[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 19



PHILIPPINES:

Rep. Asistio: I was a death row convict


CLAIMING THAT presidential clemency saved his life, a former death row
inmate, Caloocan Representative Luis "Baby" Asistio, supports the decision
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to commute all death sentences to
life imprisonment.

"I was a death row convict before I became a congressman," Asistio told
dzMM radio reporter Anthony Taberna in an overseas telephone call from Los
Angeles.

He added that he once served in the infamous but privileged role of a
prison "mayor" [cell block leader] during martial law.

Asistio also confirmed the existence of hit men inside the New Bilibid
Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City who would liquidate fellow convicts for a
fee.

He recalled one instance when a rich Taiwanese businessman paid the jail
warden and a fellow death convict to put down Benjamin Ong, who had killed
the businessman's son.

"But I succeeded in scuttling their plans twice since Ong is my friend,"
Asistio said.

He said the Taiwanese tried to have Ong eliminated three times and bribed
Asistio with P1 million, but to no avail, according to the ex-convict.

Ong was eventually pardoned and left for the United States to start a new
life.

He is now a "happy California-based citizen," Asistio said.

Big Four Gang

Asistio was part of the '60s notorious "Big Four Gang," a group of young
men from Caloocan and Malabon said to be the most feared on the nightclub
strip on Roxas Boulevard, which was then called Dewey Boulevard.

According to Supreme Court records, Asistio and Benigno Urquico were among
the accused in the December 1962 kidnap-for-ransom of Chua Pao.

Urquico was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. In December 1965,
strongman Ferdinand Marcos commuted his sentence to 17 to 20 years. On
Dec. 16, 1999, then President Joseph Estrada granted Urquico a full
pardon.

Asistio, meanwhile, spent 13 years at the NBP before his death sentence
was commuted to life imprisonment. Eventually, he was pardoned by Marcos.

Asistio, a member of the House minority, believes that life imprisonment
is a heavier penalty than death. "If you will be executed (by electric
chair, at that time), that solves all your problems," he said in Filipino.

He recalled that convicts serving life terms would rather face execution
than spend their entire lives in misery at the NBP.

He cited the case of former Nueva Ecija Representative Nicanor de Guzman
who was also pardoned by Malacaang.

"Ako dating convict, naging congressman; siya (De Guzman) naman dating
congressman na naging convict (I was an ex-convict who became a
congressman; he was a former congressman who became a convict)," quipped
Asistio.

In supporting the commutation of all death sentences, Asistio said: "It's
not the gravity of the punishment, it's the certainty that when you commit
a crime you will be arrested."

Hiring hit men

Taking a cue from Asistio's fate, other House members appealed to all
crime victims and their relatives to be reasonable. They should not take
the law into their hands by hiring hit men to kill erstwhile death
convicts.

Representatives Marcelino Libanan (Eastern Samar) and Douglas Cagas (Davao
del Sur) said the courts had already rendered justice to crime victims and
their relatives. Even if Ms Arroyo commuted the sentences of death row
convicts, this did not alter the guilty verdict of the courts.

Libanan said the plan by heinous crime survivors and their families to
hire hit men inside the NBP for revenge "defies reason, values and faith."

"We appeal to them to remain calm and continue to abide by and respect the
law. The President's decision does not change the courts' guilty judgment
rendered on these convicts and the prescription for capital punishment for
the crimes they committed," Libanan said, adding that making an issue of
the separation of powers lacked merit.

Only during Arroyo's term?

"It was an exercise of presidential prerogative. The commutation does not
mean the courts cannot impose the death penalty. It only imposed a
moratorium on executions now during the President's term," he said.

Cagas said the threats of revenge from crime victims should be taken
seriously by the NBP.

"The NBP has to double their security measures. Prevention is always the
best security policy," he said.

Although he sympathized with the crime victims and their families, Cagas
said "it's best for them to follow the law and keep their faith in the
country's justice system."

(source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)






PAKISTAN:

Death penalty awarded to 3 accused in murder case


The anti-terrorism court (ATC)-5 on Tuesday awarded death penalty to Atif
Majeed, Rizwan Ahmed and Asif Khan for involvement in murder of their
friend Munib-ul-Haq after kidnapping him.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch also handed down another death penalty to Atif
Majeed and life imprisonment to Rizwan Ahmed and Asif Khan for kidnapping
Munib-ul-Haq for ransom. The court ordered the convicts to pay Rs one Lac
each to the heirs of the deceased.

The convicts will also have to pay the fine of Rs one Lac each and in case
of default they would undergo further one-year imprisonment.

The accused had allegedly kidnapped their friend 21-year Munib-ul-Haq from
jurisdiction of Police Station Sarjani Gulshan-e-Maimar on November 10,
2005.

They made hostage to Munib at Hyderabad for several days and had thrown
his body at Latifabad Park Hyderabad after killing him in order to hide
their involvement in the kidnapping case. They feared that the victim
would disclose the fact if set free as he was aware of their design.

The heirs of Munib had collected his body from Edhi mortuary Hyderabad
after reports of his death in newspapers.

Talking to Online , father of Munib, Qazi Mashoodul Haq said all the three
convicts were his sons friends whereas the mastermind behind the crime
Atif Majeed was their neighbor and he attended the funeral of his son as
well. I am very much satisfied with the ruling of the court, he added.

(source: Pakistan Tribune)