death penalty news April 19, 2005
INDONESIA / AUSTRALIA: Australia accused of exporting death penalty over drug arrests in Bali A rights group Tuesday challenged the Canberra government to say whether it is "exporting the death penalty" after Australian police aided in the arrest of nine young Australian drug suspects in Indonesia, where they could face a firing squad. Australian federal police had been tracking the eight men and a woman since February and tipped off Indonesian counterparts about a fortnight ago that the group planned to smuggle drugs via the resort island of Bali. Five of the nine were detained at Bali's airport as they were about to fly to Sydney late Sunday. The four others were arrested at nearby hotels. Terry O'Gorman, president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, said he could not understand why federal police did not wait to arrest the gang in Australia, which does not have the death penalty. "What has to be answered by the Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison is why were these people the subject of an arrest in Indonesia where it's already been said quite categorically that if found guilty, no question they will be executed," he said. "If we're in effect exporting the death penalty of Australians to other countries and if there has in effect been a change in government policy, then let's hear about it," he said. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the alleged offences were committed in Indonesia and its police had to be involved. "For nine people to be arrested -- certainly in my nine years as the foreign minister there has never been a situation like that before," he toldthe Nine Network. "People have to know though that trafficking in heroin and trafficking in drugs brings the death penalty in many countries, particularly in Asia," he said. "If people don't understand that, they certainly will now." However he said Australia would always appeal for clemency in any situation where an Australian faced the death penalty. Mike Phelan, federal police border and international network national manager, said it was not up to Australia to decide where the group was arrested. "When we're involved in international cooperation, these offences have occurred in another jurisdiction and it's very much the domain of the law enforcement authorities in that jurisdiction as to what action they take," he said. Police made follow-up raids and seized documents at homes in Sydney and Brisbane after the arrests. Officers will study the documents to see whether further arrests are necessary, police said. Four of the accused were detained at Bali airport while awaiting a flight to Sydney, allegedly with heroin strapped to their bodies. A fifth person also was arrested at the airport, and later four others were detained in a hotel raid. Indonesian officers seized a total of 11.25 kilograms (25 pounds) of heroin. Australian police said the heroin had apparently been manufactured in Southeast Asia, with Bali used as a transit point to Australia. Relatives expressed shock at the arrests. The family of Brisbane man Thanh Nguyen, 22, said they had no idea he was even overseas. His sister Vanessa Nguyen told the Courier-Mail her brother had said to his family he was going to Sydney for a short break about two weeks ago. "I started to worry because we haven't heard from him since he left on April 6 or 7," she said. "I tried to call his mobile but it was engaged, turned off or rang out." (source: AFP / Jakarta Post) IRAQ: Shiite Bloc in Iraq Wouldn't Fight Execution of Hussein -- Kurdish President Opposes Death Penalty The Shiite Muslim bloc leading Iraq's new government will oppose any move to spare former president Saddam Hussein's life if a special tribunal convicts and condemns him, a spokesman for the alliance said Monday. "We will deal with it immediately," said Ali Dabbagh, spokesman for the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance. That group is now forming a government with a Kurdish alliance following the first post-Hussein elections in January. Dabbagh said the next courtroom activity in Hussein's trial is tentatively expected in July, with the trial itself to begin before the end of the year. Dabbagh was reacting to a BBC interview with the new president, Jalal Talabani, a Sunni Kurd and a death-penalty opponent. Talabani said he would "go on a holiday" rather than sign an execution order for Hussein. However, the signatures of his two vice presidents would suffice to authorize the execution, Talabani said, making any abstention on his part a token gesture. Talabani said he knew he represented a minority voice, possibly the only voice, in Iraq's still-forming government in his wish to save the ousted leader from capital punishment. "I said my word, but no one is listening to me, to be frank with you," Talabani told the BBC. "My two partners in the presidency, the government, the House, all of them are for sentencing Saddam Hussein to death before the court will decide." Hussein and other senior officials from his government are believed to be held at a U.S. detention center near Baghdad's airport. Construction of a court for the five-judge tribunal is expected to be finished this month. Talabani also said in the interview that he thought executing Hussein would deflate the Sunni Muslim-led insurgency. Dabbagh, the spokesman for the Shiite alliance, said relatives of Hussein's victims, like most Iraqis, didn't want mercy for Hussein, who he said represents "a unique case in Iraq -- the massacres and mass graves." "The families of the victims have to see the government will appreciate the court" in its decision, Dabbagh added. Also Monday, Iraqi police backed by U.S. military helicopters swept into a town southeast of Baghdad where Sunni militants were alleged to be holding scores of Shiite hostages. But the troops found only empty streets as jittery townspeople hid indoors. Security forces found no hostages in the town, Madain, said Sabah Kadhim, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. The sweep appeared to end a murky four-day drama in which rumors of Sunnis taking hostages in a bid to drive Shiites from Madain threatened to make the town a flashpoint for growing Shiite-Sunni tensions throughout the country. Interior Minister Falah Naqib and other leaders denounced what they said were instigators trying to stir up sectarian conflict by spreading lies. Residents of the southern city of Basra and other communities demonstrated in support of Muslim unity. Security forces took two days to move into position around Madain after the rumors came to the attention of a news organization on Friday. Kadhim said Monday that police would remain in the town permanently. In Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a senior Defense Ministry adviser as he drove home late Monday, killing him and his son, the Interior Ministry told the Associated Press. Officials identified the man as Maj. Gen. Adnan Qaraghulli. In Basra, two Iraqi policemen were killed and six injured when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol vehicles, police Capt. Alaa Hasan told the Associated Press. (source: Washington Post)
