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

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 3


INDIA:

Indian president urged to commute death sentence for man involved in
parliament attack


Pressure mounted on India's president Tuesday to pardon a Kashmiri man who
was sentenced to death for involvement in a deadly attack on the national
parliament 5 years ago.

Mohammad Afzal is scheduled to be hanged on Oct. 20, but his family and
rights groups say the punishment is too harsh and the verdict was based on
a "shoddy investigation" into the Dec. 13, 2001 attack, which left 14
people dead and pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

The Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir has been rocked by protests since
authorities in September set the date for Afzal's execution.

On Tuesday, his wife Tabassum, who uses only one name, filed a mercy
petition with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said S.A.R. Geelani, who also
was accused in the case but was freed by the Supreme Court.

"The basis of the mercy petition is that he hasn't got a fair trial,"
Geelani told reporters.

Tabassum later Tuesday met with her husband in a New Delhi prison.

Afzal didn't file the mercy petition himself, saying he had no faith in
the Indian judicial system, Times Now, a television news channel, quoted
Tabassum as saying.

He wasn't allowed to have an attorney of his choice during his trial, she
claimed.

Several rights groups also have criticized Afzal's conviction on the
ground that he was not provided with a lawyer of choice in the trial court
and the Delhi High Court, which heard his appeal.

When the case moved to the Supreme Court, it upheld the High Court verdict
so to satisfy "collective conscience of the (Indian) society," although
the top court noted there was no evidence that Afzal, a surrendered
militant, was a member of any terrorist organization.

The Supreme Court also criticized investigators for fabricating some of
the evidence and acquitted 2 others accused in the case.

The Society for the Protection of Detainee's and Prisoner's Rights, a New
Delhi-based rights group, released copies of letters written by Afzal,
claiming he made confessions under duress.

In his letter, Afzal said police in Kashmir detained his brother for
months and threatened to kill his wife and 4-year-old son.

"How can you hang someone on the basis of such shoddy investigation?"
Geelani said. "If Afzal is hanged to death, it would be a stigma on Indian
democracy."

Kashmiri separatist leaders have warned that hanging Afzal could derail
the fragile peace process between India and Pakistan aimed at settling a
decades-old dispute over Kashmir.

India and Pakistan control separate portions of the Himalayan territory,
but both claim it in its entirety. Kashmir was the cause of two of the
neighbors three wars since winning independence from Britain in 1947.

Many Kashmiris favor independence from mainly Hindu India or a union with
mostly Muslim Pakistan. About a dozen militant groups are fighting to oust
India from the Muslim-majority territory.

India blamed Pakistan-based militant groups and its spy agency for the
assault on its Parliament in 2001, but Islamabad denied any involvement
and condemned the attack.

(source: Associated Press)