nasibullin (m), aged 31
Farid Nasibullin could be executed at any time: the Uzbek
authorities are feared to have recently executed a man who
had not been the subject of mass international appeals. Farid
Nasibullin could meet the same fate without continued
international pressure on the Uzbek President to commute
his death sentence.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee had
lodged a request with the Uzbek authorities on 18 February
to stay Farid Nasibullin's execution until the Committee had
considered allegations that key provisions of the International
Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) had been
violated in his case. The Uzbek authorities are obliged to
follow such requests: however, there are fears that another
man on death row, Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev, may have
been executed earlier this month, despite the fact that the
Committee had asked them to stay his execution on 6 May
2004 and was still considering his case.
Farid Nasibullin was sentenced to death by Tashkent
Regional Court on 25 February 2003, convicted of killing two
people. His wife was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in
connection with the murders. Reportedly, no lawyer was
present while Farid Nasibullin was first interrogated after his
arrest. Police reportedly beat both of them severely to extract
"confessions". Farid Nasibullin's wife was six months'
pregnant at the time.
Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev had been sentenced to death
by the Military Court of Uzbekistan on 19 February 2004,
convicted of killing two minors in July 2001. He was arrested
in Kazakhstan, where he was working at the time, and handed
over to the Uzbek authorities on 13 September 2002. There
are strong indications that he was tortured while in the
custody of Tashkent City police. Several police officers
reportedly lifted him up by his arms and legs and smashed his
body on the concrete floor several times. As a result
Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhozhaev's showed blood in his urine,
suggesting that he had possibly suffered internal organ
damage. When he was put on trial, the court reportedly
ignored his allegations of torture by police.
On 14 March Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev's father came to
visit his son, having previously obtained official permission to
do so. The prison guards refused to let him in, without giving
any reason. The following day, prison guards refused to allow
Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev's lawyer to meet him, saying
that his client was no longer registered on death row in their
prison. When meetings with death row prisoners are
prevented in this way, it often indicates that the execution has
taken place already.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Uzbek criminal justice system is marked by widespread
corruption and the failure of courts to investigate allegations
of torture. Following his visit to Uzbekistan in November
and December 2002, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture
concluded that "torture or similar ill-treatment is systematic"
in Uzbekistan. Relatives and death row prisoners themselves
are not informed of the date of execution in advance. The
location of the burial sites of executed prisoners is kept
secret, compounding the anguish of their relatives.
By the end of 2004, the Uzbek authorities had executed a
total of at least 14 death row prisoners on whose behalf the
UN Human Rights Committee had intervened. Uzbekistan
has ratified the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, and has
therefore committed itself to follow the recommendations of
the UN Human Rights Committee, including requests for
stays of execution.
According to a statement by President Islam Karimov on 2
December 2004, between 50 and 60 people were sentenced to
death that year. However, in violation of Uzbekistan's
international obligations, the country has never published
comprehensive statistics on the numbers of death sentences
and executions.
FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- urging the President to commute the death sentence of
Farid Nasibullin and all other prisoners on death row;
- calling on the authorities to investigate thoroughly and
impartially allegations that Farid Nasibullin, his wife and
Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhozhaev were tortured and ill-treated in
pre-trial detention, and bring to justice anyone found
responsible;
- expressing serious concern at reports that Akhrorkhuzha
Tolipkhozhaev may have been executed in early March 2005
while his case was still under consideration by the United
Nations Human Rights Committee, who had requested a stay
of execution in May 2004;
- urging the authorities to confirm whether he has indeed
been executed;
- urging the authorities to give assurances that they are
committed to upholding their obligations as a party to the
first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which include
honoring the Committee's requests for stays of execution;
- expressing your unconditional opposition to the death
penalty as a violation of one of the most fundamental of
human rights, the right to life, and calling on the authorities
to promptly introduce a moratorium on death sentences and
executions.
APPEALS TO:
President :
Islam A. KARIMOV
Rezidentsia prezidenta
ul. Uzbekistanskaia, 43
Tashkent 700163
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 53 25
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Eler GANIEV
Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RU
pl. Mustakillik, 5
Tashkent 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17
Salutation: Dear Minister Ganiev
Minister of Internal Affairs:
Zakirzhan ALMATOV
Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del RU, ul. Novruz, 1
Tashkent 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 133 89 34
Salutation: Dear Minister Almatov
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Abdoulaziz Kamilov
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
1746 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20036-1903
Fax: 1 202 293 6804
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the
Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain
Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after 30 April
2005.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that
promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank
you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: [email protected]
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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MEXICO:
Mexican Senate votes to eliminate death penalty
Mexico's Senate today voted to explicitly forbid the death penalty. The
change must still be approved by the lower house and local legislatures in
2/3 of Mexico's 31 states to take effect.
Execution hasn't been imposed in Mexico since 1961 -- and many Mexicans
thought it already had been abolished.
The vote deletes outdated and little-noticed provisions in the Mexican
Constitution.
Those allowed capital punishment in theory for certain crimes such as
treason, parricide and serious crimes in the military.
The Senate voted 79-to-2 to change two constitutional articles to delete
the death penalty references.
Officials will insert new wording that states "death penalties are
forbidden," along with whipping, torture and other "excessive"
punishments.
(source: Associated Press)
AUSTRALIA/SINGAPORE:
Cardinal Pell asks clemency for death-row drug dealer
Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, is pleading for the life of an
Australian man who has been sentenced to death in Singapore after
conviction on drug-trafficking charges.
Speaking to the Australian ABC television network on March 17, Cardinal
Pell said that he had also asked Pope John Paul II (bio - news) to speak
on behalf of Nguyen Tuong Van. The cardinal pointed out that the
23-year-old Australian man was caught in "a very amateur attempt to
smuggle 400 grams of heroin," and is now cooperating with Australian
police who are pursuing more important drug dealers.
"People who have met him and talked with him say that his repentance is
genuine, they say therefore that he's rehabilitated," Cardinal Pell said.
Even after a presidential pardon, Nguyen would face a sentence of 20 years
in Singapore prisons.
(source: CWNews)
BANGLADESH:
Death penalty by default : Let truth prevail
Sundar Babu was accused and not Shah Alam Babu. But the ill-fated Shah
Alam Babu has been sentenced to death. Though Rokeya Begum, the
complainant objected and stated that this Shah Alam Babu was not her
husband's murderer, the investigating officer rejected her claim and at
last the verdict came against the innocent person. Petition has been filed
to review the case and exempt the innocent Shah Alam Babu and punish the
criminal Sundar Babu, who has been under custody and identified by the
complainant. Thanks for those who appealed to save the innocent. Not it is
to be observed whether the court through the review of the case exempt the
innocent and punish the actual criminal.
Thanks to the New Nation that it has put the subject in the lead heading
"High court moved for relief/ Man who got death penalty by default". The
highest judiciary may kindly look into the matter as most humanitation and
most legal. The simple question to be looked at is : the person, who has
been sentenced to death is not the criminal. And the criminal is now in
the custody also. There is no problem in reaching the final decision to
avoid the killing of an innocent person.
If the decision is not reviewed, the criminal not punished and the
innocent punished, it will set on example of killing an innocent person by
the order of the court. The police connected with this conspiracy and
other persons concerned should also be punished exemplarily so that no
police can dare to do this most heinous job in future.
Let us hope that the wise justice of the court will prevail and innocent
victim of 'death penalty by default' be saved and criminals be punished.
Uttara, Dhaka
(source: Letter, The New Nation)
CHINA:
Death-penalty debate grips China after wrongful execution
When police executed a man named Nie Shubin in 1995, nobody bothered to
tell his parents.
His father learned of his son's death a day later, when he tried to bring
a package of food and clothes to prison.
In his home village, south of Beijing, his neighbours were shocked when
the shy 20-year-old man was accused of raping and murdering a woman. They
knew him as a polite and gentle youth who stuttered when he spoke. He was
so meek that he was unable to kill a rooster when his mother wanted to
make chicken soup.
Now, a decade later, police have admitted what everyone always suspected:
Nie Shubin was innocent. He was executed for a crime he never committed.
The wrongful execution has provoked a major scandal in the Chinese media,
fuelling a growing debate over the death penalty in a country that
executes far more people than the rest of the world combined.
Human-rights groups have estimated that China executes 5,000 to 12,000
people every year -- as many as 90 per cent of all the court-ordered
executions in the world. In many cases, convicts are paraded in public
before being taken to execution grounds and killed by a bullet in the back
of the head.
Waves of executions are often conducted during anti-corruption or
anti-drug campaigns. Many people are executed for non-violent crimes such
as vandalism or bribery.
Chinese authorities have staunchly defended the practice.
"Given our national conditions, we cannot abolish the death penalty,"
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told reporters in Beijing this week.
Yet a growing number of Chinese scholars are expressing their doubts about
the death penalty, and government officials are considering reforms to
allow greater judicial review of death-penalty sentences.
The intensifying debate made Nie Shubin's case a cause clbre across the
country this week. Chinese newspapers and websites have been carrying
poignant stories about the distraught family of the young man. Some
reports said the police extracted a confession from him by beating him
repeatedly.
"When we heard the truth about the case of Nie Shubin from the newspapers
and the Internet, we all cried," Mayor Nie Zhancai told a local newspaper
yesterday. "He was such a good boy. Even though he was quiet in public, he
was very polite and intelligent."
His parents were devastated when their son was arrested in 1994. They were
never officially informed of the charge or the verdict. They did not learn
any details of the accusations against their son until they read an
article in a local newspaper.
After the execution of his son, Nie Shubin's father quit his job and fell
into a deep depression. His health deteriorated and he drank half a bottle
of pesticide in an attempt to kill himself. He survived only because his
wife found him and took him to hospital.
The injustice was finally exposed this year when a man was arrested in a
neighbouring province and confessed to 4 murders, including the murder
that had led to Mr. Nie's conviction and execution. When he described the
scene of the murder, police went there and found that it exactly matched
his description.
The police said he knew details that only the killer could have known.
The man who confessed, however, has not been charged with the murder
because the file on the case has been officially closed. The police who
arrested him are seeking to charge him with the murder, but the police who
conducted the original investigation are refusing to reopen the case
because it would trigger a bureaucratic uproar and a demand for
compensation from the family of the executed man, according to local media
reports.
Chinese media commentators say the scandal should accelerate Beijing's
plans to allow the Supreme Court to review death-penalty cases.
"I predict that this case will arouse a strong reaction from the public,"
one commentator wrote on the People's Daily website. "We hope this case
will make the Supreme Court take action soon."
Wang Lin, a professor at Hainan University, said the case shows that China
needs to reform all levels of its judicial system to encourage greater
scrutiny of potentially wrongful convictions.
Another commentator, Yuan Yuanyuan, said he opposes the death penalty
because the Chinese judicial system is too opaque and unaccountable.
"Look at this case," he wrote on a Chinese website. "Only a single piece
of evidence, a confession obtained by torture, can decide someone's
death."
Despite the government's refusal to abolish the death penalty, Beijing
appears to be increasingly sensitive to the issue. The Prime Minister, Mr.
Wen, promised that the system will be reformed.
"What we are doing is instituting a system to ensure prudence and justice
in passing death sentences," he said this week.
Yet despite such pledges, the executions are continuing at a heavy pace.
At least 650 were reported in Chinese media in December and January alone,
and the executions reached a peak in the 2 weeks leading up to the
celebration of the lunar new year in February, according to Amnesty
International. The cases reported in the media are believed to be only a
small fraction of the total.
"While the government claims that the death penalty is applied cautiously,
the ritual peak in executions we're witnessing at the moment completely
undermines any pretence of 'caution,'" Catherine Baber, deputy Asia
director at Amnesty International, said in a statement last month.
(source: The Globe and Mail)
