[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 8


CHINA:

Fewer executions after legal reform


The number of people executed has dropped in the 1st 5 months of the year
after the Supreme People's Court recovered the right to review and approve
all death sentences decided by local courts in the country.

Data from the Beijing No 1 and No 2 intermediate people's courts suggests
the number of death sentences in first trials resulting in immediate
execution dropped 10 percent year-on-year.

Ni Shouming, spokesman for the highest court, said the situation is
similar across the country, but declined to give details.

He stressed that both the highest court and lower-level courts are now
more careful when handing out the death penalty.

"The lower courts have to be more prudent now. If a case is sent back for
a retrial by the highest court, it not only means the 1st judgement is
wrong, but also a matter of shame for the lower court," Ni told China
Daily.

>From 1981, the apex court began to grant provincial courts the authority
to pronounce death sentences amid rising crime.

The practice, widely criticized in recent years - especially after reports
of miscarriage of justice - came to an end on January 1 when the supreme
court was given the sole power to review and ratify all death sentences.

Chen Weidong, an expert on criminal law with Renmin University of China,
predicted the number of death sentences will drop 20 % this year.

"Leniency and more judicious use of capital punishment is the trend of the
time, a concept in line with international practice," Chen said.

Earlier this year, Chief Justice Xiao Yang urged "extreme caution" in
handing down death sentences, saying "capital punishment should be given
only to an 'extremely small number' of serious offenders".

Those who plead guilty and provide important information; and those who
are accomplices in a criminal case will receive lighter punishment, he
said.

Ni said that killings triggered by disputes among family members and
neighbors do not necessarily lead to capital punishment now if the
victims' family is financially compensated.

He said the apex court would further reduce the use of death penalties for
such cases as severe economic crimes that used to attract capital
punishment.

Those involved in economic crimes would be given lighter punishment if
they helped recoup losses caused to the State.

"But for extremely heinous cases with iron-clad evidence, the death
penalty will still be passed down," he added.

Ni said the apex court had completed the first draft of a guideline on
death penalty for four categories of crimes - murder, robbery, drug
trafficking and intentional injury - which mostly resulted in the death
penalty.

"The guideline will set a yardstick for all provinces and promote
fairness," he said.

Chen Zexian, deputy director of the Institute of Law of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, said although China will ultimately abolish
the capital punishment, "it has to start from strict limits on the use of
death penalties".

"It takes a long time for society to accept the abolition of the death
penalty," Chen said.

Last year 889,042 people were convicted by courts at all levels across the
country, and 153,724 received sentences of longer than 5 years. The figure
includes life terms and executions.

(source: China Daily)

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

Fewer death sentences


A major reason for the Supreme People's Court to reassume the authority to
review and approve all death sentences was to rein in irresponsible use of
capital punishment at local levels.

Initial statistics from the first five months indicate that the change has
worked. The remarkable drop in the number of death sentences meted out by
local courts testifies to that.

It is good to have fewer people on death row. After all, few crimes
deserve the ultimate punishment. And this country's judicial philosophy
has an expressed commitment to helping erring souls to correct themselves.

It is encouraging to see the drop in death sentences in the provinces. The
local courts have demonstrated a new degree of prudence in a matter of
months.

Our national legislative and judicial authorities have worked extensively
to refine the rule of law in criminal justice. The approach implemented
last year, incorporating both leniency and severity - with the accent on
leniency - is a break from China's traditional emphasis on harshness in
law enforcement.

The general appeal for leniency in criminal justice and, more
specifically, the call for prudent use of the death sentence are both
indications of civilized law enforcement. But a more direct cause for the
decline in the number of death sentences in the past months could well be
the new requirement that all such verdicts be scrutinized by the Supreme
Court.

This is additional proof that people behave more responsibly with proper
oversight.

Returning authority over death sentences to the Supreme Court is targeted
not only at reducing the number of such sentences. With its life-and-death
power, the Supreme Court has the obligation to make sure every death
sentence it approves can stand the test of time. There is no remedy for
execution.

(source: Opinion, China Daily)

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

"Prudent" Chinese courts cut back on executions


China has executed fewer people since the country's highest court was
given authority to review death sentences at the start of this year, state
media reported on Friday.

China executes an estimated 5,000 to 12,000 people a year, more than the
rest of the world combined.

On January 1, the country's Supreme People's Court reclaimed its right of
final review, ending the practice of allowing lower courts to order
executions, following media reports exposing a string of wrongful
convictions concealed by investigators.

The number of death sentences in first trials imposed in Beijing courts
dropped 10 percent, and a similar trend was evident across the country, Ni
Shouming, the court's spokesman, told the China Daily.

"The lower courts have to be more prudent now. If a case is sent back for
a retrial by the highest court, it not only means the 1st judgment is
wrong, but also a matter of shame for the lower court," Ni said.

Chen Weidong, a criminal law expert at the People's University in Beijing,
forecast executions would drop 20 percent in 2007, the paper said.

"Leniency and more judicious use of capital punishment is the trend of the
time," Chen said.

Chinese legal officials in March said executions would gradually slow and
China's chief justice in November called for "extreme caution" in handing
out death penalties.

On Thursday, a San Francisco-based rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation,
said the number of executions in China had dropped 40 % to about 7,500 a
year since Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics 6 years ago.

China defends the death sentence as necessary to protect the state and the
people, and says conditions are not yet ripe for its abolishment.

(source: Reuters)






YEMEN:

High court upholds death sentence of Jarallah's murderer


The High Court for Repeal, upheld the death sentence in the 1st instance
on Ali Alsa'awani, murderer of Jarallah Omer, General Secretary of Yemeni
Socialist Party. Sa'awani assassinated Jarrallah after Jarallah had given
his speech in the Conference hall during the third general conference of
the Islah party on 28 December 2002.

Following the ruling announcement, at the end of the month of Ramadan,
lawyer Dr. Mohamed Almikhlafi, head of the follow up committee of
Jarallah's assassination case, told the media that the high court had
upheld the ruling of the 2st instance and appeal court. It ignored other
requests that the lawyers of Jarralah have submitted. He added that it had
even ignored the appeal courts instructions to interrogate the accused
ones who were not questioned.

Mikhlafi, head of the legal circle of the Socialist Party, considered the
method with which the ruling was issued to be in compliance with the
resolution of the government. He pointed out that the resolution
represents the governments efforts to hide the facts behind the
assassination, which is known to all to have been politically motivated.
There is an ongoing effort to conceal the organization that carried out
the assassination.

It is worth mentioning that the ruling was surprised by the committees'
methods. The prosecution was expecting the ruling during the month of
Shaban. It has been issued at the end of Ramadan, close to the Eid
vacation. He added that they were not notified with the outcome of the
ruling and that the media did not cover it. This was also the case with
the first instance and appeal ruling.

Almikhlafi said that the avoidance of announcing the ruling through the
media reflects the authority's desire to avoid reactions because of their
attitude in considering the case as penal.

Alsaawani assassinated the Socialist leader before 4000 representatives of
the Islah Party and hundreds of their guests. This happened in the opening
session of the conference in the presence of the party leaders and foreign
and Arab diplomats.

The assassin admitted that he targeted Jarallah because he was the
engineer of rapprochement between the Socialists and the Islah, the
biggest parties in the Joint Meeting Parties, and former enemies.

He also confessed that he targeted the Islah because of their
rapprochement with what he called the 'seculars'.

(source: Yemen Times)