[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 25


CHINA----executions

China executes three drug dealers


China has executed 3 drug dealers and sentenced at least 7 others to
death, state media reported, on the eve of the International Day Against
Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The death penalties were among a series of harsh sentences handed down in
more than 20 separate cases by courts from Shanghai in the east to
Shenzhen in the south, the Xinhua news agency said.

Among the 3 executed in southeastern Fujian province was a drug dealer
from Taiwan, identified as Tseng Fu-wen, it said.

"As the number and scale of drug dealing cases have been increasing in
recent years, the court has raised its strength to crack down," the report
quoted Zhang Zhijie, deputy chief judge at Shanghai's Second Intermediate
People's Court, as saying.

Zhang was speaking after his court handed down 3 death sentences,
including 1 for an unemployed man caught with 3.5kg of drugs, Xinhua said.

2 other death sentences were handed down at a court in Shenzhen on Monday,
it said.

It did not specify the drugs involved in any of the cases.

China regularly steps up executions of drug traffickers ahead of the June
26 anti-drug day to signal its determination in fighting narcotics-related
crime.

The Chinese government has been severely criticised for its frequent use
of the death penalty, especially by overseas rights groups.

The government does not publish official statistics on executions, but
Chen Zhonglin, a delegate to the National People's Congress, or
parliament, was quoted by official media in 2004 saying the figure was
10,000 annually.

Chinese legal officials have signalled the death penalty will endure and
cite public support as a major reason.

(source: AAP)

******************

China pronounces death sentences to drug dealers


In a mass sentencing aimed at turning the spotlight on drug abuse, China
has executed 3 drug dealers and sentenced 5 more to death on the eve of
International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The sentences were handed down by courts in Shanghai, China's economic
hub, Shenzen, a booming city, and in Fuzhou and Hefei in more than 20 drug
trafficking cases on Monday and Tuesday, the state media reported.

Among the executed was a drug dealer from self-ruled Taiwan, who was
executed in an eastern province yesterday after the country's apex court
approved a lower court's sentence against him.

"As the number and scale of drug dealing cases have been increasing in
recent years, the court has raised its strength to crack down," Zhang
Zhijie, Deputy Chief Judge of the Second Intermediate People's Court of
Shanghai Municipality, was quoted as saying by official Xinhua news
agency.

The Shanghai court handed down sentences in four drug trafficking cases on
Monday, giving capital punishment in 3 of them. 2 others were sentenced to
death by the Intermediate People's Court at Shenzhen in Guangdong province
which pronounced sentences in seven cases on Monday, it said.

Executions have been stepped up ahead of the International Day Against
Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls tomorrow, to reflect
China's determination to battle drug-related crimes.

Beijing has often come under criticism from human rights groups for
resorting to capital punishment frequently, but it maintains that death
penalty is being used sparingly and judiciously with public support in its
favour.

"New challenges have been rising as new types of drugs are increasing. The
mass sentence aims at increasing public awareness," Tang Yigan, the
Intermediate People's Court of Hefei Municipality deputy chief judge said.

(source: Business Standard)






AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA:

I saved Corby from death penalty: Tampoe


Schapelle Corby's Australian former lawyer says the Corby family should be
grateful to him for saving her from a death sentence.

Corby, 30, was convicted in 2005 for smuggling 4.2kg of marijuana in her
boogie board bag that was discovered at Bali's Denpasar airport.

She maintains her innocence but is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's
Kerobokan prison.

A documentary aired on the Nine Network, Schapelle Corby: The Hidden
Truth, revealed a falling-out between Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe and
the Corby family after the sentence.

But on Nine's A Current Affair on Wednesday, Mr Tampoe said Corby could
have been put to death for her crime and declared he felt no sense of
responsibility for the Corby family's belief Schapelle would be released.

"Look, I don't feel responsible. I think, at the end of the day, I would
feel responsible if we failed in terms of protecting her against the death
penalty," he said.

When asked if he had been out of his depth in handling such a big case, Mr
Tampoe said: "No. I think you can see from the result. We worked very hard
with what we had, and we put forward a positive defence."

Other lawyers had tried and failed to reduce Corby's sentence, he said.

The Corby's and Mr Tampoe fell out almost immediately after the sentence,
the documentary said, with Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose expressing hatred
for the legal team.

Mr Tampoe said he invented Corby's defence that the marijuana was placed
in her bag by a corrupt Australian baggage handler and described the
family as "the biggest pile of trash I have ever come across in my life".

"I gave you a defence. I'll take it away. As fast as I gave it, I'll take
it away," he said of the family the day after the sentence.

Corby's final legal challenge failed in March, when Indonesia's Supreme
Court upheld her 20-year sentence.

An appeal for clemency to Indonesia's president is Corby's last legal
option, but it means she would have to admit guilt.

Her hopes of being released from prison have relied on the outcome of
long-running negotiations between Indonesia and Australia over a prisoner
transfer deal.

Corby was hospitalised last Friday afternoon suffering severe depression.

Mr Tampoe no longer practises law. He works overseas as a business
consultant, but Schapelle's sister Mercedes Corby has complained to the
Queensland Law Society about Mr Tampoe's conduct.

(source: AAP)