[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 3



INDIA:

Red Fort attack: SC stays death sentence of militant


In New Delhi, the Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of the
death sentence awarded to Pakistani national and Lashkar-e-Taiba militant
Mohammad Afshaq for the Red Fort attack in which 3 persons were killed in
December 2000.

A Bench of Justices G P Mathur and P Sathasivam issued a notice to the
Delhi police on the petition filed by Ashfaq challenging the judgment of
the Delhi High Court which confirmed the trial court verdict awarding him
capital punishment.

The High Court had set aside the conviction of 6 others, including
Ashfaq's Indian wife Rehamana Yosuf Farooqui and Srinagar-based
father-and-son duo Nazir Ahmed Qasid and Farooq Ahmed Qasid, who were
earlier sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court.

It had upheld the trial court findings holding Ashfaq guilty of murder,
criminal conspiracy, cheating under the Indian Penal Code and under
various provisions of the Explosives Act and Foreigners' Act.

6 terrorists stormed the Red Fort on December 22, 2000 and opened fire,
killing 3 persons. The Army personnel present in the fort had retaliated,
but the terrorists managed to escape.

"Death sentence is the only appropriate punishment, which Mohd Ashfaq
deserves and has been rightly sentenced to death by the trial court and we
have no hesitation in affirming that sentence," the High Court had said.

"In case the death sentence is not awarded to these kinds of terrorists
who have no value for human lives and they are not bothered even for their
own lives while indulging in these kinds of terrorist activities, the
conscience of the entire community would be shocked," the High Court
observed in its September 13 verdict, dismissing Ashfaq's appeal against
the conviction.

"This can definitely be said to be a case falling in the category of
rarest of rare cases, where the extreme penalty of death only would serve
the ends of justice," it had said, rejecting the plea that Ashfaq's
sentence be remitted to life term.

(source: Sify News)






IRAQ:

Iraq awaits Bush response over 'Chemical Ali'


Iraq is awaiting a response from US President George W. Bush over the fate
of "Chemical Ali", whose execution along with 2 other former aides of
Saddam Hussein has been delayed, an Iraqi official said Monday.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last week wrote to Bush asking him to order
the American military in Baghdad to hand over Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely
known as "Chemical Ali", for execution, government spokesman Ali
al-Dabbagh told AFP late Sunday.

"We are waiting. We have not yet received a response," said Dabbagh.

Majid, Sultan Hashim al-Tai, Saddam's defence minister, and Hussein Rashid
al-Tikriti, his armed forces deputy chief of operations, were sentenced to
death on June 24 for their roles in the slaughter of tens of thousands of
ethnic Kurds in 1988.

The US military which is holding the three convicts says they will be
handed over for execution only after a legal row between Iraqi officials
is resolved. The delay has been due to differences within the government
over the legal and procedural requirements for carrying out the sentences
handed down by the Iraqi High Tribunal, the court set up to try former
regime officials.

Under Iraqi law, the 3 men were supposed to have been executed by October
4, 30 days after their sentences were upheld by the Iraqi Supreme Court.

Maliki did not want the executions to go ahead during the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan, which ended on October 15, because of the outcry that
followed Saddam's hanging during another Muslim holiday on December 30
last year.

The executions have been further delayed because two members of the
presidential council -- President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Vice
President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni -- have refused to sign the execution
orders.

Visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told reporters in
Baghdad on Sunday that the men would remain in American custody until the
legal problems have been resolved.

"They still are in United States custody," Negroponte said.

"Once the government of Iraq has reached a consensus on what they want to
do about these detainees, we will then take action. At the moment the
government of Iraq itself has not reached its own consensus about this
situation."

(source: Agence France Presse)






SINGAPORE:

Stand at UN Leaves Many Angered


Singapore's strong pro-death penalty stand during the November U.N.
General Assembly vote on a draft resolution calling for an end to the
death penalty has disappointed many and left Singaporeans asking why the
city-state is willing to risk international condemnation to pursue the
death penalty so publicly as a solution to crime.

"Why is Singapore so ham-fisted in wanting the death penalty when the
majority of nations are against it?" asked a senior Singaporean lawyer who
declined to be named because his legal business might be penalised.

"We should go with the trend in the world which is to abolish -- or at
least place a moratorium on -- state-sanctioned killing," he said by
telephone from Kuala Lumpur.

"If we can be the first one to commercially fly the Airbus 380, why are we
among the last in the world to defend and insist on carrying out state
killings?" he said. "After all we pride ourselves as world trend-setters."

Singapore was one of the few countries that fiercely opposed the
moratorium when the vote was taken on Nov 15 with 99 in favour, 52 against
and 33 abstentions.

The U.S. and China joined many developing countries, notably from the
Islamic world, in voting no after an acrimonious debate.

The full 192-member General Assembly is widely expected to endorse the
decision, possibly before Christmas, according to diplomats.

Opponents of the moratorium decried what they saw as an attempt by the
resolutions 87 co-sponsors to impose their values on the rest of the
world.

They argued that the death penalty was fundamentally a "criminal justice
issue" to be decided by national authorities. They saw the resolution as
blatant interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.

Among the other vocal nations wanting the death penalty were Malaysia,
Egypt, and Barbados. The resolution calls for countries which still have
the death penalty to introduce a moratorium on executions, with a view to
abolishing capital punishment.

Singapore's U.N. envoy Vanu Menon saw the issue during debate as
cosponsors "trying to impose a particular set of beliefs on everyone
else".

Singapores strong stand on the death penalty, which is liberally employed
in the city-state for murder, drug trafficking and other offences,
provoked immediate anger from many long-time Singaporean anti-death
penalty activists.

Comments posted on Singaporean blogs and websites immediately afterwards
were highly critical describing Singapore, where the press is tightly
controlled and open debate rare, as a "busy little bee" defending the
death penalty.

"We are all upset that Singapore led the opposition -- but are not really
surprised," said Singaporean Sinapan Samydorai, who manages the Think
Centre, a Singaporean NGO that champions human rights and an end to
capital punishment.

"With over 400 executions since 1991, Singapore taking the lead in the
U.N. vote does not really come as a shock," he told IPS in a telephone
interview from Bangkok.

In all, 130 countries have banned the death penalty, and only 25 nations
carried out executions last year. "Singapore is a leader in the 25 nation
pack," Samydorai said.

Although U.N. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, a vote
calling for a suspension of the death penalty, backed by a majority of
countries, would be a significant statement of changing international
opinion.

On average, Singapore sentences between 10 to 20 people to death a year,
mostly for drug trafficking, Samydorai said, even though numerous studies
proved that the death sentence had little effect on drug trafficking.

"It remains an uphill task in Singapore to abolish the death sentence," he
said, adding there were several reasons influencing Singapore to defend
the use of the death penalty in its criminal justice system.

Being 76 % Chinese, Singapore was heavily influence by the traditional
Chinese view which held that harsh punishment deterred crime, restored
normalcy and maintained "Confucian peace and harmony".

"An inherited value system that sees hard, heavy punishment as a solution
is at the core of Singapores resistance to abolishing the death penalty or
even agreeing to a moratorium on executions," he said.

Singapore also saw the moratorium issue as impinging on its sovereign
right as a nation.

Perhaps another reason was that Singapore saw the death penalty as a
method of keeping itself "squeaky clean", free of crime, drugs and
"undesirable elements", he said.

"It is a kind of defensive barrier, an artificial wall to "protect"
Singapore," said Samydorai. "The tragedy is, it is inhuman and it does not
work."

Activists say Singapore as an international city surviving on world trade
and financial services should adopt more progressive policies than state
killings.

"It must recognise the right to life as contained in Article 3 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which recognises the inherent right
of every person to life," Samydorai said.

"It cannot any longer justify a criminal justice system that uses the
death penalty based on retribution," he said.

(source: IPS News)