[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 10



INDONESIA:

Indonesia rejects Bali bomber's jail wedding plea


Indonesian authorities have rejected a request by 1 of 3 men on death row
for the 2002 Bali bombings to remarry his ex-wife in his prison cell, an
official said on Tuesday.

Amrozi, dubbed the "Smiling Bomber" for his constant grin during his
trial, had planned to hold a religious ceremony for the reunion on May 12
in the Batu prison off the coast of Central Java, his lawyer Achmad
Michdan said last month.

The couple were divorced earlier and Amrozi is currently married to
another woman.

"We have rejected the wedding request because they did not explain what
kind of wedding ceremony they will hold," said the head of the Central
Java ministry of justice, Bambang Margono

Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra face death by firing squad for their role
in the 2 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including foreign
tourists and Indonesians.

The bombings and several other deadly attacks in recent years have been
blamed on the Southeast Asian militant Muslim group Jemaah Islamiah.

Indonesia's Supreme Court has rejected the convicts' final appeals but
they have said they will not seek presidential clemency, making it likely
the executions will now go ahead.

Indonesia does not normally announce dates for executions.

A spokesman for Amrozi's family, Hasyim Abdullah, said the family would
still go ahead with the wedding.

"We're still discussing with the family how it will be conducted," he
said.

In a statement read out by their lawyers last year, the Bali bombers said
their blood would "become the light for the faithful ones and burning hell
fire for the infidels and hypocrites" if they were executed.

(source: Reuters)






KENYA:

Man On Death Row Freed


A man sentenced to death was set free on Thursday after a High Court
accused police officers of infringing his constitutional rights. Mr James
Maina Muriuki was sentenced to death three years ago for robbery with
violence. The sentence was, however, quashed by the High Court after it
emerged that he was detained in police cells for more days than the law
stipulates.

High Court judges Milton Makhandia and Lady Justice Mary Kasango said
police officers breached Mr Muruki's constitutional rights by holding him
for 1 1/2 months without taking him to court.

He was arrested on February 4, 2004, on allegations of being involved in
robberies and thefts in Sagana area within Kirinyaga District.

Plea taking

However, police held him at Sagana and Baricho police stations until March
23 when he was taken before Kerugoya senior resident magistrate Mr J. N.
Onyiego for plea taking.

He denied violently robbing a Kenyatta National Hospital driver Michael
Mutuku Nzioka of cash, personal effects and electronic gadgets at his home
in Maganjo village, Sagana, on January 1, 2004.

The prosecution claimed that Mr Nzioka and his accomplices were armed with
a pistol, pangas, rungus and axes when they committed the offence.

A year after denying the charge, the magistrate found him guilty of the
count and was sentenced to death.

He appealed against the sentence, citing violation of his constitutional
rights.

(source: The Nation)






CHINA:

China sees 30% drop in death penalty


Chinese courts handed down about 30 % fewer death penalties last year
compared with 2006, sources from a forum revealed on Friday.

On January 1, 2007 China's Supreme People's Court took back the power of
death penalty review. The effect is a stricter and more appropriate
application of capital punishment, said Li Wuqing, a judge with the No. 1
criminal court of the supreme court.

Wu Sheng, a judge from a court in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, said
at the forum that the number of approved death penalties decreased by up
to 40 % last year in that city.

The right to issue death sentences was given to provincial courts in 1983
to deal with a sudden surge in crime.

Since the application of the ultimate penalty came back to the hands of
the central authorities, many people are hoping it will be used more
sparingly, implemented more cautiously, and handed down more evenly.

According to the new practice, all death penalties pronounced by local
courts must be reviewed and ratified by the Supreme People's Court. Each
death sentence must be reviewed by 3 judges, who are required to check
facts, laws and criminal procedures and precedent.

Legal experts, researchers and judges from China and Britain participated
in the forum held in this port city of Liaoning Province, northeast China
with a focus on restriction and abolition of the death penalty.

(source: Xinhua News)






PHILIPPINES:

NO DEATH PENALTY FOR 'SALVAGERS'


The House of Representatives Committee on Justice has rejected the
restoration of the death penalty contained in a bill that was filed to
address extra-judicial executions allegedly being carried out by the
military and other law enforcement agencies, a congressman said yesterday.

Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor said the House panel, which he chairs,
amended on Wednesday the bill by making life imprisonment as the only
penalty for "salvaging" or extra-judicial killing if such is carried out
by officers of the law.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson, principal author of House Bill 566,
welcomed the committee's decision as a major step towards addressing human
rights issues confronting the Arroyo administration.

Originally, H.B. 566 proposed the restoration of the capital punishment of
death for extra-judicial executions carried out by "public officers,
persons in authority or their agents".

"The bill proposes the imposition of the death penalty for violation of
the duty to protect the life of every person," Joson said.

He said the justice committee approved the bill but clarified that the
penalty to be imposed should be the highest punishment offered under
current penal laws.

"Qualifying extra-judicial killings when committed by public officers and
persons in authority, imposing the heaviest penalty for its perpetrators,
should deter law enforcers from abusing their power and position," Joson
said.

An independent lawmaker, Joson noted a rise in cases of "salvagings" and
enforced disappearances during the term of President Arroyo.

"Who guards the guardians?" The bill proposes to answer the same by
providing for accountability on the part of the protectors of the people
under our Constitution," he explained.

"Protection, especially for the right to life of every person, is the
basic duty for those in government especially its police and armed
forces."

According to the veteran lawmaker there have been hundreds of "famous and
nameless" victims of executions that never passed judicial hearings.

"Coupled with these are tortures and disappearances. The long arm of the
law is literally implemented as to mean force and intimidation," Joson
noted.

The lawmaker called on government and the legislature to "re-establish the
rule of law and reason".

"The state must now come in to guard the guardians. The state must impose
sanctions on its agents who violate the duty to protect," he stated.

(source: Tempo)






SCOTLAND:

Kirk ready to condemn the death penalty


The Church of Scotland is set to voice outright opposition to the death
penalty for the 1st time.

The Kirk's General Assembly, which opens in Edinburgh next Thursday, will
be asked to agree that capital punishment is "always and wholly
unacceptable" and is no answer even to the most heinous of crimes.

The Assembly discussed the death penalty briefly last year in relation to
Saddam Hussein and expressed disappointment at the lack of condemnation of
his execution from politicians in the UK.

Now a report by the Church & Society Council argues the death penalty
brutalises any society which practices it.

The report says that no system of justice is free from error or
arbitrariness and the threat of the death penalty has manifestly failed to
deter murder, war crimes and genocide.

It goes on to say that the death penalty conflicts with the right to life
enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

(source: The Scotsman)