Oct. 28
INDIA:
'No govt decision on abolishing death penalty'
Favouring a debate on President A P J Abdul Kalam's advice that
humanitarian aspects be considered while dealing with mercy petitions, the
government today said it has taken no decision as yet on abolishing the
death penalty and goes by th Supreme Court's guidelines that it should be
awarded in rarest of the rare cases.
"My personal view is that death penalty should be retained in the statute
but the government has taken no decision on the issue as yet," Law
Minister H R Bhardwaj told a press conference here.
He was replying to questions on the suggestion of the President to the
Home Ministry that humanitarian aspects like age and physical condition of
the condemned prisoners, the possibility of the persons facing death
sentence committing crime again, family liabilities and such other issues
be taken into account while deciding on a mercy plea.
Maintaining that the President's power to grant pardon was not an ordinary
right but sovereign power, Bhardwaj said it has to be exercised keeping
the national interest in view.
The provision of Presidential Power is also utilised in cases of resolving
the bilateral issues, he said stressing that "the President has a right to
put his view in these types of cases".
Observing that a debate was on at the international level for abolishing
capital punishment and several countries in Europe have dispensed with it,
Bhardwaj said "The government favours a debate on the issue".
Giving arguments in favour and against the issue, Bharadwaj said while
those opposed to death penalty believed that man had no right to take away
a life by artificial means, those against it felt that issues relating to
the victim of a crime should get top priority.
On the issue of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who is facing the death
sentence in Pakistan, he said that the accused had lost his case in that
country's Supreme Court and it was up to President Pervez Musharraf to
grant him mercy.
He declined comment on whether Pakistan had sought the release of some of
its citizens in India who are on death row.
Recalling the guidelines laid down by the apex court in a 25-year-old
judgement, he said the government dealt with it in a case-by-case manner
and went by the principle that it should be handed down in the rarest of
the rare case.
"Death penalty remains in the statute and is granted in rarest of the rare
cases like in the Parliament attack case and assassination cases of Indira
Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi."
He said the decision on mercy pleas of condemned prisoners was taken by
the Home Ministry and forwarded to the President.
(source: PTI)
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Minister Against Abolishing Death Penalty
Law and Justice Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj today acknowledged a worldwide
debate on abolishing death penalty, but said he personally favoured
retaining it.
"My personal view is it should be retained," Bhardwaj told journalists
after explaining the pros and cons of the issue.
Abolitionists oppose the death penalty on several grounds, including moral
stances questioning the state killing a man for killing another.
Retentionists cite the plight of victims and justify the death penalty to
show that killing innocent people is wrong.
Bhardwaj also said President A P J Abdul Kalam has at some point sought
guidelines on dealing with issues of clemency.
The Minister said the issue of capital punishment has received
consideration and given the conditions and requirements it is in sum
awarded in rarest of rare cases.
On recent remarks by India's senior judges that the collegium system is
just fine, Bhardwaj pointed out that the remarks pertain to judicial
appointments and transfers.
The latest remark came from India's Chief Justice Ramesh Chandra Lahoti at
a farewell the Supreme Court Bar gave him last evening.
Justice Lahoti said there was no need for changing the existing collegium
system, which he said had acted unanimously through out his tenure.
Bhardwaj said the government move on a National Judicial Council was
intended to deal with matters of misconduct and discipline.
He said the proposed Council would be run by the judiciary without any
government input.
He added that any matters of misconduct pertaining to a Supreme Court
Judge would be handled by the apex court itself.
Bhardwaj declined to say whether he was satisfied with the dispensation
the collegium had made in transferring former Gauhati High Court Chief
Justice B K Roy to the Sikkim High Court.
He said it was not material whether or not he liked the outcome.
"Our hands are tied... Our preference does not count" and "his own peers
have decided." Bhardwaj also announced plans to set up village courts
under the authority of high courts to dispense justice at doorstep.
He said a Gram Nyayalaya Bill 2005 would be introduced shortly in
Parliament providing for modified procedures that facilitate quick
decisions in disputes.
He said the move has the backing of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well
as Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
(source: New Kerala)
PHILIPPINES:
Philippine Court Sentences Militants
A Philippine court on Friday sentenced to death an Indonesian and 2
Filipino Muslim militants for their roles in the bombing of a Manila bus.
The Feb. 14 attack killed 4 people and wounded scores. The al-Qaida-linked
Abu Sayyaf group claimed responsibility for the bombing, as well as 2 bomb
attacks in southern towns the same day, in retaliation for a military
offensive against militants.
The Indonesian, who goes by one name, Rohmat, is a confessed member of the
regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. He was captured in March in the
southern Philippines, where authorities say several dozen Indonesian
militants have been training local guerrillas.
Rohmat pleaded not guilty, while 2 Filipino co-defendants, both members of
Abu Sayyaf, confessed to multiple murder charges.
(source: Associated Press)
AFGHANISTAN:
Brothers face death penalty over journalists' murders
An Afghan court has ruled two brothers should be executed for their
involvement in the killing of 4 journalists, including Australian
cameraman Harry Burton, in 2001.
Zar Jan and Abdul Wahid have confessed to partial involvement in the
killing of the journalists about 90 kilometres east of Kabul, days after
US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government.
5 other men, described as accomplices of the pair, were each sentenced to
20 years in jail for other criminal acts such as highway robbery and
theft.
The journalists were travelling in a press convoy from Jalalabad, to
Kabul, when they were stopped by a group of bandits.
They were pulled from their vehicles and shot dead.
(source: ABC News)
SINGAPORE:
Unmasked: the hangman who will send Aussie drug courier to 'a better
place'
This is the man who will lead Nguyen Tuong Van to the gallows and will
utter the last words that the Australian drug trafficker will hear.
In a matter of weeks, Darshan Singh will place a rope around the
25-year-old's neck and say the words he has spoken to more than 850
condemned prisoners during his 46 years as Singapore's chief executioner.
"I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you."
Nguyen's hopes of escaping the gallows receded further yesterday when the
Singaporean Government confirmed that it would not make an exception for
the Australian.
Mr Singh has officially retired from the prison service but is called on
to carry out executions, for which he receives a fee of $S400 ($312).
Until now, his indentity has been a closely guarded secret in Singapore.
Officials rarely comment on capital punishment, which is carried out
without publicity behind the walls of Changi prison.
But The Australian can reveal today that the 73-year-old grandfather, who
lives in a modest, government-owned apartment near the border with
Malaysia, has been asked to execute Nguyen unless the Singapore Government
gives an unprecedented last-minute reprieve.
Mr Singh told The Australian yesterday that under the Official Secrets Act
he was forbidden from speaking about his work.
A colleague and close friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
told The Australian that Mr Singh wanted to give up his hangman's
responsibilities and live quietly in retirement but the authorities were
having trouble finding anyone to replace him.
"He tried to train two would-be hangmen to replace him, a Malaysian and a
Chinese, both in the prison service," the colleague said.
"But when it came to pulling the lever for the real thing, they both froze
and could not do it.
"The Chinese guy, a prison officer, became so distraught he walked out
immediately and resigned from the prison service altogether."
Nguyen will meet Mr Singh a few days before he is executed and will be
asked if he would like to donate his organs.
On the day before his execution, Mr Singh will lead him to a set of scales
close to his death-row cell to weigh him.
Mr Singh will use the Official Table of Drops, published by the British
Home Office in 1913, to calculate the correct length of rope for the
hanging.
On the day of Nguyen's execution, Mr Singh will be picked up by a
government vehicle and driven to the prison, arriving at 2am to prepare
the gallows.
Shortly before 6am, he will handcuff Nguyen's hands behind his back and
lead him on his final short walk to the gallows, just a few metres from
the cell.
Mr Singh joined the British colonial prison service in the mid-1950s after
arriving from Malaysia. When the long-established British hangman Mr
Seymour retired, Mr Singh, then 27, volunteered for the job. He was
attracted by the bonus payment for executions.
Mr Singh is credited with being the only executioner in the world to
single-handedly hang 18 men in 1 day - 3 at a time.
They had been convicted of murdering 4 prison officers during a riot on
the penal island of Pulau Senang in 1963.
He also hanged 7 condemned men within 90 minutes a few years later. They
had been convicted in what became known as the "gold bars murders", in
which a merchant and 2 employees were killed during a robbery.
One of the most controversial executions in his career was the 1991
hanging of a young Filipina maid, Flor Contemplacion, who was convicted of
the murder of a co-worker, Delia Maga, and her 4-year-old son, on what
many believed was shaky evidence.
He carries out the executions wearing simple casual clothes, often just a
T-shirt, shorts, sports shoes and knee-length socks.
To mark his 500th hanging 4 years ago, 4 of his former colleagues turned
up at his home to celebrate the event with a couple of bottles of Chivas
Regal.
Mr Singh boasts that he has never botched an execution.
"Mr Seymour taught him just how long the drop should be according to
weight and height and exactly where the knot should be placed at the back
of the neck," his colleague said.
"Death has always come instantaneously and painlessly. In that split
second, at precisely 6am, it's all over."
Mr Singh was an accomplished cricketer in his youth and was often opening
bat.
"He is a keen soccer fan," his colleague said. "His favourite team is
Manchester United. He watches all the English Premier League matches he
can."
When his colleague asked him why he had stayed so long in such a gruesome
job, he replied: "It's all I know. It has become my bread and butter."
"He also used to cane convicted criminals after training in this field,"
the colleague said.
"The pay then was 50cents per stroke. He could wield a cane as well as he
could wield a cricket bat."
Mr Singh lives happily with his 2nd wife and is close to their 3 adult
adopted children.
His 1st wife left him years earlier because she could not accept what he
did. He had kept it a secret from her for years.
Mr Singh reportedly spends time getting to know the condemned prisoners,
especially those who do not receive visitors or religious support.
"He is a very kindly man and although it's his job to end their lives he
does feel for them," his friend said. "Mr Singh tries to comfort them if
they are completely alone in the world at such a horrible time."
(source: The Australian)
