[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 24


NIGERIA:

Rights commission calls for action on death row Nigerians


Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission called on the government
Wednesday to examine why so many Nigerians are facing the death penalty
worldwide.

'More than 50 Nigerians are currently on death row across the globe,' the
commission's spokesman, Lambert Oparah, said.

'The situation should be a worry to the government ... whose image in the
international community is further tarnished by these vicious and heinous
criminal activities,' Oparah added.

More than 10 Nigerians were recently sentenced to death in Indonesia on
drugs-related offences.

Oparah urged the Nigerian government to examine why Nigerian youths
abandoned their country to engage in criminal acts.

Despite vast oil resources, many people in Africa's most populous country
live in abject poverty.

Oparah, however, said that the government should attempt to convince
countries to commute the death sentences to life imprisonment.

(source: Africa News)






INDIA:

Death penalty for Dalit murders ---- Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange has spent 2
years fighting for justice for his family

A court in the western Indian state of Maharashtra has sentenced 6 people
to death for killing 4 members of a lower-caste Dalit family in 2006.

Another 2 were sentenced to life in prison. All 8 were found guilty last
week. 3 others were acquitted.

The Dalits, a woman, daughter and 2 sons, were killed by an upper-caste
mob in a land row. The husband escaped.

The case led to widespread protests. Crimes against Dalits, formerly known
as untouchables, often go unpunished.

The prosecution argued that the killings were caste-related, but the court
rejected the allegation. Prosecutors plan to appeal.

Discrimination against Dalits, who are at the bottom of the centuries-old
Hindu caste system, is a punishable offence in India.

Even so, campaigners say violence against Dalits is on the rise.

Raped

The brutal killings took place on 29 September 2006 in a remote village
called Khairlanji, in Bhandara district in the north-east of the state.

Dalits are often the victims of inter caste violence

Surekha Bhotmange, her 17-year-old daughter Priyanka and two sons,
19-year-old Roshan and 21-year-old Sudhir, were at home when an
upper-caste mob broke into their mud hut and murdered them.

The 4 were dragged out and beaten with bicycle chains, sticks and other
weapons, the court in Bhandara heard.

The mother and daughter were stripped and raped by the mob, prosecutors
said. The women's bodies were found in a nearby canal the next day.

Surekha's husband, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, managed to escape and hid behind
a tree from where he watched his family being killed.

He pursued the case with the support of several human rights activists.

Death sentences are relatively rare in India - and even more rarely
carried out.

According to law, the death penalty must be confirmed by a higher court,
and may be appealed against.

Menial

The killings led to widespread protests across Maharashtra and in November
2006 the case was handed over to the Central Bureau for Investigation
(CBI).

A month later, the agency charged 11 people with criminal conspiracy,
unlawful assembly with deadly weapons, murder, trespass, outraging the
modesty of women, destruction of evidence and caste-related offences.

About 10.2% of Maharashtra's population of about 100 million belong to the
Dalit community.

In the traditional Hindu caste system, Dalits were considered the lowest
of the low castes.

They were expected to do the most menial jobs in villages. They could not
share basic amenities, including drinking water, with upper-caste people.

Such practices still exist in rural areas.

(source: BBC News)