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

[Rick Halperin]

July 26



PAKISTAN:

You're no juvenile, LHC tells death row convict


A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed the petition
of a death row convict who had requested the court to declare him a
juvenile and reduce his sentence to life imprisonment.

Javed Khan of Deer had filed a petition in the LHC from the Faisalabad
District Jail. Khans black warrants (execution sentence) were issued for
July 25 (Wednesday). He submitted that in April 2004, the Faisalabad
sessions judge had sentenced him to death on the charge of murder, which
was later confirmed by the LHC and the Supreme Court. He further submitted
that he had filed an application before the Faisalabad sessions judge that
he had not yet turned 18 when he had committed the murder. He added that
after being declared juvenile, his death sentence would be converted to
life imprisonment. He said he produced his birth certificate and his
school-leaving certificate to prove that he was under age at the time of
the incident, but the judge rejected them and his application.

Challenging the order of the sessions judge, he had filed the petition
before the LHC requesting that he be declared a juvenile according to the
documents. The LHC also rejected his plea.

(source: Daily Times)

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

Is death penalty a violation of human rights in Pakistan?


As Superintendent Nusrat Hussain Mangan of Central Prison in the southern
port city of Karachi spends sleepless nights trying to figure out how to
raise money to save the life of one inmate, just one of 107 on his death
row, there are moments of near despair.

"When it comes to the real brass tacks, the champions of human rights who
oppose death penalty and writers who never tire of writing how barbaric
capital punishment is and how it should be abolished, all but vanish into
thin air. When it comes to walking the talk, they shy away. It's just
lip-service they pay to the cause," he lets out angrily.

His desperation is understandable. The family of Mohammad Ishan, 34,
condemned for murder, is trying vainly to meet the terms of a last-minute
compromise which would halt the issuance of the 'black warrant' (the
letter confirming a death sentence) and the final walk to the prison
gallows.

The terms have been just too steep for Ihsan's older brother to meet. His
father cannot help, surviving precariously on different jobs from day to
day. It has been left to him, a garment factory worker, to collect the
money. But he already has to care for seven sisters and three brothers. Of
these, 4 sisters have recently been married off which has burdened him
with new debts.

"The blood money - the Islamic 'diyat' where money is paid as compensation
to the family of the victim - has been fixed at Rs 1,200,000 (about 20,000
dollars). The family has managed to collect Rs 700,000 (11,666 dollars)
but the rest has still to be arranged, somehow," Mangan explains. He is
trying to help raise the remainder before the week is out, although
Ihsan's family will request the court to grant more time.

But wherever the superintendent and his team turn to for money they meet
with resistance, he says. The usual response is: 'Why do you want to save
a murderer?' or 'When the court has sentenced him, who are you to
interfere?'

Mangan looks at the situation from a very different perspective. "It's not
a rotten part of the fruit that you just cut out and throw away, it's
human life we are talking of. Even if he's a criminal, he's a human being
first. So I tell them, he deserves another chance and we can help save his
life by contributing that paltry amount collectively." Not many are
convinced though and thus the delay.

Mangan has been in prison service two decades and makes it clear that he
adamantly opposes capital punishment, although Pakistan still routinely
carries out executions by hanging. According to Amnesty International's
2007 report, "nearly a third of the world's 24,000 death row prisoners are
in Pakistan".

"Nothing comes out of killing another person," Mangan says, adding, "There
are other punishments that can serve the purpose."

His deputy, Raja Mumtaz Ahmed, has witnessed almost 20 executions. But
never has he got used to them. "Life imprisonment is preferable. You get
25 years time, but actually end up spending 15 years inside due to various
remissions. Then you are out. It's enough punishment," he says. Posted at
various jails around the province of Sindh during his tenure, Mangan has
not once witnessed an execution, nor does he intend to do so this time. "I
am confident this time, though we have very little time, we will be able
to save this fellow," he says.

He and his team did recently succeed in arranging the blood money for
three other inmates, all of whom were sentenced to death for separate road
accidents in which three people died. "Not one was a 'criminal' as is
usually pointed out. They were poor so their families could not arrange
for the money and their employers refused to bail them out. But the amount
was manageable and we could find people to donate."

Mirza Tahir Hussain, a Briton who spent 18 years languishing in Pakistani
jails, but whose sentence was commuted by a landmark decision of President
General Musharraf last year, has also joined Mangan in his campaign to
raise the diyat money. He has fired off emails around the world to
charities, businesses, friends and family, appealing for donations. So far
he has raised 1,495 dollars in addition to the 11,666 dollars collected by
the family.

His sympathy is acute. "Most of the convicts finally sent to the gallows
are from poor families, unable to pay diyat," he says. "The more affluent
and influential use methods of coercion to force the victims' family into
a compromise and get off the hook."

A senior prison office here, on condition of anonymity, confirms what
Hussain says. "There are cases that get disposed off even before the crime
is registered at the local police station. Huge sums are exchanged, in
connivance with the police and lawyers," he says.

Mangan's anger directed at the human rights organizations reflects his
sense of helplessness confronted by such a system. "I believe 90 percent
of the executions can be commuted and don't even need to reach a stage
where inmates are sent on death row," he says.

What this case shows is that Pakistan needs to establish well-funded
institutions so that one would not always have to go out with the begging
bowl. "What is needed is an independent body that can look into the legal
rights of the prisoners. Most poor prisoners do not have access to good
public legal representation.

"Even if there are advocates representing them, they are either too
disinterested or so mediocre that their case is already spoiled by the
time it reaches the higher courts. The well reputed lawyers are far too
busy making money and, in any case, too expensive for these poor people to
engage."

Mangan would also like to see a body to take over the onerous task of
reaching diyat compromises which all could live with without prison
officers having to be involved.

"Initiating a dialogue with the families, arranging for compromises and
reconciliations is time-consuming, requiring patience, a certain amount of
cool and tact. Most families, already under emotional and economical
stress are not good at looking at circumstances rationally. But if there
was a competent body handling all this, there would be less heartburn on
both sides and our time would not be spent on doing this as it is now," he
says.

Tahir Hussain agrees. In a Muslim country like Pakistan it is essential to
establish, what he calls, a "reconciliation committee", both for the
accused and the victim's family. "This would also be in keeping with the
true spirit of Islam," he says, adding that after Ishan's life is saved he
would like to join with others and work towards establishing this.

(source: TERRAVIVA)






SUDAN/AUSTRALIA:

Aussie spared death sentence back home


He was falsely convicted of killing a work mate and languished in the
squalor a roofless Sudanese jail for 3 months, but George Forbes said he
has no hard feelings and is raring to go back to Sudan. "There's a lot of
hospitals to build and the whole country was flattened so you're starting
from scratch," said Mr Forbes, a construction manager with Kenyan firm
Trax International. "I've still got these projects to finish."

The 46-year-old Brisbane man was in high spirits when he touched down at
Sydney Airport today. He said he also wants to build schools, roads and,
ironically, has building jobs for the judiciary that condemned him to
prison.

"We do a lot for the judiciary, funnily enough," the 46-year-old said.

Mr Forbes, and 3 international colleagues, had faced the death penalty for
the murder of a Ukrainian man found hanged in his company compound.

The man had used a sheet suspended from a towel rack to commit suicide.

In an earlier trial, an autopsy ruling the man had committed suicide was
ignored. Forbes's lawyer was not allowed to cross-examine witnesses, and
the defence's doctor could not give evidence.

An appeal court overturned the murder conviction last month after
prominent barristers Lex Lasry, QC, Julian McMahon and solicitor Alex
Danne, agreed to work on the case for free.

"After 21 years of war, there isn't very much of a justice system," Mr
Forbes said. He said prison conditions were appalling.

"If you can imagine a medieval dungeon, [it was] something like that."

Mr Forbes had previously said he contracted typhoid in prison. He said the
jail in the southern town of Rumbek would collect sewage on its floor
every time it rained and temperatures sometimes reached 40 degrees, making
sleep near impossible on the concrete floor.

Today, he looked relaxed in a loose checked shirt and white pants. He
smiled as he grabbed an old work mate, who had been waiting for him at
Sydney Airport, in an embrace.

"It was hard but we always knew that justice would come through and win
for the day," he said. "Right now it's just a case of recovery."

Mr Forbes said he was looking forward to a few beers and grinned when he
was asked what he missed most while incarcerated.

"What did I miss? If I told you that, that would not be good. Not good,"
he laughed.

(source: Sydney Morning Herald)






KENYA:

Leaders Split Over Push to Abolish Death Penalty


Parliament is split on calls to abolish the death sentence.

Members were clearly divided over who between God and human beings should
have the last say on life.

Those supporting a private member's motion by Mr Paddy Ahenda (Kasipul
Kabondo, LDP) argued that continued stay of the death sentence in the
statute books had not reduced the rate of crime in the country.

Sadistic methods

In any case, they said, punishment by death for a criminal offence was
irreversible and should be abolished.

But their opponents said criminals had adopted more sadistic methods
including beheading their victims, and it was only fair to for the guilty
to face the noose.

Mr Ahenda said death was not a form of punishment, and that jails were not
meant to punish but correct the convicts. "Life is God-given and it's only
Him who has the moral authority to take it away. Death is so final and one
cannot return to say how painful it was," the MP said, adding that people
who killed in self-defence were sometimes set free by courts of law. And
the Constitution, he said, upheld the sanctity of life.

He sought permission to introduce a Bill to amend sections 25, 40(3), 204,
and 296 (2) of the Penal Code to abolish the death sentence.

"The Penal Code has been misused and some suspects have been sent to the
gallows for offences they did not commit, or that they cannot defend
themselves," he said.

Seconding the motion, Mr Mwandawiro Mghanga (Wundanyi, Ford People) said
the sentence was against the Constitution.

Human beings, including judges, were not perfect and could be compromised
or misled to pass the verdict, he noted.

Nyakach MP Peter Odoyo said death sentence amounted to the State playing
God.

"Why should the Head of State, a human being, be given godly powers?" he
said, adding that none of the Scandinavian countries had the death penalty
and only 10 out of the 52 states in the United States applied the
punishment.

Siakago's Justin Muturi (Kanu), a former magistrate who sentenced people
to hang, said some suspects confessed under duress.

"I have tried and sentenced people to hang. Yet even as a magistrate, you
are enjoined to follow the law as it is, not as it should be.

"Confessions are in most cases forced, yet courts rely on them to pass
judgments," Mr Muturi said.

He served as a magistrate for 18 years before venturing into politics.

Sanctity of life

He noted: "Throughout my life on the Bench, I never found an accused who
had been alerted by the police to plead only in the presence of his lawyer
or relative."

Health assistant minister Enoch Kibunguchy said appreciation for the
sanctity of life should be reciprocal.

"We now see bizarre, dastardly and sadistic crimes in this country. If,
for example, a person beheaded another, he should be made to pay for what
he did.

"Passing this motion will give people a blank cheque to commit all forms
of crime, " he said.

(source: All Africa News)






UNITED KINGDOM/RWANDA:

The Minister for Africa comments on Rwandan abolishment of the death
penalty


FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News
Network on 26 July

Following confirmation by the Rwandan government that it has abolished the
death penalty. Lord Malloch Brown said:

"I congratulate the Rwandan government on the formal abolition of the
death penalty. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a
matter of principle.

"And this decision is all the more impressive given the recent history of
Rwanda. Once again, Rwanda sets an example of leadership in this field in
the region and more widely in the international community."

Notes:

1. The Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, approved the new law on total
abolition of death penalty on 24 July. While Rwanda has thousands of
prisoners on death row, nearly all for murders during the 1994 genocide, a
de facto moratorium has been in place since 1998.

2. Under Kagame's leadership, Rwanda has rebuilt impressively since the
1994 genocide in which over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
Kagame's government has made significant progress in poverty reduction,
anti-corruption, and improving health and education. Averaging over 10%
p.a., Rwanda's economic growth rate since 1994 is the 2nd highest in
Africa. The Rwandan Parliament has the world's highest proportion of
female MPs (48%).

3. Rwanda is a development success story, and one of the UK's major
development partners in Africa. Through a flagship Memorandum of
Understanding signed in 2006, the UK has pledged development support of c.
500m over 10 years to the Rwandan government. UK assistance has been
instrumental in helping Rwanda make real progress in healing the social,
political and economic wounds of the genocide.

(source: PR Newswire)

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

Louis Michel Wants Other Countries to Emulate Country On Death Penalty


The European Commission's Development and Humanitarian Aid boss Mr. Louis
Michel said Thursday that the abolition of the death penalty in Rwanda was
a "significant step" that indicates the country is "committed" to human
rights, RNA reports.

"It is with great satisfaction that I have learnt that Rwanda has formally
adopted the law abolishing the death penalty. This important decision
confirms the political and democratic engagement of the country towards
national reconciliation", he said in a statement from the EC office in
Kigali.

The former Belgian top diplomat also congratulated government and the
Rwandan people on this "important decision".

"This significant step sends an important signal to the international
community, showing Rwanda's commitment and respect for human rights. I
hope that this decision will encourage other countries in Africa to
follow", Mr. Michel said.

Just last week, the Senate unanimously voted to abolish the death penalty
- essentially putting the last stamp. This follows cabinet approval at the
beginning of the year of the bill put forward by President Paul Kagame.
The ideal was hatched by the ruling Rwanda patriotic Front (RPF).

The European Union campaigns across the world for abolition of the death
penalty, the EC statement said, adding, this stance is rooted in the
belief in the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability
of the human person, regardless of the crime committed.

Despite the 1994 Genocide, donor partners including the EU have expressed
outright satisfaction with progress in Rwanda. More donor governments seem
comfortable with how the country has been spending their money.

"Rwanda's improving governance environment is reflected in its recent
African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report, endorsed by African Heads of
State in 2006", the EC notes.

On the April trip here, Mr. Michel said "Rwandan authorities are using the
money we are giving them in a very useful and transparent way, and this is
a good example of rebuilding a nation that suffered the most awful
experience of Genocide". He said the block would increase aid by 50% over
the coming years.

The career diplomat who has been in the region very often - was in the
country with a group of 54 students and teachers from across Europe
traveling to learn about Africa.

EC engagement with Rwanda spans back over the past 15 years. In the
pre-genocide period, the focus was on projects in the areas of rural
development and transport.

In the aftermath of the carnage, the EC moved into humanitarian aid,
emergency aid and physical rehabilitation, along with some support to the
judicial system.

The emphasis was on mobilising resources for discrete projects rather than
building a coherent and structured programme, it argues.

In Partnership with European Development Fund (EDF) since 2000, the
country is now experiencing a transition from post-conflict reconstruction
and long term development aid focused on poverty reduction.

Over the last 5 years, a total of over ?215 million has been provided
through the facility, in close alignment with the Government's Poverty
Reduction Strategy.

Through the 'Infrastructure for Regional Interconnectivity' road project
to be implemented in 2009, the EC will support government establish
infrastructure that is essential for the economic development of the
country.

In the framework of the same plan, the Kigali to Gatuna border section
leading into Uganda will be renovated as well as the Kayonza-Rusumo road
heading to Tanzania. Technical studies on the feasibility of the project
are already available.

This section is planned to link up eastern D R Congo through Rwanda to the
other East African Community (EAC) countries. Eastern DRC remains cut off
from the rest of the country largely due to absence of a road network. The
nearest point of exit has been Rwanda and Uganda.

Since 1998, the European commission has funded road projects in Rwanda to
the tune of 100 m Euros covering Kigali urban road network. The funding
also went to rehabilitating the Kigali - Akanyaru road (Southern Rwanda)
and the Kigali- Kibuye connection (Western Rwanda). The road linking
Kigali to the east of the country was also made usable.

(source: Rwanda News Agency)