[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 24



PHILIPPINES:

'NOT IN OUR NAME'----Book shows folly of death penalty


The widespread incidence of violent crimes like the bank robbery-massacre
in Laguna has sparked calls to revive the death penalty. Now comes a book
that shows its folly.

"Not in Our Name: The Story of the Abolition of the Death Penalty in the
Philippines," bears this terse message: Capital punishment doesnt deter
crime; swift justice does.

The book, published by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), chronicles
the 13-year struggle of the lawyers group and a host of allies, including
the Church and families of death row convicts, to get the law repealed
after it was revived in 1994 under the Ramos administration.

FLAG launched the book-cum-documentary on Tuesday at the UP College of Law
in Quezon City to mark the second anniversary of the abolition of the
death penalty in the country.

"It's important that people know [about the death penalty] because the way
we see it -- the death penalty is not totally foreclosed," FLAG national
chair Jose Manuel Diokno said after the launch. "It could be returned in
the future and if it is returned ... we would like the younger people to
know what they can do about it."

Diokno said the book was relevant now because there exists the mindset
that death by lethal injection would send chills down the spine of
criminals and would deter them from committing crimes.

Make the system work

"The reason people want the death penalty is because they're not happy
with our system of justice. They see that the system of justice doesn't
work so they want a solution," he said. "[But] the death penalty is not
the right solution. The real solution is to make our system of justice
work."

The 150-page book was written by Joan Orendain and published with the
financial support of the New Zealand Embassy.

It begins with FLAG lawyer Theodore Te's account of the tense moments
during the execution of Leo Echegaray (convicted of raping his
stepdaughter when she was 10) on Feb. 5, 1999, and ends with the signing
into law of Republic Act No. 9346 prohibiting the imposition of death
penalty by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 24, 2006.

In between, the book details the campaign for the abolition of the death
penalty, the coming together of several sectors to form the Coalition
Against Death Penalty (CADP), lobbying the lawmakers, among others.

"When we started the anti-death penalty campaign, everybody was laughing
at us. There was no way this could be abolished [we thought then]. Public
opinion was about 99 % pro-death," Diokno said.

Their hard work not only led to the repeal of the law, it also brought
about personal change.

"The fight was not painless. There was a lot of suffering involved. And
even we ourselves, those who were actively involved in the anti-death
penalty, were changed in fighting this fight," Diokno said in his talk.

And since there are bills seeking to impose the death penalty on certain
types of heinous crimes, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, anti-death penalty
advocate, issued this caveat: "At no moment, must we lower our guard."

(source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)




KUWAIT:

Kuwait royal's death sentence confirmed


Kuwait's supreme court has upheld a death sentence against a member of the
emirate's ruling Al-Sabah family for drug trafficking.

The sentence against the royal, named only as Sheikh Talal, was already
upheld by an appeals court in December.

The final decision can only be carried out after being signed by the emir,
who also has the right to commute it.

The appeals court also confirmed a life term against 3 accomplices, a
stateless Arab, a Bangladeshi and an Indian. 2 others, a Lebanese and an
Iraqi, were sentenced to 7 years in jail each.

It is not clear if those rulings were revised by the supreme court.

A lower criminal court in January sentenced the royal to death - a 1st in
the history of oil-rich Kuwait - which usually carries out executions by
hanging.

Police arrested the group in April 2007 and seized a large drugs haul,
including at least 10kg of cocaine and 120kg of hashish.

The arrest was made on the orders of Kuwait's Defence Minister Sheikh
Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah, a former interior minister and leading figure
in the ruling family.

(source: Agence France Presse)




FINLAND/IRAN:

Finland summons Iran over executions of minors


Finland summoned Iran's ambassador in Helsinki Tuesday to express concern
over Tehran's execution of a juvenile offender and its plans to execute 3
others, the foreign ministry said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb summoned ambassador Reza Nazarahari to
appeal to Iran "not to implement the executions planned" of 3 people
sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors, the
ministry said in a statement.

In the meeting with Nazarahari, "Minister Stubb stated that Finland
strongly deplores executions of minors," the ministry said, pointing out
that Iran executed a man earlier this month for crimes committed before he
was 18.

"Sentencing minors to death is unambiguously forbidden by the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and by the International Covenant on Civil and
Political rights, both of which have been ratified by Iran," the ministry
statement said.

The European Union and international human rights groups have also urged
Tehran to stop issuing the death penalty for crimes committed by minors.

(source: Agence France Presse)






MOROCCO:

State Main Opponent of Abolition in Morocco----Interview with campaigner
Abdelilah Benebdesslam


Ambiguous statements and contradictory policies make it impossible to
predict when Morocco will abolish the death penalty. But the "great
confusion" on the issue is not deterring human rights activists pressing
forward with their public campaigning -- especially among the youth.

Adelilah Benebdesslam, coordinator of the Moroccan Coalition Against the
Death Penalty, a coalition of seven NGOs founded in 2003, and veteran
human rights activist, says there should be no despair. Times of wars and
terrorism are proving an impetus to reaching the goal of a worldwide death
penalty ban.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Abderrahim El Ouali, Benebdesslam
calls for an end to officials compounding the confusion in Morocco by
saying they support death penalty abolition and then repeating the state's
anti-abolitionist stance.

IPS: What kind of campaigns have you been leading since your coalition was
founded?

Abdelilah Benebdesslam (AB): We've held many conferences, and meetings
with university students to increase awareness on abolition. We have also
organised petitions signed by civil and political activists and ordinary
citizens. Each year we hold sit-ins to commemorate the World Day Against
the Death Penalty.

We have visited prisoners on death row in the central jail of Kenitra and
published a report on the tragic conditions in which they live.

When we launched the national campaign "Together against the Death
Penalty" in April 2005, we organised meetings with the media and provided
journalists with studies and background material.

Besides this, we have addressed a memorandum on the death penalty to the
government and held meetings with political parties and parliamentarian
groups.

IPS: Can you judge how effective this has been in winning over people in
support of abolition?

AB: Our humble efforts from 2003 to 2005 did yield positive results. The
1st of these was the hosting of the international conference of the World
Coalition Against the Death Penalty in Casablanca in 2006.

Our anti-death penalty coalition is the most active and organised of any
in North Africa and the Middle East. Of course, our engagement is due to
our conviction that the death penalty is inhumane and violates the sacred
right to life. It's also due to our belief that Morocco should be part of
the worldwide movement for abolition.

At the beginning, as a result of our campaigning, the state reacted
positively and the former minister of justice said he was against the
death penalty.

IPS: But didn't he later backtrack and say this was his personal point of
view?

AB: Yes, you are right. But it is not acceptable for a minister to say,
"This is my personal view and here is the official one". Views may be
personal only when one is an ordinary citizen without public
responsibilities. The minister reversed his position soon after the
suicide bombings in Casablanca on May 16, 2003, saying the execution of
the perpetrators was possible. Then, later he repeated that Morocco was
studying the possibility of abolishing the death penalty.

IPS: Would you describe this as an official wavering on abolition?

AB: There is a certain contradiction in the Moroccan state stance. Morocco
has observed a de facto moratorium on executions since 1993. The former
minister of justice did indeed make positive declarations about abolition,
and the former president of the Human Rights Consultative Council, Driss
Benzekri, did say Morocco was going to abolish the death penalty by the
end of April 2006. Yet, Moroccan courts still go on sentencing to death.
Moreover, Morocco though observing a moratorium, abstained in the vote in
the General Assembly on a worldwide moratorium last December. This is all
completely paradoxical and ambiguous; it leads to great confusion.

IPS: You said the former minister of justice switched positions after the
suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003. Do you think terrorist attacks are
making your task more difficult?

AB: The position of human rights defenders in general -- and defenders of
the right to life especially -- should not be influenced by wars and
conflicts. Human rights cannot be respected in one period and violated in
another. And, in fact, we are witnessing the contrary to this: even with
the increase in terrorism and wars, the number of abolitionist countries
is ever-increasing.

Our activities, too, are continuously expanding. They are developing as
the abolitionist movement all around the world is getting stronger, due to
the increasing awareness that the death penalty is irreversible and
inhumane.

IPS: You are pursuing dialogue with all concerned institutions. Does this
also include King Mohammed VI?

AB: We are addressing the Moroccan state of which the King is the highest
representative. One member of our coalition -- The Moroccan Prisons Watch
-- has already addressed a letter to the King.

We consider that abolition concerns all sections of society. We are
concerned that unless Morocco joins the worldwide abolitionist movement
with the greatest urgency, it might one day resume executions.

IPS: In an interview you gave last June, you expressed doubts whether
Morocco would abolish the death penalty. How can you campaign for an
objective that you think is unobtainable?

AB: At the time there was an active debate on abolition and people were
excessively optimistic. But I knew that the optimistic declarations made
by Driss Benzekri in advance of the World Conference against the Death
Penalty in Paris in February 2007 would soon run into the Moroccan
reality. We should not be falsely optimistic as we know that in Morocco
there's a great distance between words and practice.

Certainly, our task as defenders of human rights is to reduce this
distance, but we do face resistance from forces that are against human
rights.

IPS: Would you name these "forces", please?

AB: The state of course. Even if the state says it wants to abolish the
death penalty, it carries on using it. I remember that the general
secretary of the ministry of justice said in a conference to launch the
international campaign against the death penalty, that they were
"preparing the land for abolition". But they think that abolition might
provoke some reactions. Do they mean from Islamists? But even some
Islamists have shown flexibility regarding this issue.

The state is actually the main opponent of abolition. Of course, when we
say "the main" we mean that there are other opponents on the sidelines.
But we do know that when the state really wants to take a decision, it
takes it. The parliamentarian group of the Front of Democratic Forces
(FFD) has already introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty but it
has been put into limbo because there is no real political will to abolish
capital punishment.

IPS: But do you feel more optimistic now than in 2007 that Morocco will
abolish the death penalty?

AB: We human rights defenders live by hope and optimism. We are continuing
our mission and we are planning a new campaign. Our main target groups
will be youngsters in schools and universities. These are the
representatives of the future and are concerned with all reforms in
society. We really do hope that Morocco will join the ranks of the
abolitionist nations.

(source: IPS News)