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

[Rick Halperin]

June 25



IRAN:

A man hanged in public in southern Iran


A 22-year-old man was reported to have been hanged in public in Shiraz,
provincial capital of Fars in southern Iran.

In a report today, Quds state-run daily identified the young man as Mohsen
Najmi who was alleged to have killed another man.

Since the appointment of Ahmadinejad as the mullahs' president some 280
people have either been executed or sentenced to death. The figure is
based on press reports in Iran but the actual number is feared to be
higher due to secret executions which are never reported.

The high number of executions in Iran has been a matter of grave concern
for international human rights bodies and it is continued unabated.

(source: National Council of Resistance of Iran)






MAURITIUS:

Capital punishment tricky for Mauritian Premier


Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, has described the death penalty
as "a tricky and sensitive issue" following sharp disagreements between
the country`s MPs on the matter.

Responding to an MP who wanted to know if the Prime Minister intended to
lift the suspension on capital punishment in the country, Ramgoolam
recalled that the death sentence was suspended in August 1995 and replaced
by life imprisonment.

"But the Constitution has not been amended to that effect. Therefore, the
death penalty is still in force on the island against murder," he
stressed.

The Prime Minister, however, noted that Mauritius had signed several
international conventions on the right to life and the protection of
people against inhuman and degrading treatments.

He cited the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International
Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against torture,
cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, the Convention on
children`s rights and the African human and people's Rights Charter.

"Even if there is no concrete proof that the death penalty can reduce
killings, we have all been shocked by the brutal murders recently
committed against women and children," Ramgoolam noted.

According to him, "we should not only be hard on criminals but harsher
against the causes of crime."

He emphasised: "We are going to reform the law to punish more severely
authors of horrible crimes, particularly those committed against women and
children."

(source: Angola Press)






PHILIPPINES:

'A celebration of life'


President Arroyo signed yesterday the law abolishing the death penalty on
the eve of her trip to the Vatican as she called on Filipinos  especially
those on the pro-capital punishment side  to "celebrate life in the most
meaningful way."

She allayed fears that the abolition of capital punishment "opens the
floodgates" of crime, vowing she will not relent in battling terrorists
and criminals.

"We shall continue to devote the increasing weight of our resources to the
prevention and control of serious crimes, rather than take the lives of
those who commit them," the President said.

Noting that she was signing the law a day after a car bomb killed 6 people
in Maguindanao, Mrs. Arroyo said the government "will never be intimidated
by these treacherous acts, and we shall fight terror as seriously as we
embrace peace and development, solidarity among our law abiding citizens
and our strategic alliances."

"This commitment stands firm, and we will not relent until the total
defeat of terrorists in every part of the country," she said.

"We have taken a strong hand against the threats to the law and the
republic, but at the same time we yield to the high moral imperatives
dictated by God to walk away from capital punishment," Mrs. Arroyo said.

She called on law enforcers, judges, prosecutors and communities to help
shoulder the responsibility of "sharpening law and justice for all."

"The rule of law, strictly enforced, shall ride side by side with social
justice in paving the way for an atmosphere of political and economic
security, so that every person and family shall have the blessings of
stable employment, better health, education and public safety," the
President said.

Papal Nuncio Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the Vaticans envoy to Manila,
congratulated Mrs. Arroyo and legislators who approved the measure.

"This could be another very important step to go on in showing that the
culture of life is very alive and important in this country," Filoni said.
"We cannot speak about human rights when death penalty is imposed."

Mrs. Arroyo signed the law shortly after returning to Malacaang from the
St. Lukes Medical Center in Quezon City where she was rushed late
Thursday, suffering from acute diarrhea.

A tired-looking Mrs. Arroyo received senior legislators at Malacaang to
sign the bill into law, which abolished a 1994 statute that mandated
capital punishment for "heinous crimes."

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the President was
"taking it easy" and "making preparations" for her trip to the Vatican,
Italy and Spain, which was set to begin today.

"The President is in good condition after a day and a half in hospital.
She was able to get a full rest," Ermita added.

Congress 2 weeks earlier approved a bill abolishing capital punishment
despite protests from anti-crime activists, who believe Mrs. Arroyo, a
staunch Roman Catholic, rushed its approval to please the Pope.

Mrs. Arroyo is set to leave for the Vatican today. She is scheduled to
meet separately with Pope Benedict XVI and Italys President Giorgio
Napolitano before traveling on to Spain, where she will hold talks with
King Juan Carlos III and Prime Minister Jose Luis Gonzalez Zapatero. 'In
the name of life'

The Roman Catholic Church has been at the forefront of the clamor to
abolish capital punishment.

"I thank the Church for the beacon of grace and discernment. When I meet
the Holy Father soon at the Vatican, I shall tell him that we have acted
in the name of life for a world of peace and harmony," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Akbayan Rep. Etta Rosales, one of several lawmakers who attended the
signing ceremony and a staunch Arroyo critic, lauded Mrs. Arroyo for
signing the bill into law.

"In all fairness to the President, when we (anti-death penalty lawmakers)
ask for a moratorium on executions, even if she did not put it into
writing she did go by her word," Rosales told reporters.

She, however, said the government should take strong action on the series
of killings of left-leaning activists and journalists in the past months.

An anti-death penalty advocate group also said the administration should
move decisively to stop the killings. "If the President truly respects
human rights and values life, then she must speedily respond to these
challenges: put a stop to the extra-judicial killings and the culture of
impunity that gives perpetrators the audacity and liberty to kill and kill
again," the Mamamayang Tutol sa Bitay (Citizens Against Capital
Punishment)-Movement for Restorative Justice said in a statement.

Filipinos are divided on the death penalty issue. Supporters argue it is
an effective deterrent against crime.

Opponents argue that the death penalty has been ineffective and claim that
more efficient law enforcement and a speedy justice system are the
solutions.

By signing the bill abolishing the death penalty, Mrs. Arroyo "has
practically licensed drug lords, murderers, plunderers, kidnappers and
terrorists to do their illegal activities," said Dante Jimenez, founder of
Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.

The 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty, which the government of
late dictator Ferdinand Marcos used to execute about a dozen people
convicted of rape and drug charges.

However, the Charter also gave Congress the prerogative to restore it.

Fueled by public uproar over a series of high-profile murder cases,
capital punishment was restored in 1994 for a number of "heinous" crimes
such as rape, kidnapping-for-ransom, murder, drug trafficking and treason.

On April 16, Easter Sunday, Mrs. Arroyo commuted all death sentences to
life and, weeks later, certified as "urgent" pending bills in the Senate
and the House seeking the repeal of Republic Act 8177, which restored
capital punishment in 1994.

The bill passed without dissent in the Senate on June 6 after a more
contentious vote in the House of Representatives.

The lives of more than 1,200 death-row convicts  including at least 11
al-Qaeda-linked militants  will be spared due to the abolition of capital
punishment.

Anti-crime groups warn that abolishing the death penalty would only
embolden criminals and have earlier appealed to Mrs. Arroyo not to sign
the bill into law.

Seven convicts were put to death between 1999 and 2000 until President
Joseph Estrada declared a moratorium on executions amid pressure from the
Catholic Church and rights groups.

Mrs. Arroyo continued the moratorium but then lifted it in October 2001,
saying the freeze emboldened criminals, particularly kidnap-for-ransom
gangs. No executions have occurred since the moratorium was lifted.

In September 2002, Mrs. Arroyo indefinitely suspended executions when
lawmakers began debates on whether or not to repeal the death penalty law.

Mrs. Arroyo reversed the moratorium a month after the body of a kidnapped
Coca-Cola executive Betti Chua Sy was found stuffed in a trash bag in
November  only to flip-flop again later.

(source: Philippine Star)

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

125th country to abolish death sentence


The Philippines yesterday became the 25th country in the Asia-Pacific
region and the 125th in the world to abolish the death penalty when
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a law ahead of a visit to the
Vatican.

Here is an overview of the use of the death penalty around the world:

Death penalty in 2005

* At least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries last year, according
to Amnesty International.

* 94 % were killed in 4 countries: China (1,770), Iran (94), Saudi Arabia
(86) and the United States (60).

* An additional 5,186 people were sentenced to death.

In Philippines

* 7 Filipinos were executed by lethal injection after a 1993 law reimposed
the death penalty.

* In 2000, then-President Joseph Estrada, under pressure from the Roman
Catholic Church, declared a moratorium on executions. Since then around
1,200 convicts, including 28 women, have been confined on death row.

Towards abolition

* There are now 125 countries which have abolished the death penalty in
law or practice. Some 70 countries and territories retain and use it,
although the number, which actually execute prisoners in any one year is
much smaller.

* The number of countries carrying out executions dropped for a 4th
consecutive year in 2005. Over the past 20 years, the number has halved.

The highest rate

* Singapore has hanged about 420 people since 1991, mostly for drug
trafficking. This gives the city state of 4.4m the worlds highest
execution rate per capita.

* China refuses to publish full official statistics on executions. Amnesty
International estimates at least 1,770 were executed in 2005, others put
the figure at around 8,000.

* Vietnam classifies its death penalty statistics as a state secret.

* Amnesty says the true numbers of executions are certainly higher than
its estimates.

Methods of executions since 2000:

* Beheading (Saudi Arabia, Iraq)

* Electrocution (United States)

* Hanging (Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Singapore)

* Lethal injection (China, Guatemala, Thailand, Philippines, United
States)

* Shooting (Belarus, China, Somalia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam)

(sources: Reuters/ Amnesty International)