[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 21


CANADA:

Nation's 'moral authority' betrayed: advocate----Canadian authorities
should have demanded no-death-penalty guarantee from U.S. before handing
over fugitive, critics argue


Richard Curran is a depraved "crazy" man who brutally murdered his ex-wife
Tina in August 2005, even the lawyer for the former Pennsylvania police
chief admitted this week in court.

Armed with his state-issued .40-calibre Glock handgun, Mr. Curran
confronted the 31-year-old nurse outside the hospital where she worked and
-- allegedly over a dispute about his unpaid child support for their 2
daughters -- shot her 7 times at close range.

5 other bullets missed the target.

A monster? By all accounts, yes -- a monster who faced death by lethal
injection after a jury found him guilty on Thursday of 1st-degree murder.
Mr. Curran was sentenced to life in prison with no parole, the Associated
Press reported last night.

But in response to Canwest News Service inquiries about the case, human
rights advocates -- including the head of Amnesty International's Canadian
branch -- say Mr. Curran's possible execution highlights a glaring
loophole in Canada's official opposition to capital punishment and, in the
words of the country's leading death-penalty critic, Mark Warren, a
betrayal of Canada's "moral authority" on the practice.

In fact, says Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International
Canada, the Canadian government should immediately begin lobbying to avert
Mr. Curran's possible death sentence.

That's because Mr. Curran, just hours after killing his ex-wife in the
Harrisburg-area town of Shamokin 3 years ago, was stopped at the
U.S.-Canada border in Niagara Falls, Ont.

He was arrested by Canadian officials and then promptly handed over to
American authorities -- without Canada seeking assurances the Pennsylvania
fugitive would not face the death penalty.

Since 2001, the country's firm policy in extradition cases is to demand a
no-execution guarantee from U.S. prosecutors before any American or
Canadian citizen facing a murder charge is sent southward to face justice.

Earlier this year in Montreal, in the case of a U.S. man facing
deportation and a murder charge in South Carolina, the Canadian government
sought and received assurances from American officials that the alleged
killer would not be put to death if found guilty.

The recent cross-border transfer of that suspected killer, Roger Eugene
Shephard, made clear that Canada's no-death-penalty policy in extradition
cases also applies to deportations.

But as Mr. Curran's case shows, Canada doesn't always insist on receiving
a no-execution promise from American authorities before sending murder
suspects back to the U.S.

This week, in fact -- as Pennsylvania prosecutors built their
death-penalty case against the former Millerstown, Pennsylvania, police
chief by detailing his movements on the day he gunned down his former wife
-- 4 officers from the Canada Border Services Agency took the witness
stand to recount how they nabbed the suspicious traveller, found a weapons
cache in his car, and quickly turned him over to their U.S. counterparts.

"The overriding principle here," says Mr. Neve, "is that Canada should not
be handing people over to officials in another country -- through whatever
legal process -- when there's a likelihood they're going to face the death
penalty."

Both Mr. Neve and Mr. Warren have sworn affidavits in support of a lawsuit
filed by Ronald Smith, the Canadian double-murderer facing execution in
Montana in a case that has put the federal Conservative government's views
on capital punishment under a spotlight.

Last fall, after Canadian diplomats had spent years trying to win clemency
for Mr. Smith in keeping with Canada's long-standing opposition to the
death penalty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government was
halting all efforts on Smith's behalf to avoid sending the "wrong signal"
to Canadians about violent crime.

Despite that decision, the Harper government has confirmed it will abide
by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that -- consistent with Canada's abolition
of capital punishment in 1976 -- directs Canadian officials to seek
no-execution assurances before extraditing suspected killers to the U.S.,
or any other country that has the death penalty.

The case involving Mr. Shephard -- who fled to Canada after allegedly
killing a store clerk in 2006, and was returned to South Carolina earlier
this month to face a first-degree murder charge -- reinforced Canadian
policy on the matter.

But a Canwest News Service probe into how the Canada Border Services
Agency (CBSA) deals with potential death-penalty cases on the front line
of Canada-U.S. relations suggests there is no special consideration given
to the matter when it comes to the transfer of detainees facing the
ultimate punishment south of the border.

The agency, which is under the purview of Public Safety Minister Stockwell
Day, told Canwest News Service earlier this week that it's consulting
other government departments -- Immigration, Justice and Foreign Affairs
all have a stake in the issue -- before responding to questions about CBSA
protocol in death-penalty cases.

In a preliminary response, however, an agency spokeswoman stated: "At the
CBSA, we work diligently to ensure that persons who represent a danger to
Canada are detained and removed. It is important to note that removals are
only carried out after all legal venues have been exhausted."

But Mr. Curran's case clearly illustrates the CBSA's neighbourly
willingness to assist U.S. border officials in the expeditious,
no-strings-attached return of a suspect fleeing murder charges stateside.

Within a day of his arrest at the Rainbow Bridge crossing at the
Ontario-New York border, Mr. Curran was back in the hands of U.S.
law-enforcement officials and destined for a death-penalty trial in
Pennsylvania.

Mr. Warren, an Ottawa-based human-rights researcher and consultant, says
Canadian border guards should be applauded for blocking the entry of a
suspected criminal and sending him swiftly back to the U.S. to be dealt
with by American authorities.<>P> But he says "there should be an
exception made in death-penalty cases," adding the CBSA's handling of such
situations raises "significant legal and moral issues."

"My sense is there's no protocol," he says, for dealing with the unique
circumstances of someone seeking entry to this country when that person is
fleeing murder charges and could face execution.

Canada, he says, has taken a "Rubicon decision" as a nation to oppose the
death penalty and -- through its extradition policy -- to let other
countries know that "we will not have anything to do with helping" them
facilitate an execution.

The apparent loophole at the border needs to be closed, he says.

"I think there is a loss of moral authority."

Mr. Neve agrees the CBSA's transfer polices need to be examined, and says
Canada has a further obligation in the case of Richard Curran.

"It would certainly be commendable," he says, "to see Canadian officials
make representations to the governor -- or to relevant officials in the
state of Pennsylvania -- with a strong Canadian request, that the death
penalty be taken off the table. Canada does have some responsibility
here."

(source: The Ottawa Citizen)


PAKISTAN:

Pakistani PM plans to convert death sentences into life imprisonment


Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Saturday announced a plan
to convert death sentences of thousands of convicts into life
imprisonment.

Gilani told the parliament that the interior ministry would be asked to
move a summary to the president to commute the sentence of those on death
row to life imprisonment.

"We have asked the ministry of the interior to send a recommendation to
the president to convert the death sentence of prisoners to life in
prison," he said.

The statement came 2 days after the Human Rights Watch urged Pakistan to
abolish death penalty.

Until the death penalty is abolished by an act of the parliament, Pakistan
should announce an immediate moratorium while the government establishes a
commission to review the application of the death penalty, the group said
in a letter to Gilani.

The number of persons sentenced to death and executed every year in
Pakistan is among the highest in the world, Brad Adams, Asia director at
Human Rights Watch said in the letter.

Out of more than 31,400 convicts in Pakistan, nearly a quarter, over 7,000
individuals, including almost 40 women, have been sentenced to death, and
are either involved in lengthy appeals processes or awaiting execution.

In 2007, 309 prisoners were sentenced to death and 134 were hanged. Most
of those sentenced to death are poor and illiterate.

Gilani also announced remission of 90 days to the prisoners in their
sentence on the occasion of assassinated former Pakistani PM Benazir
Bhutto's 55th birthday except those who are involved in heinous crimes.

(source: Xinhua News)






MALAYSIA:

Minister's brother is spared from death row fate


The younger brother of Federal Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development
Minister escaped the hangman's noose when the High Court here freed him
from a charge of trafficking cannabis, Friday.

Mohd Jusnaidi Omar, 36, was also discharged and acquitted by Judge Datuk
Ian HC Chin of a charge of being in possession of methamphetamine (syabu).

The judge in his judgement held that the prosecution's failure to call the
accused's 2nd wife Nurul Ashikin to testify in the hearing was the main
reason for the discharge and acquittal of the accused of the charges
against him.

Jusnaidi, a project coordinator from Selangor, was charged with
trafficking in 1,011.04gm of cannabis and being in possession of 23.98gm
of syabu at 10am on May 20, 2007 at Terminal 2, Low-Cost Carrier Terminal
(LCCT) in Tanjung Aru here.

The drug trafficking charge, under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous
Drugs Act (DDA), carries a mandatory death sentence on conviction.

The second charge of syabu possession was framed under Section 12(2) of
the (DDA) and punishable under Section 39A (1)" of the DDA, which carries
a jail term of between 2 and 5 years and whipping between 3 to 9 times on
conviction.

Justice Chin said Nurul was not called by the prosecution and the accused
took advantage to attribute her as being the person responsible for
packing the bag in which the drugs were found.

When Mohd Jusnaidi and Nurul were arrested on arrival at the LCCT, Mohd
Jusnaidi was pulling a bag where the drugs were found by police.

Making his defence under oath from the witness box on June 16, this year,
Mohd Jusnaidi told the court that he did not know anything about the
drugs.

He said it could be that Nurul wrongly packed the drugs into the bag.

Jusnaidi also testified that Nurul's cousin by the name of Ella and her
boyfriend, who were staying with them in his apartment, were involved in
drugs activities.

Justice Chin said it was not the transportation of the drugs only that the
prosecution must be concerned with, it was also proving facts which were
necessary and which the prosecution could easily anticipate the accused
might assert in an attempt to shift the blame to others regarding the
drugs.

"The prosecution must close all the doors to which the accused can escape.

This is also to deny the accused any opportunity to assert facts with no
contradiction from the prosecution evidence," the judge said.

He also held that the prosecution had also failed to examine Mohd Jusnaidi
as to what he had said in his statement to the police.

The judge said it was because it was exculpatory in which case the
prosecution must call evidence during their case to pre-empt or contradict
what the accused said in his statement.

"This made calling Nurul the more imperative as she will be the very
important witness as to what went on in the apartment and thereafter their
arrival at Kota Kinabalu before the police arrested them."

"If the accused testimony is not exculpatory but his testimony is in
conflict with his statement, then the statement could be used to impeach
him.

Neither was done as would normally be with regard to the cross-examination
of an accused," the judge said.

Mohd Jusnaidi was defended by Counsel Zahir Hussein Shah while the
prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Gan Peng Kun.

(source: Daily Express)