August 31 RUSSIA: N Ossetia asks Putin lift death penalty moratorium for terrorists On the eve of the anniversary of the Beslan terrorist act North Ossetian leader Taimuraz Mamsurov asked President Vladimir Putin and Russian parliament to lift a moratorium on death penalty for terrorists. "There should not be moratorium on the killing of killers," he said in a televised address on local television. "A strong and just state is needed to protect the right of children for life," Mamsurov pointed out. "Our people is ready to support us in the construction of a state based on genuine patriotism and active love to the motherland, on a real and capable to protect itself democracy, but not on hogwash on various pseudodemocrats wishing to build a civil society on the corpses of children," he remarked. (source: Itar-Tass) INDIA: India Demands Death Penalty for Killer of Australian Missionary India's official police watchdog, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), wants the Indian Supreme Court to reimpose the death penalty on a Hindu militant who was found guilty of burning alive Australian Missionary Graham Staines and his 2 small sons 6 years ago. (source: BosNewsLife) MALAYSIA: Trafficker gets death sentence An unemployed man was sentenced to death today by the High Court after being found guilty of trafficking in 24.7g of heroin 3 years ago. Mohamad Che Tam, 44, was also sentenced to 4 years jail from the date of his arrest on Oct 6, 2002, on a 2nd charge of possessing 10.86g of methamphetamine pills that day. He is alleged to have committed both offences near a mosque in Kampung Tor Dor here at 7.10pm that day. When sentence was passed, Mohamad, who has 5 schoolgoing children, exclaimed that it was fated. Counsel Ridzuan Ismail, in mitigation, asked judge Datuk Ahmad Maarop for a lenient sentence as Mohamad was a 1st-time offender and the sole breadwinner in the family. "He has a family which depends on him, and a 70-year-old mother to take care of. He has also repented," Ridzuan said. Ahmad said the only penalty for a trafficker found guilty under Section 39B was the death sentence. (source: New Straits Times)
