[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 24



JAPAN:

Death sentence finalized for ex-Aum Shinrikyo member


Masato Yokoyama, one of the perpetrators of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin
gas attack that killed 12 people and injured dozens, carried out by the
buddhist sect Aum Shinrikyo, saw his death sentence finalized on Thursday
when the Supreme Court rejected his defense's ojection on the courts
previous ruling, the Yomiuri Shimbun reports.

Presiding Judge Ryoji Nakagawa rejected an objection raised about the July
20 upholding of Yokoyama's sentence by the same court by his defense.

Yokoyama, who was first sentenced to death in 1999, has admitted to
carrying 2 packets of sarin on to a packed subway train, but also led Aum
Shinrikyo's arms-producing team and was involved in illicitly producing an
automatic gun for the sect.

His lawyers had attempted to avoid the death penalty on the grounds that
nobody actually died in the Shibuya train car in which Yokoyama released
the sarin packets.

(source: Japan News Review)






NAMIBIA/CHINA:

Diplomat's son faces death sentence


THE son of a Namibian diplomat, posted until recently in Beijing, China,
may be the 1st Namibian since Independence to face a death sentence after
being implicated with a Zambian friend in the murder of a Russian girl in
Beijing last year June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed
yesterday.

"Yes, it is true, there is such a case," Foreign Affairs Permanent
Secretary Veiccoh Nghiwete said an interview late yesterday.

He said they did not know at this stage when the matter would go to trial
in China, but confirmed that preliminary hearings had already taken place.

Nghiwete said that the son of former senior diplomat Sackey Shikwambi,
thought to be Nelson Shikwambi, aged 23 or 24, and a Zambian friend of
similar age, were arrested in May or June last year, but that the Namibian
Government was only recently alerted to the matter.

"From what we understand, the matter started with just a theft or robbery,
and from there it became worse," Nghiwete said.

>From what he has been able to gather on the case, the Russian girl
suffocated from having her mouth and nosed taped shut, which led to the
far more serious charges of rape and murder being added, he said.

The incident appeared to have taken place in March last year already, but
it was not yet clear who was responsible for doing what, Nghiwete added.

"We are waiting for the law to take its course, to find out from the court
who did what  it is not clear who is responsible, who caused the death of
the girl," he said.

Shikwambi did not invoke diplomatic immunity over his son - who is thought
to be the son of a sister - when the first charges were laid against
Nelson Shikwambi, nor did he alert his line Ministry back in Windhoek at
the time, Nghiwete said.

He has since returned to retirement in Namibia, but could not be
immediately reached for comment.

A spokesperson for the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in
Windhoek, a Mrs Li, yesterday could only confirm that they were notified
by the Namibian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the case, but could not
provide much detail.

"We also did not know about the matter until we were notified of the case
by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs quite recently," Li said.

"We have also asked our government for more information, but at this stage
we do not know much more than you do."

The matter, described as "extremely sensitive" by another top Foreign
Affairs official, could prove to be a major test for Namibian foreign
policy vis--vis China, especially in respect of human rights and
non-interference in domestic matters, China's most popular diplomatic tool
in Africa.

Namibia banned the death sentence at Independence in 1990, but China
routinely executes criminals, sometimes for relatively minor offences such
as stock theft, hooliganism and repeated offences, robbery, drug
trafficking and separatism.

Amnesty International, the London-based international human rights
organisation, has for years been campaigning to have the Chinese 'Yanda'
(strike hard) policy reviewed, but with limited success.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, when still the secretary of the Standing
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Political Bureau, was
widely quoted in May 1996 as urging Chinese courts to implement the death
sentence unsparingly.

"Any crime which the law regards as serious should certainly receive
serious penalties, and any crime which is punishable by the death penalty
according to the law, should certainly receive the death penalty," he was
quoted by the Chinese Legal Daily on May 4, 1996.

Chinese criminal law also prescribes the death sentence for corruption
involving anything more than 20 000 to 30 000 yuan (about N$17 000 to N$25
000, at current exchange rates), and dozens of officials have been
executed for corruption over the past year.

Amnesty International (AI) said China tops their lists for legal (and
sometimes not-so-legal) executions worldwide, and an official figure of 3
000 executions last year is thought to be hugely under-reported.

News agency IPS in May this year reported a senior National People's
Congress member as saying in 2004 that China executed around 10 000 people
every year.

The pair is now thought to be facing a charge of murder under aggravating
circumstances, a crime that routinely is punished with the death sentence
in China under their Criminal and Criminal Procedure Act.

"It is a very difficult position we just hope that the death sentence will
not be recommended by the Intermediate Court [in Beijing]," Nghiwete said.

Under the Chinese legal system, one of Beijing's many Intermediate Courts
would first try the two accused on the charges, and impose a sentence.

If they succeeded in appealing their sentence, the matter would be
referred to a Higher Court, and eventually to a Supreme Court, according
the local Chinese embassy spokesperson.

Asked if Namibia would ask the Chinese government to let Shikwambi Jr.
serve out any prison sentence in Namibia instead, Nghiwete said that
depended on the role Shikwambi Jr.

had played in the victim's death, as well as on the available legal
instruments in place.

China and Namibia did not, as far as he was aware, have an extradition
treaty in place, Nghiwete said.

"All we can do at this stage is to wait and see what transpires in court.

If the Intermediate Court recommends a death sentence, there is a 10-day
period within which to appeal the sentence but we need to find out exactly
what had happened, who was responsible for doing what," Nghiwete said.

(source: The Namibian)






VATICAN CITY:

Fides Agency Analyzes Death Penalty----Considers Possible U.N. Sanction of
Moratorium


In a 13-page report, the Fides news agency of the Vatican Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples takes a look at the death penalty, calling
it "cruel and unnecessary."

"Love Your Enemies: How States Take Lives" includes an overview of the
methods that nations have used in recent years to inflict death, a list of
those countries that allow the death penalty. The report also includes an
interview with a professor from the Catholic University of the Sacred
Heart in Milan and one with a spokesman for the Community of Sant'Egidio.

The document raised questions regarding the use of the death penalty on
minors and detailed information on the innocent who are erroneously
condemned to death.

A section on 2006 statistics said that "a total 128 countries have
abolished the death penalty in law or practice, whereas 69 countries still
maintain capital punishment in force, but executions are carried out only
in very few countries."

"In 2006, 91% of all reported executions happened in 6 countries; Kuwait
has the highest number of executions per head in the world, followed by
Iran," the report stated.

Eventual abolition

According to the Fides agency, "thanks to international mobilization in
recent years, of individuals, nongovernmental organizations and certain
governments -- with an increase in the number of abolitionist countries --
in 2007 the United Nations could decide to adopt a resolution to sanction
a universal moratorium on the death penalty, in view of its eventual
abolition."

The document refers to words f! rom Pope John Paul II, including a speech
during his visit to the United States on Jan. 27, 1999, where he said:
"Modern society has the means to protect itself without denying criminals
the opportunity to redeem themselves. The death penalty is cruel and
unnecessary and this is true even for someone who has done something very
wrong."

The report also includes a reference to a United States bishops'
conference 2005 report: "When the state in our names and with our taxes
ends a human life despite having nonlethal alternatives, it suggests that
society can overcome violence with violence. The use of the death penalty
ought to be abandoned not only for what it does to those who are executed,
but for what it does to all of society."

(source: Zenit.org, Aug. 21)






FRANCE:

French deny U.S. bid to extradite suspect


French officials rejected a request to extradite a man suspected of
killing a Loop dermatologist last year, a Cook County state's attorney's
spokesman said Thursday.

Hans Peterson, 29, turned himself in to French authorities Aug. 6 on the
Caribbean island of St. Martin after an arrest warrant was issued for him
in the U.S. He is accused of fatally stabbing Dr. David Cornbleet in his
office in October.

On Wednesday, French officials declined to extradite Peterson because he
is a French national, said Cornbleet's son, Jon Cornbleet. The French
typically do not extradite citizens who may be facing charges that could
result in the death penalty. The family, however, would not object if
prosecutors don't seek death, Jon Cornbleet said.

Authorities in Illinois are working with U.S. officials to extradite
Peterson to Chicago to face murder charges. Peterson is a U.S. citizen who
obtained French citizenship in May while living on St. Martin. His mother
is French.

Cornbleet said he believes Wednesday's decision is only an initial one and
that he expects talks between the 2 sides to continue. He said he is
considering hiring a lawyer to aid prosecutors in getting Peterson
extradited.

"I think that is an injustice to my father and my family who are the true
victims," Cornbleet said. "We are not giving up hope and will continue to
do everything that we can to get him to face justice in the United
States."

Local officials agreed this doesn't mark the end of their extradition
efforts.

"We will use every legal and diplomatic means at our disposal to get this
killer extradited back to the United States to face a trial," said John
Gorman, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Peterson is being held in French-controlled Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
He allegedly confessed to French authorities.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois on Monday
wrote letters to the French Embassy in Washington and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice urging that Peterson be extradited.

They raised concern that Peterson may have obtained French citizenship in
order to avoid prosecution in the slaying.

Durbin pledged that if the letters were insufficient, he would make
further appeals. He said he decided to reach out at the request of Cook
County State's Atty. Dick Devine. Durbin also said he has a staff member
who knew Dr. Cornbleet.

The Cornbleet family has been urging the public to help sway the French
government to agree to extradition, placing a petition on a family Web
page that in the past was dedicated to seeking information about the
doctor's death.

(source: Chicago Tribune)