[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 17


PHILIPPINES:

Palace: Arroyo likely to block death penalty until 2010


PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is inclined to block all death sentences
"regardless of the crime" for the rest of her term, her spokesman said
Monday, two days after ordering the commutation of the death penalty meted
on several convicts.

Under the Constitution, Arroyos term will end in 2010.

But at the same time, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Presidential Chief
of Staff Michael Defensor clarified that the cases for commutation would
be those in which the death penalty had been affirmed with finality by the
Supreme Court.

"I believe that the intent is to commute the sentences of those who have
been meted the death penalty with final judgment," Bunye said.

"It is clear that the inclination of the President is to commute [the
sentences to life term]," Bunye said.

Asked if this covers crimes such as kidnapping and those related to
terrorism, Bunye said, "Yes, she will commute, regardless of crime."

However, Bunye and Defensor contradicted each other on whether the
President could commute the death sentence with or without a review by the
Department of Justice (DoJ).

Bunye said a review by the DoJ was not needed while Defensor said the DoJ
would have to study the individual cases and recommend to the President if
these should be commuted to life terms.

"Of course, it has to be qualified. It's the policy of the President to
commute but there are exceptions to the rule," he told reporters Monday.

Defensor said the President ordered the DoJ to conduct a "due diligence
[study]" on each of the cases with death penalty and recommend whether it
could be commuted to life sentence.

Defensor said the age, health condition, psychological condition, and the
crime committed by the convict would be among those that would be
considered for recommending a commutation of the sentence.

At present, records from the DoJ show that of the 1,110 cases on death
row, the Supreme Court has affirmed with finality the death penalty on 80.

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

Solons react to Arroyo commutation of death penalty


HOUSE Minority Floor Leader Francis Escudero challenged President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday to certify as urgent a bill seeking to abolish
the death penalty while a pro-administration congressman urged her to
retain the punishment on drug-related cases.

"If I were asked, I would have recommended that [the death penalty] for
drug lords who have caused so much havoc in this country should not be
commuted. They should be the exception to the rule," House Majority Floor
Leader Prospero Nograles told a press conference.

Nograles believes that drug cases are serious than either rape or murder.

"When you are talking of rape or murder, you are only talking of 1 or 2 or
three persons but when you are talking of drugs you are talking of
children. You are devastating the entire country for greed and money," he
said.

But Escudero, who is pushing for the abolition of the death penalty,
pointed out that there was no study that showed that death could be a
deterrent to heinous crimes.

He lauded the President not only for commuting the death sentences of over
a 1,000 convicts but also urged her to repeal the death penalty law if she
was sincere in making her presidential proclamation a policy.

"If the President is really sincere in her pronouncement, our challenge is
for her to certify the bills that seek to abolish the death penalty in our
country to show that this is not temporary or politically motivated,"
Escudero said in a separate press briefing.

Some opposition members suspect that the President's decision to commute
the death sentences was a way of wooing the Catholic Church, which
expressed alarm last week over Malacaangs endorsement of a signature
campaign for Charter change.

"The question now is whether all the cases will be subjected to review,
i.e., due process...? If not, then there's basis for claims that the
commutation was whimsical and politically motivated to woo the Church,
which is now increasingly critical of the President," Paraaque
Representative Roilo Golez, an opposition member, said in a text message.

"If whimsical, then commutation did injustice to the victims of the crimes
behind the death sentences. That would appear to be a violation of the
President's oath of justice to every man, including the victims of the
crimes and their grieving families," Golez said.

Another opposition member, Ilocos Norte Representative Imee Marcos, also
suspects that the hasty commutation of the death sentences is a "political
ploy" to cover up the Mayuga report of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines.

The report, named after Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, contains the results of
a military investigation into the wiretapping controversy linking the
President and several generals to cheating in the 2004 polls.

"It is clear that the commutation is intended to serve as a smokescreen to
hide and downplay the culpability of high-ranking military generals
involved in rigging the 2004 presidential election," Marcos said in a
statement.

"The way I see it, commutation is not an issue of giving a new lease of
life to convicts but saving a presidency from the death penalty," she
stressed.

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

Palace to pro-death advocates: Times cry for 'compassion'


SAYING the times "cry for compassion and reconciliation," President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo stood by her decision to commute the present death
sentences to life terms.

"The President's decision came after deep contemplation and reflection in
the field of Christian values. The people's power to forgive under both
the Bible and the Constitution can change a nation for good, especially at
these times that cry for compassion and reconciliation," Arroyo's
spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement Monday.

"We understand the deep hurt inflicted upon the families of the victims of
heinous crimes, but the President believes that learning to forgive
without compromising criminal justice would be a good start for the nation
to move on," he said.

Bunye said the President was prepared to take the "heavy flak" for her
decision but appealed to her critics to refrain from imputing politics on
the issue. He also insisted the commutation was part of the presidential
prerogative allowed by law.

In her Easter message issued last Saturday, Arroyo commuted to life
imprisonment the death penalty on some 1,000 convicts.

"The President is not seeking nor does she expect any political returns
from her decision. In fact, she is taking the heavy flak for it. So let's
leave politics out of this exercise of a lawful and legitimate exercise of
presidential prerogative," he said.

Anti-crime advocates had criticized Arroyo for her decision, while several
bishops lauded her. Some had viewed her move as an effort to appease the
Catholic Church, which had opposed a Malacaang-backed peoples initiative
to gather signatures to amend the 1987 Constitution.

More than a week before she announced the commutation, the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines issued a pastoral statement
criticizing the signature campaign for Charter change.

In the past, Arroyo had said she was in favor of repealing the death
penalty law, but was leaving the final decision to Congress.

"In the meantime, we wish to assure the public that our anti-crime
campaign will not relent to clean up the streets and ensure the peace and
safety of all law-abiding citizens," Bunye said.

Congressman Eduardo Gullas, deputy majority floor leader at the House of
Representatives and an Arroyo ally, said that he sponsored a bill to get
rid of the death penalty to force lawmakers to decide on the matter.

"If we want to keep the death penalty in our statute books and just allow
future chief executives to use or not use it, then by all means let us do
so. But we have to make a conscious decision," Gullas said.

The Philippines lifted a ban on executions in 1999 during the term of
president Joseph Estrada, currently on trial for corruption and could
himself face the death penalty if convicted.

(source for all: Philippines Inquirer)

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

Justice secretary backs PGMAs commutation of death penalty


Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales has expressed support for President
Arroyo's commutation of death penalty into life imprisonment for those who
are now in death row, saying "I am the secretary of justice and serving as
the alter ego of the president, so I must agree with her."

In an interview with PIA-MMIO NCR, Gonzales said there are pros and cons
in the issue but he is giving the President the benefit of the doubt for
the judgement call.

The Chief Executive's decision on the matter came after deep contemplation
and reflection in the field of Christian values.

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Ignacio "Toting" Bunye pointed out that the
peoples power to forgive under the Bible and the Constitution can change a
nation for good.

"We maintain that even hardened criminals should be given the chance to
reform and transform themselves even as we leave to the Congress the final
decision on whether or not the death penalty law should be abolished."

Bunye clarified that the present leadership understands the deep hurt
inflicted upon the families of the victims of heinous crimes, but
President Arroyo believes that learning to forgive without compromising
the criminal justice would be a good start for the nation to move on.

The Presidential Spokesman also belied reports that the Chief Executive
made the decision to pacify the Catholic Church and win its vote to push
the Charter amendment.

"The President is not seeking nor expecting any political returns from her
decision. In fact, she is taking the heavy flak for it. So, let's leave
politics out this exercise of a lawful and legitimate exercise of
presidential prerogative."

(source: Philippines Information Agency)

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

Commutation of death sentences receives backing of lawmakers


Administration allies expressed support yesterday for President Arroyos
decision to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment.

"The Philippines is on the verge of rejoining the league of progressive
nations which have abolished the death penalty," said Albay Rep. Edcel
Lagman.

He said since Mrs. Arroyo took over from ousted President Joseph Estrada
in January 2001, "there has been a de facto abolition of the death penalty
because she has not executed a single convict."

Lagman recalled that last Feb. 22, he wrote Mrs. Arroyo asking her to
certify a bill abolishing the death penalty. He is a principal author of
the House measure.

He said capital punishment must be scrapped because of its cruelty and
inhumanity, the imperfection of human justice, the inequality between the
poor and the rich in the access to and salvation from the courts, and its
failure to deter the commission of heinous crimes.

Lagman said it is not true that the Presidents decision was designed to
court the Catholic hierarchy to support administration initiatives like
Charter change.

"The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has been campaigning
for the repeal of the death penalty law," he added.

Deputy Majority Leader Abraham Mitra said those who criticize the
Presidents decision should realize that life in jail is more cruel than
the easy way out provided by lethal injection.

"Its also wrong to claim that a moratorium on executions signals an open
season for crime and mayhem because what has not been refuted is the fact
that certainty of arrest and conviction remains the strongest deterrent to
crime," he said.

"The President reinforced this doctrine by allotting P1 billion for 3,000
more policemen and 500 new patrol cars this year. More policemen on the
streets, and not more inmates in death row is what will stop crime," Mitra
stressed.

Both Majority Leader Prospero Nograles and Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco
said with Mrs. Arroyos refusal to carry out any death sentence, Congress
should now revisit the death penalty law.

Nograles said no one should question the commutation of death sentences
because "it is a presidential prerogative."

"This will surely trigger a full-blown debate in Congress," said Cuenco.

House Deputy Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas said Congress would have to
decide soon whether it wants to keep or abolish the death penalty law.

"We are not saying we should do this right away. But we have to make a
conscious decision one way or the other," he said.

Gullas said the President could certify a bill abolishing the death
penalty, which "will at least oblige both the House of Representatives and
the Senate to eventually decide on the matter."

He also defended Mrs. Arroyos order for the mass commutation of death
sentences, saying her power to do so "is absolute, just like the power to
grant pardon. Nobody can question it."

The Presidents decision effectively made the Philippines "a death penalty
abolitionist in practice," Gullas added, noting that there are 26
countries worldwide that "have retained the death penalty in their statute
books for certain crimes, but have not actually carried out any
executions, and have a conscious policy not to carry out executions."

He identified these "abolitionists in practice" as Algeria, Bahrain,
Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Congo,
Gambia, Grenada, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania,
Morocco, Myanmar, Nauru, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Sri
Lanka, Suriname, Togo, Tonga and Tunisia.

Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago hailed Mrs. Arroyo for "one of the
boldest moves made by a Philippine president in recent history," and said
her decision was not without precedent in other parts of the world.

He said that in 1999, then President Boris Yeltsin decreed the blanket
commutation of the death sentence on all 716 convicts on Russias death
row.

Santiago also said that then Illinois Gov. George Ryan made history when
he commuted the death sentence of all 156 inmates on his states death row
in 2003, and called the capital punishment system "arbitrary, capricious,
immoral" and unfair.

Santiago said Congress should follow the Presidents lead and promptly
repeal the death penalty law "in favor of a new, harsher form of life
imprisonment with hard and productive labor, and without allowances for
good behavior."

He proposed that those convicted of heinous crimes "be kept in prison
until they are 70 years old, or until they have served a minimum of 40
years, whichever comes first, before becoming eligible for parole. This
means they will effectively spend the rest of their natural lives in
prison."

Santiago said numerous international scientific studies, including those
conducted for the United Nations, have convincingly demonstrated that the
death penalty serves no purpose that cannot be achieved effectively by the
lesser punishment of lifetime captivity.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also called for the abolition
of the death penalty, saying Mrs. Arroyos commutation order was a
"half-measure."

"Death penalty has no place in a civilized society. The EU (European
Union) has abolished it," he said, adding that she should "prod her House
allies" to abolish the death penalty law.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National
Police, said Mrs. Arroyo should have considered how the victims families
would feel before she issued the commutation order.

"She should have also thought of the agonies that they go through waiting
for justice to be served... Another question is, 'What comes after,
parole? Or another commutation maybe?' (She) talks tough on crime but
doesnt deliver. Very much like her," Lacson said.

(source: Phillipine Star)

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

Arroyo Commutes Death Sentences, But Will Filipinos Be Safer?


Drawing mixed responses in a country plagued by violent crime and
terrorism, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo has commuted the death
sentences of more than 1,200 convicts on death row, including more than a
dozen al-Qaeda-linked terrorists.

The decision, announced over the Easter weekend, was welcomed by the
Catholic Church but drew criticism from anti-crime groups.

It also sparked an immediate debate, with widespread speculation that a
politically-embattled Arroyo was trying to win support from the
influential anti-death penalty church.

All death row prisoners will now serve life imprisonment instead of facing
death by lethal injection, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Monday,
stressing that none were being pardoned. They would remain behind bars for
life unless some future president pardoned them.

Arroyo's office dismissed criticism that the move was politically
motivated.

"The president is not seeking nor does she expect any political returns
from her decision," spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Monday. "In fact, she is
taking the heavy flak for it. So let's leave politics out of this exercise
of a lawful and legitimate exercise of presidential prerogative."

Bunye said the decision followed "deep contemplation and reflection."

"We understand the deep hurt inflicted upon the families of the victims of
heinous crimes, but the president believes that learning to forgive
without compromising criminal justice would be a good start for the nation
to move on ... even hardened criminals should be given the chance to
reform and transform themselves."

Arroyo's Easter announcement made no reference to the broader issue of the
death penalty. A moratorium on executions has been in place since she took
office in 2001 but scrapping capital punishment would require an act of
Congress.

Several lawmakers responded to Arroyo's decision by saying they would call
for a review of the death penalty.

The powerful Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has long
argued that the death penalty is not an effective deterrent and should be
repealed.

The body's president, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, in a statement Monday
welcomed the move and expressed the hope it would be followed by
abolition.

"Corruption, immorality and poverty breed criminality," he said, adding
that "less of these would mean less criminality."

"The rehabilitation and reformation of pardoned criminals must also be
assured for the continuing peace and harmony in society."

But anti-crime organizations reacted with dismay to Arroyo's announcement,
saying it would send the wrong signal to criminals.

"It's the height of insensitivity and callousness," Teresita Ang-See of
the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order, a citizens' group, told
the country's ABS-CBN television.

A columnist in the Manila Times recalled that 2/3 of respondents in a
survey had supported capital punishment.

"The public perceives - more rightly than wrongly - that the authorities
have failed to stem the tide of lawlessness, which has engulfed this
country for decades," wrote Dan Mariano.

"In desperation, many Filipinos now believe that the only sure way of
dealing with crime is to kill criminals."

Kidnappings, beheadings

The Philippines has for years struggled with violent crime. Islamic and
communist rebel groups have waged long running and bloody insurgencies.

Kidnappings-for-ransom are commonplace -- more than 200 people have been
kidnapped a year on average over the past decade -- and the Philippine
National Police in a typical recent year recorded more than 6,000 murders
and 3,000 rapes.

In another indicator, more than 50 journalists have been killed over the
past two decades, 22 of them since 2000, according to the Committee for
the Protection of Journalists, which last year named the Philippines the
"most murderous" country worldwide for journalists.

Government figures show there are 1,174 men and 31 women currently on
death row. Capital punishment is handed down in most cases for murder,
rape and kidnapping for ransom.

The terrorists among those whose death penalties have been commuted
include at least 13 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), sentenced to
death in August 2004 for kidnapping 4 people from a hospital in the
southern Philippines in 2001.

One of the hostages, nurse Ediborah Yap, was subsequently held captive
along with an American couple, missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, for
more than a year before Yap and Martin Burnham were killed during a rescue
mission. Earlier the same ASG group had decapitated other hostages,
including American tourist Guillermo Sobero.

In October last year, another two ASG terrorists were sentenced to death,
along with an Indonesian, for a bus bombing in Metro Manila that killed
four people and wounded scores more.

Although these individuals will remain incarcerated under the new policy,
prison security in the Philippines is notoriously lax.

In April 2004, more than 50 prisoners escaped from a jail in the south
after inmates managed to get hold of a firearm and overpower guards.

They included about two dozen members of the ASG, some of them awaiting
trial for kidnappings and murders in the south, including the beheading of
at least 10 villagers in 2001 and a Catholic priest in 2000.

In 2003, a top bombmaker for Southeast Asia's most dangerous terrorist
group, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), managed to escape from police headquarters in
Manila.

Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, a key link man between JI and ASG, was accused of
involvement in a plot to bomb the U.S., Israeli and other Western
embassies and interests in Singapore.

Three months after his escape, he was shot dead in an exchange with
Philippines troops in the south.

13 months ago, an ASG leader awaiting trial for the murder of Sobero led a
violent uprising inside a 4-story Manila lockup. By the time troops
eventually ended the rebellion by force, 22 detainees, including the ASG
leader and 2 others, were dead, along with a policeman and 3 guards.

ASG prisoners are now held at a maximum security section of a prison on
the southern fringes of the capital.

Despite arrests and deaths of leading ASG figures in recent years its
campaign for an Islamic state in the south of the predominantly Catholic
country continues.

On Monday, military spokesman reported that an ASG plot to bomb the
southern city of Zamboanga during the week leading up to Easter had been
foiled. Security force raids had unearthed explosive and detonation
equipment, but the would-be bombers managed to escape.

The ASG is blamed for the Philippines' worst terror attack, the bombing of
a ferry in 2004 that cost more than 100 lives.

The group's leader, Khadafi Janjalani, remains at large and the subject of
a $5 million reward offered by the U.S. government, which has designated
the ASG a foreign terrorist organization.

(source: CNS News)






IRAQ:

Saddam's handwriting scrutinized in court


Saddam Hussein and 7 co-accused returned to court on Monday and
proceedings focused on attempts to prove the ousted Iraqi president signed
documents implicating him in crimes against humanity.

A criminal expert's report was read out in court which said Saddam's
signatures were on documents connecting him with the killing of 148
Shi'ite men and teenagers after an attempt on his life in the town of
Dujail in 1982.

Saddam has said he ordered the trial which led to the execution of the
men, saying that any president who escaped an assassination attempt was
entitled to crack down.

But Saddam and his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan
al-Tikriti have refused to give the Iraqi tribunal in Baghdad a sample of
their handwriting.

One of Saddam's lawyers, Khamis al-Obeidi, requested the court appoint
other experts, saying those testifying were members of the Interior
Ministry.

"They cannot be independent when they have links to the Interior Ministry
and the state," he said.

Chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman adjourned the trial until Wednesday to give
the experts more time to authenticate the signatures of Saddam and Barzan.

Saddam, wearing a dark suit and white shirt, sat in a metal pen listening
quietly as the report was presented in court, in sharp contrast to
previous sessions which were dominated by his tirades. He could face
hanging if found guilty.

Barzan criticized chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi and accused him of
leaking the results of a criminal expert report on his handwriting to a
radio station.

He also repeated the line that fraudulent signatures were easy to come by
in Iraq.

"My signature is very simple, anyone can imitate it," said Barzan, a
former Iraqi ambassador in Geneva.

Saddam could soon face trial on charges of genocide in the Anfal campaign
against the Kurds in the late 1980s in which more than 100,000 people were
killed and thousands of villages razed.

(source: Reuters)