[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 22


MALTA:

"I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate the guillotine, sir"


It's the executioner's worst day yet. The Maltese government has outlawed
the trade of guillotines, gallows, electric chairs and all modern
contraptions of capital punishment and torture.

In what reads like an outdated piece of law, the government has outlawed
the import and export of such goods unless authorised by the director
responsible for trade where it is proven such goods will used for public
display in a museum in view of their historic significance.

Included in the list of banned torture items are air-tight vaults for the
purpose of administrating lethal gases or substances, automatic drug
injection systems for the purpose of execution, and electric-shock belts
designed for restraining human beings with electric shocks exceeding
10,000 volts. Any such technical assistance on the use of the goods is
also prohibited under the new law, provided that this serves for their
public display in museums.

The same law provided that other items used for restraining human beings
can be authorised by the director of trade. These include restraint
chairs, shackle boards, gang-chains, thumb-screws, portable shock devices
not exceeding 10,000 volts, and chemical substances used for the purpose
of riot control.

Both the Council of Europe and the European Union strictly require members
to abolish capital punishment. Malta's last execution was in 1943, however
it only abolished capital punishment in 2000.

Protocol 13 of the European Convention of Human Rights provides for the
total abolition of the death penalty.

Countries such as Belarus still use capital punishment for a variety of
serious and aggravated crimes, which include the murder of a
representative of a foreign state or international organisation with the
intention to provoke international tension or war; terrorism and the use
of WMDs, genocide, crimes against humanity, but also conspiracy to seize
power, sabotage, and the murder of a police officer.

(source: Malta Today)






BAHRAIN:

Use death penalty as deterrent say MPs


A CALL for Bahrain to enforce the death penalty went out from MPs and
lawyers yesterday in the wake of the brutal shooting of a Bahraini man in
Muharraq.

Although capital punishment does exist under Bahraini law, it has rarely
been used.

The murder of Bahraini Mahdi Abdulrahman Mohammed, 38, followed the
slaying of 37-year-old Bahraini Sana Al Jalahma by a Bangladeshi cook in
Saar earlier this month.

There was also the murder of Pakistani illegal resident Mohammed Mahboob
Khan last week, while a 15-year-old Bahraini turned himself in after
allegedly murdering his elder sister on August 9.

Legislators and lawyers said that if the death penalty was brought in for
perpetrators of brutal, premeditated murders, it could help reduce such
crimes in the future.

MP and lawyer Ali Samaheeji said he was deeply concerned about the
direction that Bahraini society is taking. "These types of premeditated
murders are very unusual here, occurring once or maybe twice a year at the
most," he said.

"Bahrain has always been a country in which you felt safe on the streets.
But these 2 crimes, 1 by a household servant and the other committed by a
Bahraini against a fellow Bahraini, are extremely disturbing.

"I hope the Interior Ministry can solve this case and bring the
perpetrators to justice."

Mr Samaheeji also called on the Public Prosecution to play its role in
investigating the crime and the judges to sentence the guilty party
appropriately.

"Imposing a death penalty on someone after it is proven they are guilty of
a premeditated crime can be a great deterrent to others," he said.

MP Shaikh Mohammed Khalid said although Bahrain's laws are very good, the
tragedy is they are not enforced. "The death penalty should be imposed in
cases such as these, but past experience shows us it probably won't," he
said.

"There are some cases in which the death penalty has been handed out years
ago, but the guilty parties are still in jail. If the sentence is passed,
the execution should take place within a week or 2."

Mr Khalid said very often the sentences passed in court didn't make sense.
"You can't treat someone who kills under difficult circumstances the same
way you treat someone accused of premeditated murder."

"I also believe that we should have a separate prison for murderers," he
added.

MP Yousif Zainal said Bahraini society seems to be becoming more violent.
"Society is becoming more complex, commercial and fast-paced and this is
making people more impatient and impersonal," he said.

Mr Zainal puts part of the blame on violent films, TV shows and video
games. "The most important thing is to resolve the issue through looking
at the core problems," he said.

(source: Gulf Daily News)






EUROPE:

Thomas Hammarberg: 'Europe should remain a death penalty-free zone'


***Learn more about the work of the Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights -- HREA chat session with the first Commissioner for Human
Rights, Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles: http://www.hrea.org/robles-chat.html

In his latest Viewpoint, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas
Hammarberg, reiterates that Europe must remain a dealth penalty-free zone,
and argues that the reference to the death penalty in the European
Convention on Human Rights has now become redundant.

Europe is now a death penalty-free zone. All members of the Council of
Europe have abolished capital punishment in law or practice.

This is great progress in the struggle for human rights and must be
protected against those who still argue for a return to the days of
executions.

The application of the death penalty violates the most fundamental of
human rights, the right to life and the right not to be subjected to
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Indeed, capital punishment has no
place in civilized, democratic societies governed by the rule of law. It
is simply not compatible with European values, as the European Commission
reaffirmed recently in response to the Polish Presidents views on capital
punishment.

This is not merely the position of human rights organizations. A consensus
between Council of Europe member States has been reached on the death
penalty. Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which
abolishes the death penalty in peacetime, has been ratified by all Council
of Europe member states, except one (see footnote). Protocol No. 13 to the
European Convention on Human Rights, which concerns the abolition of the
death penalty in war as well as peacetime, has been signed by 44 out of 46
member states, and ratified by 36 (see footnote).

The 2nd sentence of Article 2.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights
still provides for the death penalty ("No one shall be deprived of his
life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court
following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by
law.") In my opinion, the two Protocols and their wide support suggest
that this sentence has now become redundant. This is further demonstrated
by the fact that abolition of the death penalty is a precondition of
membership to the Council of Europe. We can clearly say that death as a
punishment is no longer accepted in our Continent.

The trend towards abolition is not confined to Europe alone. The Council
of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly is active in lobbying Japan and the
United States to abolish the death penalty, since these 2 countries have
observer status with the Organization. European governments are working
within the United Nations and bilaterally for universal abolition, and
with some success. Over half the countries in the world have now abolished
the death penalty in law or practice.

Nevertheless, the global figures relating to the death penalty are still
disturbing. According to Amnesty International, at least 2,148 people were
executed in 22 countries in 2005, and at least 5,186 people were sentenced
to death in 53 countries. The true figures are certainly higher, as
official national statistics are often hard to come by. In the same year
94% of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and
the United States. Scientific studies have consistently failed to find
convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively
than other punishments. Violent crime rates in abolitionist countries are
not on the increase.

The 4th annual World Day against the death penalty will be held on 10
October 2006. This year's theme, "The Death Penalty: a Failure of Justice"
will highlight the failures of the systems which administer capital
punishment, such as race and class bias. As long as the death penalty is
maintained, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated.

We must remind ourselves that no legal system is infallible. Since 1973
over 120 prisoners have been released from death row in the United States
with evidence of their innocence. Studies in the United States have shown
that innocent people have been sentenced to death and executed. Once
exacted, the death penalty can never be taken back.

Work still needs to be done to sensitize and inform the public on this
issue. This should include educational and awareness raising activities
against recourse to the death penalty, particularly among the media and
the general public. We should demonstrate that abolition of the death
penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the
progressive development of human rights. Thomas Hammarberg

Footnote: The Russian Federation has signed but not yet ratified Protocol
6, although it has respected a moratorium on executions since 1996. The 2
countries which have not signed Protocol No. 13 are The Russian Federation
and Azerbaijan. Those countries which have signed but have yet to ratify
Protocol 13 are Albania, Armenia, France, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Poland,
and Spain.

(source: HREA - Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an
international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights
learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of
educational materials and programming; and community-building through
on-line technologies.)






PAKISTAN:

How Jansher Khan came to face death penalty


Pakistan's legendary squash player and former world champion Jansher Khan
has been informed by his lawyers that he has been charged under Section
354-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The act carries a death penalty
for the accused.

Jansher Khan was arrested and sent to Peshawar Central Jail on July 14,
2006, after his bail was rejected by a local court on charges of forceful
occupation of a house, firing and intimidating the inmates, especially a
woman.

It has now dawned upon Khan that under Section 354-A, an accused could
even be convicted for death penalty or life imprisonment.

However, after being approached by Khan, the frontier government ordered
an inquiry to ascertain why a former squash legend has been charged under
Section 354-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) instead of the simple
Section 354.

"Under Section 354, an accused can be sentenced for a few a years or
imposed a nominal fine. One can be charged under Section 354 of the PPC
only when he assaults a woman or strips someone in public," a senior
lawyer explained.

Rukhsana, wife of one Ghulam Habib, had registered an FIR against Jansher
and his relative in the West Cantonment Police Station. She accused him of
misbehaving with her and other family members as well as firing,
forcefully entering and occupying their house at Lal Kurti over an
ownership dispute. Khan was booked under Sections 354-a, 452, 506 and 447
PPC.

The former champion, who has a reputation of being rude and arrogant, has
developed huge property in some areas of Peshawar, including houses and
dozens of flats.

(source: DNAINDIA.com)