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

[Rick Halperin]

May 28



LIBYA:

End to death-row saga 'in sight'


In Tripoli, a Libyan organisation headed by the son of leader Muammar
Gaddafi said yesterday that the saga of Aids-affected children and 6
foreign medics condemned to death for allegedly deliberately injecting
them with tainted blood, could soon be resolved.

"Indications of an impending solution to the crisis have appeared after
negotiations in Brussels on May 10 between representatives of the families
of Libyan children stricken with Aids and the European Union," said a
statement from the Gaddafi Foundation headed by Saif al-Islam.

"Representatives of the families have welcomed with satisfaction the
results of these negotiations, and rays of hope for a rapid resolution of
this crisis have appeared," foundation the statement said.

It said the Gaddafi Foundation "is trying to bring together the points of
view of the Libyan families' representatives and those of the
international community."

Libyan sources said the discreet negotiations could enable the 6 condemned
medics to avoid the death penalty.

The 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor have been in prison for 8
years and were condemned to death in May 2004 after being convicted of
infecting 438 children with tainted blood at a Benghazi hospital.

56 of the children have since died.

The sentences against the nurses - Kristiana Valcheva, Nassia Nenova,
Valia Cherveniachka, Valentina Siropoulo and Snejana Dimitrova - and
doctor Ashraf Ahmad Juma were upheld last December.

They are now awaiting a final verdict on their appeal against the death
penalty.

The hearing was expected early in May but has been delayed to a date yet
to be determined, which sources say may mean a solution is in sight.

(source: Reuters--Sapa--AFP)






SUDAN/AUSTRALIA:

Death sentence fades in Sudan


The threat of a death sentence for the Australian convicted of murder in
Southern Sudan George Forbes may have receded, with the country's court of
appeal agreeing to review the evidence in the case.

Under an agreement brokered by the Australian Government, Forbes, who is
ill with a kidney condition, may be moved almost immediately from the
squalid conditions of Rumbek Prison, into a hospital run by the United
Nations or a Christian-run facility.

"It's a very positive development. We are still on high alert about both
his health and the legal process," federal parliamentary secretary for
Foreign Affairs Greg Hunt said.

Australia's ambassador to Sudan, Robert Bowker, has been lobbying hard
since Forbes, 45, was convicted last Monday of the murder of Ukrainian
Mykola Serebrenikov. 3 colleagues were also found guilty.

Forbes' brother-in-law Orson Taylor, who is helping to co-ordinate his
defence, told Fairfax Media from Africa that Forbes was now at risk of
kidney failure. His condition worsened late last week after a torrential
downpour flooded prison toilets, making it impossible for inmates to lie
down.

"The person that saw him said they couldn't believe how quickly he
deteriorated from Thursday to Friday," Mr Taylor said.

He expressed concern that Rumbek's hospitals were not equipped to treat
Forbes.

The latest development coincides with news that the family of the dead man
had been located by the Ukrainian foreign ministry.

Forbes had been prevented from appealing against the conviction until a
family member had their say on the case. But their input is no longer
quite as critical.

Melbourne barristers Julian McMahon and Lex Lasry, QC, are now working
with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Forbes, joining
Allens Arthur Robinson solicitor Alex Danne.

Mr Hunt said the President of the South Sudanese court of appeal had
personally committed the legal body to reviewing the evidence.

The most contentious evidence is whether Mr Serebrenikov, who was found
hanging from a towel rack, committed suicide.

"Because of some concerns about strong facts such as the autopsy
indicating suicide, the review of the evidence is critical to the case and
his willingness to do that is extremely important," Mr Hunt said.

Mr Hunt said the Australian Government was satisfied with the response of
southern Sudanese authorities. "I think they have moved much more quickly
and more strongly than we had initially expected," he said.

(source: The Brisbane Times)






ASIA:

EU under pressure to push China, other Asian nations to abolish death
penalty


A human rights group urged the European Union on Monday, the start of
talks between EU and Asian foreign ministers, to push China and other
Asian nations to abolish the death penalty.

In a letter sent to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier,
Amnesty International said he should "make a special effort" to press
Asian foreign ministers at the meeting in Hamburg to do away with capital
punishment.

"Asia continues to be the leading continent performing executions," the
London-based group said. "Hanging, shooting or administering lethal
injections are examples of the execution methods used."

Human rights, along with climate change, building closer trade and energy
ties and international issues such as Iran and North Korea's nuclear
programs, are among the major topics on the agenda for the two-day meeting
of about 40 ministers.

A separate EU-China meeting was being held before a working dinner between
EU and Asian foreign ministers.

Amnesty said Singapore has one of the highest rates of executions in the
world. It also condemned "secret" executions by China, adding it believed
Beijing put to death "at least" 1,010 people last year.

The group said Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia also were still
using the death penalty.

Dick Oosting, head of Amnesty's EU office in Brussels, said that many
Asian nations were using anti-terror and counter-narcotics programs to
justify the use of the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)






CHINA:

China calls for extradition treaties to fight graft


Chinese officials have called for Western countries to sign extradition
treaties, the China Daily reported on Monday, saying the country's use of
the death penalty was no reason to avoid repatriating criminals.

Many Western countries do not have extradition treaties with China, citing
the death penalty and lack of due process in its legal system, although
Spain, Portugal and most recently France, have all signed agreements.

"We are trying hard to negotiate with developed countries to conclude
bilateral extradition treaties," the newspaper quoted Duan Jielong of the
Foreign Ministry's Department of Treaty and Law as saying.

China has told countries from which it was seeking suspects it would not
impose the death penalty against those being repatriated. But some
countries have not been satisfied that such promises could be guaranteed.

Zhang Yong of the Law Research Institute at Nankai University called
China's pledges not to apply the death penalty to repatriated suspects a
"great compromise" that would help stamp out transnational corruption.

One of China's most wanted fugitives, Lai Changxing, has been living under
limited house arrest in Canada for 7 years, fighting deportation to China
where he would face charges of running a smuggling empire.

The case has become a thorn in relations between Canada and China, even
though Ottawa has supported Beijing's efforts to have Lai returned. He
stands accused of running a multibillion-dollar operation that bribed
officials to avoid taxes.

In a separate editorial, the China Daily accused Western countries of
impeding efforts to fight graft, saying corruption was a "universal evil"
and that it should be easy for countries to reach a consensus on how to
stamp it out.

"But ironically, some developed Western countries continue to provide a
haven for corrupt Chinese officials seeking to escape punishment for theft
of public funds."

More than 800 suspects wanted in China for economic crimes remain at
large, it said.

"Fear of the death penalty or torture has been used by the fugitives to
avoid extradition," the newspaper said. "Yet talks should be the best way
to iron out differences."

(source: Reuters)






THAILAND:

Meet Bangkok prison's DEVIL ---- SAD, NOT GUILTY, TO SHOOT 55 INMATES ----
Bass guitarist turns executioner


All he had to do was to squeeze the trigger of a machine gun.

He didn't even have to aim at the person standing in front.

But this simple action has left a big impact on the life of Mr Chavoret
Jaruboon, 58.

His were the hands that once pulled the trigger of a machine gun and ended
the lives of 55 death-row prisoners, including 3 women, at Bang Kwang
Prison.

It was his job as the chief executioner for 19 years until
lethal-injection execution was introduced in 2003.

But since he retired as the executioner, Mr Chavoret said there are still
people who view him as the Devil of Bang Kwang.

'Some friends have told me that they initially thought of me as a bad,
cold-hearted person,' he said in a mixture of English and Thai.

'They thought all I did was to shoot and kill people. But they later
realised that I'm not like that.'

Indeed, the executioner came across as an affable and accommodating man
when we met recently for lunch and later went for a brief tour of the Bang
Kwang Prison, which is about the size of 53 football fields.

This misperception is one main reason why he has penned 3 books since
then.

He said: 'I wanted to clarify that I'm not what people think of me. Also,
I wanted to warn people of the serious consequences of crimes.'

The first 2, released in 2003 and last year, are in Thai and are a
historical account of his unique role and the Thai prison system.

The last is an English book, titled The Last Executioner, and was released
last December. It offers a more intimate peek into the mind and life of an
executioner.

It is ghost-written, based on a diary and pictures that he kept over the
years on the job.

Mr Chavoret is now in charge of the foreign affairs department before his
mandatory retirement in 2009. He said there are 762 foreign inmates from
44 countries there.

There are 43 Singaporeans serving time there too, mostly for drug-related
offences, Mr Chavoret said. None are on death-row.

He recalled that poring over the materials in preparation for the 3rd book
sent him through a period of depression, as he was reminded of each of the
55 convicts he had shot.

Mr Chavoret described that in firing squad executions, the convict would
be blindfolded and then tied to a wooden cross, facing a wall covered with
sandbags.

He didn't even need to aim at all on the HK-MP5 9mm-machine gun, which
would be fixed on a tripod.

ONE SQUEEZE

With one squeeze of the trigger, he would expend 10 of the 15 bullets that
he had picked for each convict.

In the 3rd book, he described his 1st execution on 23 Nov 1984, for a
murderous thief.

Mr Chavoret wrote: 'It had to be a perfect, clean shot. There would be a
lot of blood when we were finished...

'I felt like I was on stage once more, dressed like Elvis Presley, and
playing my guitar for the American soldiers like I had done in my younger
days.

'Except now, I was going to take a life.'

After the execution, the body would be carried through a small red gate,
dubbed the 'Gate of Hell', to a nearby pagoda for the convict's family to
collect. Those unclaimed would be cremated on the spot.

This grisly job was a sharp contrast to his long-held ambitions to be a
musician.

Mr Chavoret used to play the bass guitar in a live band in bars for
American airmen during the Vietnam War.

But he lost his job after the war and had to join his elder brother in the
prison service in 1973.

Mr Chavoret didn't like the job then because it paid him only 540 baht
($24) a month. But he stuck with it because he was married and had a
child. Prison wardens could get free education for their children, medical
treatment and housing.

Mr Chavoret, who now has 3 children aged 33 to 38, became trained in
executions almost immediately when he became an assistant to the
executioner in 1974.

For the next 10 years, his job was to clean the guns, lead the prisoners
from the cells to the execution area, blindfold them and tie their hands.

After each execution, he would drag the body away and throw sand over the
blood on the ground.

When the executioner then retired in 1984, he ordered Mr Chavoret to take
over and told the 35-year-old this: 'Don't worry. It doesn't happen
often.'

Mr Chavoret said he took up the job as a challenge, being young.

Does he regret doing so?

'I can't say I regret doing it, but I don't feel good too because it has
affected how people view me and my family,' he said.

But he said he has had no nightmares of his executioner days.

He wrote: 'When people ask me if I am ever afraid of being haunted by dead
convicts, I tell them I am more afraid of my wife.'

He told The New Paper on Sunday: 'There is no problem as long as I don't
harbour negative thoughts towards the convicts during execution.'

But he later admitted that he is still haunted by the thought of having
killed three female convicts, including a drug-trafficker in 1999.

'In Thailand, men are taught from young that women need our protection,
just like how I would protect my mother and sister. Yet, I killed 3 of
them,' he said.

'Even though I know that they had done wrong and deserved to die under the
law, I still don't feel good about it.'

(source: The Electric New Paper)