death penalty news
April 20, 2005
WORLD:
Anti-death penalty course likely to persist
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND THE CHURCH
The new pope was a key adviser to John Paul II, who condemned a 'culture of
death'
Catholic leaders and scholars said Tuesday that they expect that new Pope
Benedict XVI will continue his predecessor's strong opposition to the death
penalty.
Noting that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of Pope John Paul II's key
policy people, they said he was clearly supportive of the former pontiff's
condemnation of a "culture of death" that includes capital punishment. The
stance prompted John Paul II to write then Gov. George W. Bush asking for
clemency for death row inmates.
"I can't see Ratzinger making any changes," said Cathleen Kaveny, a Notre
Dame University professor of law and theology. "I don't know of anything he
wrote on the death penalty specifically, but my sense is he's going to
follow John Paul's approach."
That view was echoed by Monsignor Frank Rossi, chancellor of the
Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and Terrence O'Rourke, a professor of
international law at Houston's St. Thomas University.
The emphasis the new pope puts on the death penalty will be closely watched
in Harris County, which puts more people to death than any other county in
the United States.
John Paul II wrote Bush in 1998 opposing the execution of Karla Faye
Tucker, a born-again Christian convicted of two murders, but Bush declined
to grant a reprieve.
If John Paul II was not successful in stopping Texas executions, his
emphasis on the issue at least appeared to change opinion among Catholics
in the United States. A Zogby International poll released last month found
support for capital punishment among U.S. Roman Catholics has dropped below
50 percent, down from previous polls that showed as many as 68 percent in
favor of it.
"Pope John Paul II clarified the teaching on the death penalty, making it
clear there should be few reasons to justify the execution of a person
convicted of criminal offenses," Rossi said.
Catholic scholars say Ratzinger was one of the former pope's point men in
that regard. In 1997, for instance, Ratzinger, then the Vatican's authority
on doctrine, presented the revised catechism which hardened the church's
opposition to the death penalty.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
SPAIN:
Spaniards split over execution pardons
Spain's socialists have outraged the country's Right by starting a
controversial process that could pardon tens of thousands condemned to
death by military courts under Franco.
The government move to begin reversing sentences against Franco's opponents
has angered sections of the military and conservatives afraid it could
reopen wounds of the Spanish Civil War and destroy what is known as the
"pact of silence" about the nation's past.
A committee of ministers will be set up to consider the fate of "those who
found themselves submitted to criminal cases that clearly did not meet the
minimum rules for a fair trial'', a senior government figure said.
The generalisimo, who seized power after staging the coup that sparked the
1936-39 Civil War, favoured a barbaric but very Spanish method of
execution: strangulation by garrotte.
One of the state's priorities is to secure the pardon of Salvador Puig
Antich, the last man sentenced to death by Franco in 1974. Puig Antich, a
25-year-old anarchist found guilty of murdering a policeman, was one of
those sentenced to death by garrotting.
The Right is angered by the fact that victims of the "people's courts" run
by Republican militias, which condemned thousands to death with equally
spurious legitimacy, will not be subject to the same review.
Franco's vigorous pursuit of his theory of "cleansing" territory captured
from Republican forces caused consternation even among his fascist German
and Italian allies.
He signed all death sentences in person, often consigning dozens to death
without studying the relevant documents. Knowing the shock value of
publicising executions, he would often add the formula "garrotte and press"
to the sentences.
The opposition People's Party is also angered by the government's decision
to remove the symbols of the Francoist dictatorship.
The only remaining statue of Franco in Madrid was removed last month.
(source: The Telegraph)
INDONESIA / AUSTRALIA:
Five held in Bali may get death penalty
Four of the nine Australians arrested in Bali on heroin offences are
expected to escape charges that attract the death penalty.
The head of Bali's police anti-drugs squad told national broadcaster ABC
that only five Australians, alleged to have planned and acted as couriers
in the drug ring, were to be charged with offences that could result in
death by a firing squad.
The other four would likely face lesser charges.
Squad chief Colonel Bambang Sugiarto said the nine Australians had been
divided into two groups of likely defendants, the ABC reported.
The first group included alleged drug ringleader Andrew Chan, 21, of
Sydney, and four others allegedly caught at Bali's main airport with
packages of heroin strapped to their bodies.
The four - Brisbane men Michael William Czugaj and Scott Anthony Rush, both
19, Wollongong man Martin Eric Stephens, 29, and Renae Lawrence, 27, from
Newcastle - were detained while awaiting a flight to Sydney on Sunday.
Mr Sugiarto told the ABC that Chan and the four alleged couriers would
likely face Indonesia's most serious trafficking charges which could result
in the death penalty, or life in jail.
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Mr Sugiarto said lesser charges were planned for the group of four detained
at the hotel, ABC reported.
Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, from Brisbane, and Sydney men Myuran Sukumaran,
24, Si Yi Chen, 20, and Matthew James Norman, 18, were detained at the
hotel, allegedly in possession of a small amount of heroin and drug
paraphernalia.
Two lawyers acting for the four detained at the hotel, and for Chan, said
the four were likely to escape the death penalty if convicted.
"For the situation now, only one article (Law 22, of 1997) will apply," one
lawyer Agus Saputra said.
"Police said they will use article 78, which carries a maximum 10 years in
prison."
The second lawyer, Rifan Mohammad, said charges against his clients were
yet to be finalised.
But he said the four detained at the hotel would face lesser charges
because it was "a different place, a different offence".
Mr Rifan said there were likely to be three separate trials - one for the
four arrested at the airport, one for the four arrested at the hotel and
one for Chan, because his circumstances were unique.
"He (Chan) is still a witness. Police caught him but they didn't find
anything on his body," he said.
A neighbour and family friend of Chan, David Saoper, a Salvation Army
major, denied the 21-year-old was the ringleader of the group and said he
would not have offered a $1 million bribe to avoid arrest.
He said he thought Chan had been used as a pawn in a much bigger drug
operation.
"I've got a feeling ... maybe some of them have done little things and the
big people in drugs have made them do that (heroin smuggling)," Mr Saoper said.
The father of Lawrence said his daughter deserved to go to jail if she had
done the wrong thing but should not face the death penalty.
"I don't care if Renae does five years in jail. She's done the wrong thing.
She has got to pay for what she done. The death penalty, that's a bit
much," he told the Nine Network.
(source: AAP / Sydney Morning Herald)
IRAQ:
Leaders split over death penalty for Saddam
Iraq's new rulers have split over whether to execute Saddam Hussein if he
is convicted of war crimes, with the President, Jalal Talabani, facing
calls to resign if he refuses to sign a death warrant.
The Kurdish rebel-turned President said he opposed capital punishment on
principle.
``Personally, no, I won't sign,'' he told the BBC. But he hinted he may
abstain and pass the decision to the two Vice-Presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi,
a Shia, and Ghazi Yawar, a Sunni Arab, who with him comprise the
presidential council. ``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. So, I think I will be alone in this field.''
Mr. Talabani's stance prompted a sharp rebuke from the Kurdish bloc's main
coalition ally, a cleric-backed Shia list.
A parliamentary deputy and spokesman, Ali al-Dabagh, said the United Iraqi
Alliance unanimously favoured executing Mr. Hussein if so ordered by the
special tribunal which is expected to start the trial next year. ``If the
court says he's a criminal, we will follow it,'' Mr. al-Dabagh said.
``[Talabani] is the President, and he should follow the law. If he doesn't
want to sign it, he should resign the presidency.''
(source: The Hindu / Guardian)
