Sept. 5
VENEZUELA:
Death Penalty in Venezuela
The 1999 constitution, retaking something that already existed in previous
constitutions (and I stress the plural here, as some people think that
before Chavez Venezuela was in the deepest of the dark ages) declared that
the death penalty cannot exist (article 43), that the maximum penalty is
actually 30 years in jail (article 44). Well, the facts after 6 years of
constitution demonstrate that this one, as in so many of its chapters, is
just a lie.Today El Universal publishes a damning article on one ofthe
most infamous jails of Venezuela, the one from Yare. Yare also used to
have a section where political prisoners were held in relatively more
lenient conditions. Chavez among other benefited from such conditions
after his failed 1992 coup. There he waited for a trial that never came
until then president Caldera decided not to prosecute him, in a case that
is mistakenly interpreted as a pardon, but which in reality never
established the guilt of Chavez for the dozen of deaths in 1992. That
juridical limbo is interpreted by many Chavez apologists as a pardon, or
even worse, as a fulfillment of a penalty, a rather obscenely low
fulfillment, a couple of years in jail for dozens of people killed or
murdered.
One would think that once in office Chavez would have done something about
Yare. Either destroy it, or humanize it and make it a monument to his past
as a pseudo-political victim. But no, like almost everything else in
Venezuela, and dramatically in the case of the judicial and penitentiary
system, the Chavez administration has been absolutely negligent,
establishing along the way an astounding record of human rights
violations.
Describing the horrors of what goes inside jails defies words that can be
understood outside of Venezuela. El Universal limits itself at describing
how gangs of prisoners, benefiting of the presence of only 7 wardens, have
established control on all what takes place in Yare, from food supplies to
drug traffic, from who sleeps where and when to who dies when and where. A
look at the picture below show clearly the run down aspect of the
penitentiary, a place not even fit for rats. A place where you might die
of typhoid fever while you wait for your trial, if you are not raped and
killed first. But the rate of violent death in Venezuelan jails defies any
interpretation. El Universal lists the documented ones since January 2005.
Before I give the numbers in the table below, it is essential to point out
that the Chavez administration has been administering the jails of
Venezuela since February 1999, that is for a full 6 years and a half, a
period under which NO SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT CAN BE DETECTED. The table
next lists how many people have been murdered in the Venezuelan
penitentiary system so far this year. And how many have been injured
during fights, attempted murders and the like (not injuries at the
workshops or other normal activities, real injuries related to violence).
Yare by itself accounts, in spite of all its own horror, for only 12.5% of
the total deaths. Month Body count Injuries
January 23 43
February 50 53
March 37 54
April 36 23
May 33 53
June 26 50
July 26 81
August 41 76
TOTAL 272 433
Average 34/month 54/month
The numbers speak by themselves. How many monthly executions in the US, a
country over 10 times the population of Venezuela? How many killed by gang
internecine warfare? In the US there have been for 2005 a total of 36
executions as of August 31, barely the Venezuelan monthly average!
To the apologists of the Chavez regime I will remind them that these are
the deaths of the poor that Chavez was supposed to help. After almost 7
years of a pro-people regime one would have expected some improvement, no?
Please, explain.
As for the uselessly repressive nature of police in Venezuela, the recent
editorial of Teodoro Petkoff translated by Miguel says that since Chavez
came to office more than 6000 Venezuelans have died in a variety of
"confrontations" with the authorities. These "death sentences" do not
contemplate the putative innocence of the people shot during those
confrontations (look at the recent "Kennedy" case with 3 students just
killed as roaches), it does not even consider the right of people to die
executed in jail by their cell mates.
I suppose that one way to solve the poverty problem is to kill the poor,
and let the poor kill each other.
(source: Daniel Duquenal, Venezuela News and Views)
PHILIPPINES:
Repeal of death penalty urged
Despite the death penalty, at least 18 murders are being committed every
day in the country.
Citing Philippine National Police statistics, Rep. Joseph Santiago of the
lone district of Catanduanes said a total of 3,357 murder cases were
reported from January 1 to June 30 this year.
"Based on the 560 monthly average of murder cases in the first semester,
we are looking at over 6,700 [cases] for the whole year. This will be the
most number of annual murder cases in 12 years, or since 1993," Santiago
pointed out.
A total of 6,344 murder cases were reported in 2004, and 6,436 cases in
2003.
"These police statistics demonstrate once again that capital punishment
has failed to deter murder, among the other heinous crimes," said
Santiago, a crusader against the death penalty.
"There is nothing in the death penalty that we cannot achieve with a
harsher form of life imprisonment without the benefit of parole. We should
abolish the death penalty at once," Santiago added.
Sen. Joker Arroyo had earlier suggested that President Arroyo should ask
Congress to repeal the death penalty to allow deposed President Joseph
Estrada "to get away" with the plunder charges against him.
Arroyo gave the unsolicited advice after published reports indicated that
the administration is willing to reconcile with Estrada.
Plunder is classified by Philippine law as a capital offense, which is
punishable by death.
Murder, when attended by aggravating factors, is also classified as an
atrocious crime punishable by death through lethal injection.
About 1 out of every 4 of the over 1,000 convicts on death row had been
condemned for murder.
Police statistics for the 1st semester show that Southern Tagalog had
reported the most number of murder cases at 464; followed by Central
Visayas, 321 cases; Metro Manila, 311; Davao Region, 292; Western Visayas,
252; Eastern Visayas, 231; Central Luzon, 228; Ilocos, 192; Bicol, 187;
Northern Mindanao, 178; the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 141;
Zamboanga Peninsula, 140; Soccksargen and Caraga, 133 each; Cagayan
Valley, 100; and the Cordillera Administrative Region, 54.
(source: Manila Times)
IRAQ:
Stop executions, United Nations tells Iraq
Expressing regret over Iraqi government's decision to execute by hanging 3
men accused of kidnapping, killing and rape, the United Nations has called
on Baghdad to commute the death penalty in future.
While recognising the "serious challenge" posed to the rule of law by
terrorism, the insurgency and criminal activity, the UN Assistance Mission
for the country said that evidence around the world suggests that capital
punishment is a poor deterrent to crime.
"The United Nations will continue to assist the Government in Iraq in its
attempts to foster a culture based on the rule of law and respect of human
rights," it said.
"In this spirit, the United Nations urges the Government of Iraq to
commute all future sentences of capital punishment and to base its
legitimate quest for security on the protection and promotion to the right
to life."
(source: Press Trust of India)
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Critics slam Saddam trial as political, inadequate
Saddam Hussein's lawyers have accused the Iraqi government of meddling in
the deposed dictator's case as foes said his trial next month over a 1982
massacre will not be enough to heal the nation's wounds.
"It is all politics. It has nothing to do with the law," Jordanian lawyer
Issam Ghazzawi, spokesman for the Amman-based defence team, told AFP on
Monday after government spokesman Leith Kubba announced the October 19
trial date.
"The announcement about the trial date is illegal because it was made by
the official government spokesman and not by the court. Leith Kubba is not
a spokesman for the court," Ghazzawi said.
Kubba said Sunday that Saddam and seven of his former henchmen would go on
trial over the 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shiite villagers in Dujail,
northeast of Baghdad, after a failed assassination bid there.
The trial, after which Saddam could face the death penalty, is starting
just four days after a referendum on Iraq's draft constitution is due to
be held, a document that has caused deep divisions between the ousted
Sunni elite and majority Shiites.
Saddam is currently in US custody after being captured in December 2003,
following his ouster in April of that year by US-led invasion forces.
Others complained that the charges, while potentially enough to judge and
execute Saddam, do not go far enough in assuaging feelings of injustice
for the former regime's other alleged crimes.
"The tribunal should (also) judge the other dossiers to establish the
truth of this tragic period," of more than 30 years of Saddam's
iron-fisted rule, Kurdish former human rights minister Bakthiar Amin told
AFP.
The Iraqi Special Tribunal charged with trying Saddam is continuing to
investigate his other alleged crimes against the country's Kurdish and
Shiite minorities, amassing thousands of documents for possible future
cases.
The 68-year-old is expected to face separate trials at a later date on
further counts of crimes against humanity, particularly over the gassing
of Kurds and the mass killings of Shiites in the south of the country.
However, Kubba said that if found guilty and sentenced to death after the
initial trial, the punishment could be carried out without waiting for any
further trials.
Abdel Haq Alani, a London-based British lawyer and advisor to Saddam's
defence team, meanwhile slammed the announcement of the trial as
"politically loaded."
"Why would the government fix a date for the trial? The court should do
that," he said. "When politicians meddle in the judicial process there are
questions to be answered: is the judiciary independent? Do they make their
own decisions?"
He also complained that Saddam's Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi had yet to
receive any formal charges against his client from the IST.
"The whole matter is a media hype. We are told that this man is being
charged with this and that but as far as I can tell Mr Dulaimi has not yet
received a single document of indictment, so how can he prepare a
defence," Alani said.
"How can the defence prepare when they have nothing to go on?"
Jordanian lawyer Ziad Najdawi, who is also a member of the defence team,
accused the Iraqi authorities of trying to distract the war-wary Iraqi
people.
"The whole thing is a farce. The so-called trial date is meant to cover up
for their (Iraqi authorities') failure and inability to provide the Iraqi
people basic needs. It's only a distraction," Najdawi told AFP.
"The government is impatient to bring Saddam Hussein to trial to score
points during elections" set for December 15, said Sunni leader Saleh
al-Motlak.
He said that many Iraqis have no faith in the IST and that he would prefer
an international court to try the ex-leader.
"We want a fair trial but we think that justice cannot come from an Iraqi
court and that could lead to more violence," he said.
(source: Agence France Presse)
IRAN:
Iranian dailies report more executions
The clerical regime ruling Iran hanged a man in Iranshahr, Southeastern
Iran, and sentenced 3 others to death in Tehran and Ahwaz, state-run
dailies reporting from Iran.
The man identified as Houshang Bameri was hanged on Saturday morning in
Iranshahr in the latest surge of executions and public hangings in Iran.
He was charged with killing 2 members of security forces. (Jomhoury daily,
September 4)
The judiciary in the southern oil-rich city of Ahwaz sentenced a
22-year-old man identified by his first name, Mohammad Reza. He was
charged with murder. (Iran daily, September 4)
According to the government-run daily Kayhan, in the capital Tehran,
another man identified as Nasser was sentenced to death after serving 13
years in prison. He was also accused of murder.
Etemad daily also reported on September 4 that an Afghan man, identified
by his 1st name, Alireza, was sentenced by Tehrans punitive court to death
allegedly killing another Afghan man. His sentence will be carried out
after 100 lashes for alleged adultery.
(source: NCR-Iran.org)
