[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 4


UGANDA:

Death penalty ruling to be delayed, says Odoki


All the arguments in the death penalty case before the Supreme Court were
heard yesterday, but a decision may not be reached soon.

Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki, who led the 7member panel, said there would
be a necessary delay before the Supreme Court can pronounce itself in a
landmark case that could lead to abolition of the death penalty as a
mandatory sentence for murder and aggravated robbery.

In June 2006, the Constitutional Court, in a majority judgement, ruled
that the automatic nature of the death penalty for the crimes of murder
and aggravated robbery was unconstitutional.

But even as it ruled that all prisoners who have been on death row for
more than 3years are entitled to have their death sentences commuted to
life imprisonment, it still upheld the constitutionality of the death
penalty.

The case had been filed against the Attorney General by Ms Susan Kigula
and 416 other convicts, all of them represented by the Kampala firm of
Katende and Ssempebwa.

Both parties appealed certain aspects of the ruling; the government asked
the Supreme Court to nullify all the decisions of the lower court, while
the 417 convicts want the death penalty removed from Uganda' criminal
justice system. Four of the 417 convicts were in court yesterday.

The government' legal team got off to a shaky start, with Justice George
Kanyeihamba repeatedly punching holes in the arguments of Ms Angela
Kiryabwire, who represented the office of the Attorney General.

"hat you are saying is not what is on the ground. People have been on
death row for 10 to 20 years. We are saying, Is it the right thing?"asked
Justice Kanyeihamba, rebutting Ms Kiryabwires argument that there should
be no time limit within which to execute a convicted prisoner.

And Ms Kiryabwire' argument that the mandatory nature of the death penalty
"eflects the views of the people of the Republic of Uganda was also met
with pointed questions from Justice Kanyeihamba, who wondered whether a
teenager who puts his headteacher at knifepoint so he can steal his chalk
should be punished as severely as an armed robber who breaks into a
judicial officer' home. "ou think society thinks that those [scenarios]
are equal?"Justice Kanyeihamba asked.

For the most part, the government's legal team looked ill-prepared, and
there were instances that just fell short of resulting in embarrassment.

Prof. Frederick Ssempebwa, representing the convicts, told court that
making the death penalty mandatory for any crime "ontravenes the
requirement for a fair trial" Prof. Ssempebwa also argued that the
existing law that punishes murder and aggravated robbery does not
differentiate among categories of offenders. "quality has another
angle--[the angle] of treating different cases differently," he told
court.

Still, it is difficult to predict how the court will pronounce itself on
all the contested grounds: the constitutionality of the death penalty, the
mandatory nature of the death penalty for the crimes of murder and
aggravated robbery, the unreasonable delays in executing prisoners on
death row, and the use of hanging as a method of execution.

The Supreme Courts decision would be of interest to human rights
activists, especially those who are opposed to the automatic prescription
of the death penalty for serious crimes.

The 417 convicts, all of them condemned for murder, say they have spent "a
long time" on death row, enduring pain and torment. "[My clients] are not
inviting early execution.

They are saying that after staying on death row for a long period, to
execute them now would amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,"
Prof Ssempebwa told court.

(source: Daily Monitor)