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

[Rick Halperin]

June 12



PHILIPPINES:

Papal Nuncio hails RP abolition of death penalty

PAPAL Nuncio Fernando Filoni has hailed the abolition of the death
penalty law by Congress, saying this reflects the government's respect
for life.

Congress last week approved a bill abolishing the death penalty, despite
protests from relatives of crime victims, and said it planned to send the
bill to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo soon for signing into law.
Arroyo has backed efforts to abolish capital punishment.

Speaking before government officials and diplomatic corps at the vin d'
honneur in Malacaang on Monday, Filoni said the passage of the law
abolishing the death penalty "indicated one of the more elevated and
accomplished perspectives of civilization."

"It is a sign of profound human sensitivity capable of judging the
administration of justice according to criteria of healing rather than
vindicating as well as of respect to those who have unfortunately violated
the dignity of life itself," he said.

In a separate interview, Filoni told reporters many ambassadors were
happy and congratulated leaders of Congress and anti-death penalty groups
for their "brave choice."

"It is a contradiction to hold to the abolition of the death penalty while
the other fundamental rights of a person have not been properly defended,"
Filoni said.

Filoni did not cite examples, but left-wing groups have recently
criticized Arroyo's government for cracking down on anti-government
protests and for failing to stop what the groups describe as a wave of
extra-judicial killings.

They blame the military for most of the killings of more than 600
activists since Arroyo came to power in 2001. Her government has
repeatedly denied responsibility and has ordered an investigation into the
killings.

A devout Catholic, Arroyo in April announced the commutation of the death
sentences meted on several convicts to life imprisonment.

Anti-death penalty advocates contend that more than 1,200 death-row
convicts -- including at least 11 Al Qaeda-linked militants -- stand to
benefit from the removal of capital punishment.

Anti-crime crusaders have condemned Congress' decision and plan to protest
against it on Tuesday.

The 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty that dictator Ferdinand
Marcos' government used to execute about a dozen people convicted of rape
and drug charges. Congress restored the death penalty in late 1993 for
heinous crimes such as murder, child rape, and kidnapping.

7 people convicted of rape and robbery with killings have been
executed under the current death penalty law.

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

Arroyo justified in seeking death penalty abolition--Palace


PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was justified in her decision to have
the death penalty law abolished after Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio
Panganiban said that there could have been a "judicial error" in the
execution of rape convict Leo Echegaray, her chief aide said on Monday.
But Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said they were leaving it up to
Congress to determine if it would compensate Echegaray's family.

Panganiban, in a separate interview, would not comment on the issue.

"It's difficult to give an opinion," he told reporters at the vin d'
honneur for diplomatic corps in Malacaang, when asked to comment on a
proposal by Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. to award 10
million pesos to Echegaray's family as the government's "expression of
apology."

Panganiban also did not comment on a statement that the high tribunal
could have made a similar error in the case of former president Joseph
Estrada.

Estrada's spokesman, appealed to Panganiban to correct the injustice
committed against Estrada in 2001 when it ruled that the deposed president
had "constructively resigned" from office, thus, paving the way for then
vice president Arroyo to assume the presidency.

"It's hard to comment, the case is still pending," he said.

Panganiban said he was against the death sentenced imposed on Echegaray
but was outvoted.

"The problem with the death penalty is that we cannot anymore correct our
errors because we cannot bring back the life of the person," he added.


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

Chief Justice firm Echegaray execution a judicial error


CHIEF Justice Artemio Panganiban stood pat in his pronouncement that Leo
Echegaray, the first person executed by lethal injection, was a victim of
"judicial error."

During the flag raising ceremony at the Bonifacio Shrine, Panganiban said
it was his stand even during the deliberation on Echegaray's case but was
overruled by a majority at the high court.

However, Panganiban distanced himself from Senator Aquilino Pimentel's
proposal to pay Echegaray's family for damages worth 10 million pesos.

"No comment," Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban told reporters after he led
the flag-raising ceremony at the Bonifacio Shrine as part of the nations
celebration of the 108th anniversary of Philippine Independence.

He also refused to comment on criticisms to his statement.

Meanwhile, high court's information chief Ismael Khan said it was now up
to Congress to determine if Echegaray's family should be compensated.

Khan maintained however that there was enough evidence to mete out the
capital punishment against Echegaray.

"In other words, the situation is the same -- he will still get the death
penalty," Khan said in a phone interview.

He added that Panganiban had always been against the death penalty.

"What he said in his speech is simply a reiteration of his stand several
years ago when they were deliberating on Echegaray's appeal," Khan said.

Six years after the country became the first state in Asia to abolish the
death penalty, lawmakers restored it in 1993.

But it was only during the time of former president Joseph Estrada that
the law was implemented, resulting in the execution of seven convicts.

In 2003, high court records showed that lower courts had close to a 72
percent wrong conviction rate.

Of the more than 1,000 death penalty cases, the high court modified almost
half, acquitted more than 60, and remanded 31 to the lower courts for
re-trial.

Echegaray, a 38-year-old house painter, was executed on Feb. 5, 1999 for
raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter. He had pleaded innocent to the
charge.

(source for all:  Philippine Daily Inquirer)






IRAQ:

Hussein co-defendant wrestled from court----Defense at 'serious
disadvantage,' attorney claims


Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief was dragged out of court and
manhandled by guards after arguing with the judge Monday.

Meanwhile, an American lawyer blasted the trial, saying unfair treatment
was putting the defense at a "serious disadvantage."

Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered Barzan Ibrahim removed after he
accused the court of "terrorizing" the defense.

Iraqi guards grabbed Ibrahim by the arms and pulled him out, and when he
tried to shrug them off, they held his left arm and pushed him into a wall
as they tried to hustle him out the door, causing an uproar among the
defense lawyers.

"This is dictatorial," Ibrahim shouted as he was pulled out. "You know
dictatorship," Abdel-Rahman sneered.

"They are beating him in front of your eyes. Right at the door," defense
lawyer Mohammed Munib shouted to the judge. "How can we ask you to protect
the defendant when they beat him right in front of you?"

Abdel-Rahman banged his gavel and lectured the defense to be quiet.

After the uproar, Hussein stood and sarcastically suggested the defense
and defendants leave "if this will bring you calm and quiet and give you
the opportunity to reach your verdicts. ... If my presence bothers you,
then I can withdraw and ask the defense team to withdraw as well."

"You are before the world, which sees through this place, whether they
hear from the so-called defendants or defense or the attackers," he said,
referring to the prosecution.

"People, Iraq's money is being stolen," he said. "Bloodshed is taking
place every day, four times as much bloodshed in Dujail -- I mean those
who were sentenced to death."

Hussein and seven former members of his regime are on trial for charges of
crimes against humanity in a crackdown against Shiites in the town of
Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein. They are accused of
torturing women and children and wrongfully killing 148 Shiites sentenced
to death for the attack on the former Iraqi leader.

It was the 2nd time in 2 weeks that Ibrahim has been thrown out for
arguing with Abdel-Rahman.

The court has gotten more chaotic in recent sessions as the defense
stepped up its arguments that the prosecution case is fundamentally flawed
-- and possibly forged -- and its complaints that the defense team is
being treated unfairly.

Two weeks ago, four defense witnesses were arrested after giving their
testimony, and the defense team said they were beaten by Iraqi police as
U.S. soldiers watched. Abdel-Rahman accused the four of committing
perjury.

An American on the defense team, Curtis Doebbler, accused the court of
discriminating against the defense Monday, saying it had ignored its
requests, intimidated witnesses and rushed the defense while giving the
prosecution all the time it needed to present its case.

"We are at a serious disadvantage to the prosecution because of the way we
have been treated by the court," Doebbler told Abdel-Rahman. "We want to
work for justice. But that must start by having a fair trial. But under
the current circumstances, that doesn't seem possible. We ask that the
trial be stopped to allow us adequate time to prepare our defense."

He pointed out that the prosecution took more than five months to present
its case, while the court is rushing the defense, which began its
arguments in April. Abdel-Rahman has repeatedly demanded the defense
present full lists of witnesses.

"Our witnesses have been intimidated by the court and have been
assaulted," Doebbler said. "Several lawyers were assaulted as well."

Doebbler is one of two American lawyers, along with former U.S. attorney
general Ramsey Clark, who have joined the defense team, though they have
not attended every session. Doebbler is an international lawyer who is
working as a visiting professor at Najah University in the West Bank town
of Nablus.

"We have not received one reasoned opinion in response to our enormous
written submissions," he said. "We've not been able to visit the place
where the Dujail events took place. I have asked to visit the place for a
year and I haven't received any answer."

Among the defense motions are ones questioning the tribunal's legitimacy,
but others are more substantive, seeking documents the defense says are
key. It has asked the court for the entire records of the 1984 trial by
Hussein's Revolutionary Court that sentenced the 148 Shiites to death.

That trial is key to the case because the prosecution has claimed it was a
cursory show trial in which the Shiites had no chance to present a
defense. Hussein's lawyers have contended it was a fair legal proceeding
and a justified response to the shooting attack on Hussein. The chief
judge of the Revolutionary Court, Awad al-Bandar, is among the seven
co-defendants in the Dujail case.

The defense has also sought an inquiry into claims by three of its
witnesses that some of the 148 Shiites supposedly killed in the crackdown
are still alive. Abdel-Rahman ordered an investigation, but there is no
sign that one has begun and the three witnesses were among those he
ordered arrested on perjury charges.

The defense argues that if some of the 148 are still alive, it casts the
entire prosecution case in doubt and has demanded all the prosecution's
documents be reviewed for authenticity.

(source:  Associated Press)






AUSTRALIA/SINGAPORE:

Howard urged to pressure Singapore on death penalty


A barrister who represented a Melbourne man hanged in Singapore last year
is calling on Prime Minister John Howard to raise the issue when he meets
with his Singaporean counterpart tomorrow.

Lex Lasry, QC, represented 23-year-old Van Nguyen, who was arrested in
Singapore in 2002 on drugs charges.

He was executed last year after an appeal for clemency was rejected.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrives in Australia tomorrow
for trade and security talks with Mr Howard.

Mr Lasry says he wants Mr Howard to join a campaign to change Singapore's
law regarding the death penalty.

"It operated very unfairly in the case of Van Nguyen," he said.

"Lee Hsien Loong said that the rule of law had taken its course when Van
Nguyen was executed but it wasn't the rule of law at all.

"The only thing that's even worse than a death penalty is a mandatory
death penalty which takes the courts out of the equation.

"Ultimately I say that Singapore will have to change that law, it's an
extraordinarily unfair law."

(source:  ABC News)