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

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 30



MALAYSIA:

Sane Voices Amidst Hysteria


In a small dingy community meeting room in Taman Kosas, a depressed
working class suburb north of the city of factory workers and petty
traders, Rohana Bakar, a 36-year-old mother of two girls, is trying hard
to keep her ground.

Bakar tries to explain again but is greeted with cries of scorn and anger.
About 30 women, some single mothers, and a dozen children, pack the room.

"We can't save our kids by hanging the culprits. The death penalty is not
the solution. The death penalty has been around for 50 years and but crime
cases have soared," she persists in fluent Malay, clutching her 6-year-old
daughter.

"We must protect our children and teach them to protect themselves, but
killing culprits is not going to save out children," she adds in
desperation, pleading for support.

The reason they have come together is apparent from a glance at the front
pages of the newspapers strewn on the floor. A killer, who it is believed
has so far abducted and sexually abused 3 girls, murdering one of them, is
still at large and the mothers are angry and frightened.

"This monster raped, abused and killed Nurin ... he must hang for the
heinous crimes," one mother says, pointing to the newspapers on the floor.
"We have to protect our kids from this monster ... only death for him will
do."

Just as in that fear-filled room, everywhere in the country the debate is
raging over how to deal with the gruesome death of 9-year-old Nurin Jazlin
abducted in August and held for nearly a month, sexually abused and
eventually murdered.

Her body was stuffed in a gym bag and left by a staircase in Petaling
Jaya, a suburb south of the city, late September.

Outrage over Nurin's death has been sharpened because a video camera
mounted in the street caught a man on a motorcycle with a bag.

He was filmed leaving the bag with Nurin's body beside a staircase.

But the recording, although taken to the U.S. and enhanced by the FBI, is
not clear enough to identify the culprit or his vehicle registration
number.

Police have up to now drawn blanks, arresting several "suspects" and
releasing them later. The public mood is for vengeance and a swift
execution when the killer is eventually brought to justice.

A few lone voices like Bakar are speaking up to argue that the death
penalty is a cruel, state-sanctioned public killing that does not solve or
remove gangsters and criminals from the streets.

"We are outraged by the brutal murder. This is a disgusting and terrifying
crime and a sad reflection of how unsafe our country has become for girls
and (the) young," said Shanon Shah Sidik, executive director of Amnesty
International in Malaysia.

"Public outrage in this matter is understandable but calls for the death
penalty to be applied are misplaced.

"Countless men and women have been executed worldwide for crimes of murder
and sexual violence yet there is no convincing evidence that the death
penalty is a deterrent.

"The nation mourns Nurin Jazlin. Let us never have to mourn another girl
in these circumstances ever again," he argued.

But such words only invite more expression of public outrage.

People are writing to newspapers and calling up television and radio
stations to say that "monsters" who kill children should be swiftly led
away to their execution.

"Criminals who committed sexual crimes and murder should be given the
death penalty," writes S. K. Mathews, a member of the public, in a letter
to Malaysiakini.com, an independent online news provider.

"These monsters do not deserve to be among us in society," he continues,
reflecting widely held public views. "The death penalty should remain."

Rising violent crime is fuelling demands for tough measures against
criminals and many see the death penalty as the cure for all ills.

"The public are angry and upset because nearly nine women are raped every
day and many see the death penalty as a quick solution," says opposition
leader Lim Guan Eng.

"We must not rush to condemn," he says, advocating studies to determine
the root causes of rising crime.

"There is no one-solution-fits-all here," he says, adding that the
experience of other countries showed that crime was a complex issue and
needed to be treated professionally.

In the first 7 months of this year, there were 1,814 cases of rape
compared to 1,362 during the corresponding period last year  an increase
of 33 %, according to official statistics.

But there were 5 times as many unreported rape cases, making Malaysia the
"crime capital" of Southeast Asia, Lim says.

Malaysia imposes the death penalty for a raft of crimes from murder to
drug trafficking (of more than 200 grams), terrorism and even poisoning of
the water supply. Between 1960 and October 2004, there were 434
executions, according to the last available statistics.

"Malaysia should not execute, should not carry out state killing no matter
what the crime," said human rights lawyer Charles Hector. "There is simply
no justification for the state to kill."

The Malaysian Bar, which represents 13,000 lawyers, passed a resolution in
2006, urging Malaysia to emulate the Philippines, a fellow member of the
ASEAN regional grouping, to abolish the death penalty.

"At the very least it can declare a moratorium with a view to abolishing
the death penalty," Hector told IPS.

Human rights lawyer and executive director of Malaysians Against Death
Penalty, MADPET, Surendran Nagarajan said the organisation recognized the
"seriousness of violent crime and the extreme suffering it causes to
victims and their families," but it was totally against the death penalty.

"It is a cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment," he told IPS. "There is
possibility of judicial errors and the innocent would be killed."

He blamed politicians for the current hysteria among the public for the
retention and use of the death penalty.

"This is the usual knee-jerk reaction fuelled by politicians who are
exploiting public fear and revulsion at crimes against children,"
Nagarajan said. "We should not fall for this manufactured hysteria."

(source: IPS News)






INDONESIA:

Indonesian court rules death penalty for drugs offenses is legal


A top Indonesian court ruled Tuesday that sentencing drug offenders to
death does not violate the constitution, dismissing a case lodged by 3
Australians awaiting execution for smuggling heroin.

The ruling is blow to the death row inmates, among 9 young Australians
arrested by Indonesian police in 2005 over a foiled plot to smuggle 8.3
kilograms of heroin into Australia from the resort island of Bali.

3 others are also facing the death penalty, but were not included in the
suit before the Constitutional Court. 2 members of the group, dubbed the
"Bali Nine" by Australian media, got life in prison and the 3rd got 20
years.

In rejecting the petition, a 9-judge panel found that the constitution's
clause on the right to life does not override the criminal code's
stipulation that serious crimes can be punished with death.

The case was filed by lawyers for the three Australians, but the court did
not have the power to directly overturn their convictions. Lawyers for the
3 had intended to use a favorable ruling to appeal. At the end of 2006,
134 people were on death row in Indonesia, including 37 foreigners and 97
Indonesians, most of them for drug-related crimes. At least 4 are Islamic
extremists awaiting death for their roles in a series of bombings.

Indonesian government officials, police officers and judges have said they
support capital punishment for drug crimes.

The country has executed at least eight people since 2000.

(source: Jakarta Post)

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

Bali Nine death penalty challenge thrown out


3 death-row Bali Nine drug smugglers have lost their challenge to
Indonesia's death penalty.

Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and drug mule
Scott Rush had joined a number of Indonesian death-row inmates in
challenging the constitutional validity of the death penalty in drug
cases.

But Indonesia's Constitutional Court today ruled the penalty was valid.

"It's not against the constitution, (and it's) not violating international
obligations," a panel of 9 judges ruled.

The death penalty was not unconstitutional because the part of the
constitution that enshrined life as a basic human right could be limited
by law, the judges ruled.

It is a major blow for Australians Chan, Sukumaran and Rush who had hoped
a favourable ruling would add weight to their final appeals against their
death sentences for heroin importation.

(source: News.co.au)

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

Amnesty International Deplores Indonesian Court Ruling to Uphold Death
Penalty for Drug Offenses

PRESS RELEASE ---- For Immediate Release:

Amnesty International is deeply disappointed with today's Indonesian
Constitutional Court ruling to uphold the death penalty for drug offenses.

The Indonesian Constitutional Court ruled in a split decision not to
support a legal challenge to repeal the provisions in the 1997 Narcotics
Law.

Amnesty International noted that the decision goes against the conclusions
of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary
Executions. They concluded that the death penalty be understood as "a
quite exceptional measure" imposed where there was an intention to kill
resulting in loss of life.

"It is particularly disappointing that this ultimate and extreme penalty
is now being upheld," said Louise Vischer, coordinator of Amnesty
International's Asia-Pacific anti-death penalty regional project. "It is
legitimate for the Indonesia government to take appropriate
law-enforcement measures against drug offenders but there is no scientific
evidence showing that the death penalty deters would-be traffickers more
effectively than other punishments."

It is feared that this decision will now impact the fate of over 90
prisoners currently on death row. In particular, the 3 Bali bombers
(Amrozi Bin H Nurhasyim, Ali Ghufron, Iman Samudera) have exhausted all
their legal avenues of appeal and have refused to request Presidential
clemency. All 3 are at imminent risk of execution. Amnesty International
is appealing for the death sentences of the 3 Bali bombers and all others
who are under sentence of death in Indonesia to be commuted.

The Court ruling flies in the face of a worldwide trend towards
restricting and abolishing the death penalty. The U.N. General Assembly is
expected to vote next month on a resolution calling for a global
moratorium on executions.

Amnesty International is calling on the Indonesian government to follow
the example set by 133 countries around the world which have already
abolished the death penalty in law or practice, including neighboring
Philippines, which abolished the death penalty in 2006.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, as a
violation to the right of life and the right not to be subjected to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Background

The accused who filed the petition to the Constitutional Court were 3
Australians, Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and 2
Indonesians, Edith Sianturi and Rani Andriani.

The Constitutional Court decided that the 3 Australians did not have the
legal capacity to challenge the constitution as foreigners.

3 of the 9 judges argued that the right to life was absolute, while 6
found the right to life enshrined in the constitution was not absolute,
and therefore the death penalty under the Narcotics Act was valid.

(source: Amnesty International)