June 15
INDIA:
Aftab's 4 death row aides on hunger strike
4 convicts sentenced to death in the American Center attack case along
with dreaded don Aftab Ansari, started a hunger-strike in their cells 4
days back alleging "mental and physical torture" lack of medical
facilities and inadequate diet.
Hasrat Alam, Musharrat Hussain, Adil Hasan and Rehan Alam - all Ansari
aides - were lodged at isolation cells, otherwise known as condemned
cells, in Presidency Jail after being handed the death penalty recently by
a city court for killing five policemen in front of American Center on 22
January 2002.
However, since Sunday, the four inmates went on a hunger-strike alleging
they were being denied facilities condemned prisoners are entitled to
under the Correctional Services Act.
"As repeated requests to the prisoners to break fast went unheeded, we
have engaged a team of doctors to keep check on their health, so that in
case of an emergency, they can be shifted to hospital," a jail official
said.
"According to jail rules, the 4 are treated as political prisoners since
they have been convicted of raging war against the government. As such,
being class one prisoners, they are entitled to special food and other
privileges, including a separate mess. These were denied by the jail
authorities and when they protested, the 4 were tortured physically and
mentally," Mr Shahid Imam, the counsel to the fasting prisoners, said.
6 persons, including these 4, were sentenced to death by a special court
inside Presidency jail for killing 5 policemen in front of the American
Center on 22 January, 2002.
(source: Statesman News Service)
CHINA:
Death sentence prisoner back behind bars
A prisoner under sentence of death was arrested 2 years after escape
during a court hearing.
Ma Zhanlin, 30, was sentenced to death on January 16, 2002, for selling
drugs. But he shockingly broke free from his handcuffs and ran from the
court in Lanzhou of Gansu Province, and judicial police failed to catch
him.
2 years later, Ma was arrested again for selling drugs. He was sentenced
to death on June 8.
He confessed that he had been imprisoned during 1992 and 2000 for the same
charge. The experience made him familiar with handcuffs and he can open
them with a plastic stick in 10 seconds.
(source: China Daily)
