May 10
YEMEN:
Young mother's execution temporarily stayed
Human rights groups have welcomed a temporary reprieve for a 21-year-old
Yemeni woman who faced execution for the murder of her husband.
The Italian NGO, Ricerca e Cooperazione, which has been working closely
with the young woman's lawyer, responded positively to the decision.
However, the NGO still maintain that Amina Ali Abduladif's sentence should
be permanently commuted and the legal proceedings of her case thoroughly
investigated.
The case became the focus of international attention after human rights
watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) released a statement condemning her
sentence. She was due to face the death sentence on 2 May.
AI highlighted the fact that she was under 18, the legal age in Yemen for
the sentence of capital punishment, when condemned in 1998.
Yemeni newspapers reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh was "moved"
when he heard of Abduladif's case and ordered a judicial investigation.
The Attorney General of Yemen has appointed a special committee to review
the case.
The committee will investigate the issue of Abduladif's age during her
trial, as well as the correctness of the proceedings surrounding it.
Abduladif was convicted of her husband's murder on 14 January 1998. She
was tried in her hometown of al-Mahaweet, 70 km north of the capital Sana.
Since then, she has been incarcerated, first in the al-Mahaweet prison,
then later in the women's central prison in Sana, awaiting execution.
"I met Amina about four months ago, in the prison" Abduladif's lawyer,
Shada Nasser told IRIN in Sana. "She told me she was 14 when she was
tried, she was very young and she did not know her rights. She was only 11
when she got married," she added.
Births are normally not recorded in Yemen outside the major cities.
Consequently Abduladif does not have a birth certificate. According to her
lawyer, her age was never considered during her trial.
"Under Article 31 of Yemen's punishment law, Amina is not responsible for
this crime because she was under 18," Nasser said.
"The death penalty is always cruel, always unnecessary and always wrong.
But with Amina, the case for commuting the death penalty is stronger than
ever," director of AI, Kate Allen, said in a recent statement.
Another man, Muhammad Ali Said Qaba'il, was also convicted for the murder
and sentenced to death, according to the lawyer. Qaba'il was the victim's
cousin and the two had a financial dispute, Nasser said.
"She [Amina] had reportedly been tortured to force her to confess, and has
since maintained her innocence," the AI statement added.
According to her lawyer, Abduladif was raped during her incarceration at
al-Mahaweet prison.
"In 2003, they moved her to the Sana prison. They said she tried to escape
from the al-Mahaweet prison and they moved her. When they took her back to
al-Mahaweet to execute her, she told them she was pregnant. She told me
that she was raped in prison." Abduladif gave birth to a son in prison,
who has remained with her since birth.
The US State Department Human Rights Report for 2004 reported that "at
times, [Yemeni] male police and prison officials subjected female
prisoners to sexual harassment and violent interrogation."
Yemen's Ministry of Human Rights responded by stating that "no case of
rape in prisons [was] recorded," and that "policemen or security guards
are not allowed to enter women's prisons."
According to Yemeni law, a woman may not be executed if she is pregnant,
or during the course of breastfeeding her child. Abduladif's sentence was
stayed until the beginning of this month, when her son reached
approximately 2 years of age.
Abduladif's execution will be stayed until the committee report their
findings to the Attorney General, who will then recommend to the President
whether her sentence should be stayed or approved.
(source: IRIN News)
SINGAPORE:
Singaporean to be hanged despite plea by sons group
Singapore will hang an ethnic Tamil man on Friday for trafficking about 1
kg (2.2 lb) of cannabis despite a rare public plea by his teeange sons to
stop the execution, a human rights group said.
After 38-year-old Shanmugam Murugesu lost an appeal to escape the gallows
in January, his 14-year-old twin children took to Singapores streets,
handing out flyers last month urging public support to stop the execution,
saying it would make them orphans.
Think Centre, a Singapore human rights group, said Murugesus family had
received notification on Monday he will be hanged on Friday, May 13.
"We are calling everyone, wherever they are, to hold a silent vigil for
Shanmugam," Think Centre president Sinapan Samydorai told Reuters on
Tuesday.
Murugesu, a Singapore citizen, was convicted of trafficking after his
arrest at Singapore's border with Malaysia in August 2003. Singapore
President S.R. Nathan said last month Murugesu would not receive clemency.
Prison officials said they could not immediately comment.
Singapore enforces some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Anyone aged 18
or over convicted of carrying more than 500 grammes (17.6 ounces) of
cannabis faces execution by hanging.
In a 2004 report, human rights group Amnesty International said about 400
people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug
trafficking, giving the wealthy city-state of 4.2 million people possibly
the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population.
Amnesty says only 6 people sentenced to death in Singapore have been
spared execution since independence in 1965.
Singapore staunchly defends its use of capital punishment. The government
claims death penalty has broad public support and has deterred major drug
syndicates from establishing themselves in Singapore.
(source: Khaleej Times)
