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

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 9



MALAYSIA:

Death sentence on 4 upheld


4 lorry drivers, sentenced to death for the murder of a factory worker 6
years ago, will remain in death row.

The Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed their appeals to set aside the
conviction and sentence of the High Court in Seremban last year.

M. Manimaran, 26, M. Ganasan, 39, A. Sagathevan, 32, and P. Puvaneswaran,
43, were jointly charged with murdering G. Murugan, 25, at Kombok Estate
in Kuala Sawah near Seremban between 10pm on Aug 26, 2002 and 3am the
following day.

The men have one last right of appeal to the Federal Court.

Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram said circumstantial and direct
evidence proved that the four participated in the crime.

He said the appellate court conceded that the written judgment by the High
Court judge was "woefully inadequate".

"However, the totality of the evidence is compelling and supports the
charge against the accused persons," Sri Ram said.

He said the trial judge's findings were upheld as there was no substantial
miscarriage of justice.

Sri Ram, who sat with Datuk Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Tengku Baharuddin
Shah Tengku Mahmud, said the trial judge should have analysed the evidence
and applied the law before coming to a conclusion.

He said the trial judge also failed to give reasons why he accepted the
evidence of a key prosecution witness before calling for the defence of
the accused persons.

Sri Ram said the trial judge also drew adverse inference for not calling a
defence witness and noted that the defence was a mere fiction.

Deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup, who appeared for the public
prosecutor, said the prosecution had proved a prima facie case, while the
defence was unsuccessful in creating a doubt in the prosecution's case.

He said although the judgment of the trial judge did not appear to be
favourable to the prosecution, there was no gap in its case against the 4
accused. He added that despite this setback, there was sufficient evidence
to uphold the conviction.

(source: The Star)






NIGERIA/INDONESIA:

Senator Pleads for 18 Nigerians on Death Row


Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs,
Senator Uche Chukwumerije, has appealed to the Federal Government to
intervene in the plight of 50 Nigerian prisoners in Indonesia, especially
the 18 on death row for drug offences.

Chukwumerije, who said the Ramadan fasting forced the postponement of
their execution, said yesterday in an interview with Senate
Correspondents, that the 18 Nigerians might be executed any moment from
now.

"I want, through you, to appeal to the Nigerian authorities and Nigerian
people to intervene in every legal way open to them, to persuade
Indonesian authorities to temper justice with mercy.

"I must emphasise here that the issue of the prisoners being guilty or not
of the offences allegedly committed by them is not the issue here," he
said.

I believe, like all the law-abiding people of Nigeria, that Nigerians
abroad must obey the laws of their host countries and constantly uphold
the good name of Nigeria," adding that crime must not be condoned under
any guise, either at home or abroad.

Chukwumerije said, "but 2 issues call for serious concern. One, our
External Affairs Ministry and its embassies must take pro-active interest
in protecting the rights of Nigerians abroad within the limits of the laws
of host countries.

The 2nd point is the need to pre-empt the possibility of a negative
stereotyped image (arising from acts of an infinitesimal minority) being
used by a country to impose blanket character judgment on the whole
Nigerian community anywhere."

(source: This Day)