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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 8



IRAQ:

U.S. says "Chemical Ali" execution not imminent


The U.S. military said on Friday it was unaware of any plan by Iraq's
government to carry out a death sentence against Saddam Hussein's cousin,
widely known as "Chemical Ali", in the "near term".

An Iraqi appeals court on Tuesday upheld Ali Hassan al-Majeed's death
sentence for planning and directing a military campaign in 1988 that
prosecutors said killed up to 180,000 Kurds. The sentence must be carried
out within 30 days.

Since then, rumours have been rife that the government plans to execute
him ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts in
mid-September.

Several media reports said on Friday that the U.S. military was about to
hand over Majeed to the Iraqi authorities so that they could hang him.

"These are all rumours not grounded in fact. We control Chemical Ali. He
has not been moved," said U.S. Navy Captain John Fleming, spokesman for
U.S. detention operations in Iraq.

"We know of no plans for the near term for the execution of that
sentence," he said, referring to the appeal court decision.

Sunni Arabs in Iraq accused the Shi'ite-led government of acting with
unseemly haste in carrying out the death sentence of Saddam on Dec. 30,
just four days after a court rejected his appeal in a separate case.

Sunni Arab governments, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, also criticised
the timing of the execution, which took place at the start of the Eid
al-Adha religious feast.

The appeals court this week also upheld the death sentences against 2
other accused in Majeed's trial -- Sultan Hashim, Saddam's former defence
minister, and Hussein Rashid, the former deputy head of operations for the
Iraqi military.

Majeed has also just gone on trial for his role in crushing a Shi'ite
rebellion in southern Iraq in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.
Prosecutors in that case had warned he could be executed before the trial
was completed.

(source: Reuters)






JAMAICA:

CONDEMNED TO DIE: The story of a former death row inmate Pt. II


Anthony 'Fines' Ashwood, who spent 21 years behind bars, was released on
parole in April 2004. He has been out of prison for three years and he
said he is still anxiously mentally counting to 10. His new-found freedom
is tenuous. He will be on parole for 10 years, so for the next 7 years,
the possibility of once again being back behind bars is an ever-present
threat.

Fines, who was released early from prison after his death sentence was
commuted to life due to an amendment of the Offences Against the Persons
Act in the 1980s, said he has to be constantly on guard. Parole officers
employed to the Correctional Services monitor his movements and part of
the conditions of his continued freedom is that he remains gainfully
employed and that he, at all times, is on his best behaviour. Even though
he is no longer confined behind bars, the prison system keeps him in
check. He said that is a source of torment for him.

While Fines thinks that the parole system is helpful for inmates who have
served short sentences, he feels that the stipulations of 10 years of
being on parole for former death row inmates like himself are way too
harsh.

"In a sense, parole gives inmates serving short sentences the opportunity
to come out (of prison) before their time is finished. Fi a long-sentence
man now whey deh inna prison fi all 20-odd years, mi no see di sense fi
put him pon parole fi a next 10 years again," he stated.

Fines said his 10-year parole requirement prevents him from living a
meaningful life after prison, as it prevents him from joining relatives if
they lived overseas as he is unable to travel outside of Jamaica until
after the 10 years have expired.

"After more than 20 years in prison and an additional 10 years with your
movements confined and constantly monitored, it is basically impossible
for someone like me to live a normal life even though I have been released
from prison. When I actually get my freedom, I will be too old to enjoy it
or do anything meaningful with my life," he lamented.

His parole officers routinely check with his employers and people in his
community, and he is required to visit the parole office in downtown
Kingston at least once per month.

parole used to monitor former inmates

A parole officer employed to the Correctional Services told The Gleaner
that former inmates who have been released before their sentences are
completed are considered to be still in the prison system and that parole
is used to monitor former inmates who fit that category.

However, Fines feels that parolees have the deck stacked against them as
they face a lot of difficulties in trying to reintegrate into society, and
when he and others like himself are saddled with a 10-year parole
requirement, that only adds to what is sometimes a back-breaking burden
for many former inmates.

"When you come out on parole, you face a lot of problems. It's kinda
difficult on the street and even socially you find that you are hampered
in many ways (from) carrying on with your life. Because at all times you
have to have in the front of you head say you can't afford fi meck a
mistake, even if somebody wrong wid you, you haffi just walk it out or
walk away, or you haffi just teck anything whey you get, cause you no want
di system say you shoulda did know better or a your fault (if something
goes wrong)," he explained.

He laments the fact that the Correctional Services do not assist in
finding jobs for inmates through arrangements with companies. According to
Fines, branded as ex-convicts and shunned by the majority of companies, a
large percentage of former inmates are forced to turn to crime in order to
provide for themselves and their families and end up back in prison.

"When you inside prison you may have family members who would see to it
that certain things are provided for you. (However), when you outside, you
have to find things fi yourself, and if somebody don't employ you or if
you don't try some self-employment, then, you inna problem. That is the
kind of problem that nuff a di man dem face. When nobody no want to employ
dem and dem have the whole heap a responsibilities fi take care of and dem
can't take care of it, dem probably end up doing things whey dem not
supposeto do and dem end up back right inna di (prison) system again," he
explained.

He says it is sad that all ex-inmates get stereotyped and a lot of them
suffer as a result.

When he was arrested in 1982, charged with murder, tried and found guilty
and sentenced to hang, Fines said the judge's announcement of the first
line of his sentence marked the beginning of the end for him. For the 10
years he spent on death row he would be up in the throes of a frenzied
battle to save his life and his neck from the hangman's noose.

Fines claimed that the events that changed his life and took him to death
row are still a mystery to him. He admitted that he had been part of a
gang that was implicated in the murder that he was charged with, but
maintained that he did not participate in the murder.

"I wasn't guilty of the crime that I was charged for but because the
persons that I usually par with were involved in a murder, eyewitnesses
told police that I was 1 of 5 men who took part in the crime, even though
I was in my bed when it happened," he contended.

He said his denial of any involvement in the murder did nothing to appease
the police or courts.

at 19-y-o new home death row

At 19, his new home would be death row, where he would face a daily dance
with death for 10 years before his death sentence was commuted to life.
However, he would end up spending an additional 11 years in the general
prison population before he was paroled in 2004.

According to Fines, after he was arrested, he said he was never placed on
an identification parade, but a woman looked into a room where he was
being held and he later found out that she identified him as one of the
men who had been involved in the murder. He said that omission and other
legal blunders played a key role in his death sentence being commuted to
life and eventually securing his freedom through parole from prison in
2004.

Fines is now 44 years old, unemployed and saddled with the burden of the
conditions of parole for 7 more years. When he spoke with The Gleaner, he
was in the process of making arrangements to bury his father, whom he said
disappointed him many times while he was growing up, but whom he has
learned to forgive.

In reflecting on the course of his life, he has many regrets, but
according to him, hindsight has the luxury of 20/20 vision, so he accepts
his past with its mistakes and is optimistic about the future. Since
leaving prison, he said he assisted his 3 friends who were charged jointly
with him with the murder and also sentenced to death, to be paroled.

Whatever challenges he now faces, he considers himself more fortunate than
the approximately 300 men he said he left on death row. Men who, everyday,
still wake up with hope of a reprieve that would save them from the
gallows or at the very least that they would die by any other means than
the hangman's noose.

(source: Jamaica Gleaner)






INDONESIA:

The death penalty draws near for one of the 2002 Bali bombers


The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal by Amrozi, condemned to death
along with Ali Gufronand Imam Samudra for the bombs which killed 202
people. Now the announcement of the time and place of the execution is
awaited. Still no news on the fate of the others.

1 of the 3 Islamic terrorists condemned to death for their role in the
2002 Bali bombings any day now will face the Indonesian execution squad.

On August 30th the Indonesian Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Amrozi
presented last year and saving his life at the last moment. The
announcement was made public yesterday by the Denpasar district attorney's
office, who added that Amrozi will soon be put to death, even though the
time and place of the execution remains unclear.

In 2003 Denpasar district court established the death penalty for the
three men involved in the attack on the famous resort island which cost
the lives of 202 people, mainly foreign tourists. The 3 were judged
according to the terror laws introduced by the Country in the wake of the
Bali bombs. Up until now the Indonesian laws had no retro-active value, a
fact which defence lawyers used to ask for a revision of the case.
Following the initiative of their lawyers the trio's death penalty, fixed
for August 22 2006, was temporarily suspended. The judges have yet to pass
judgement on the fate of the other 2 condemned men. The spokesperson for
the Supreme Court, Djoko Sarwoko, has confirmed the news and explained
that beyond himself, the decision was taken by the Chief Justice, Iskandar
Kamil, and a group of chosen judges. All of the Muslim. Sarwoko added that
all new proof presented to ask for further revision will be treated and
unsubstantiated.

(source: Asia News)






CANADA:

Case sends message about the death penalty


If there is any silver lining to the Steven Truscott miscarriage of
justice, it's that the Canadian didn't live in Texas.

If he had, there's a good chance he would have been executed despite not
having committed a murder.

Truscott was acquitted last Tuesday of a 1959 murder after living for
nearly half a century as the convicted killer of Lynne Harper.

After the decision, Truscott said it was an "unbelievable" feeling to
finally have his name cleared. When asked if justice has been done, the
62-year-old responded: "For my family, yes. For the Harper family, no."
Thank goodness he now has an opportunity to get on with his life, if
that's still possible.

Remember Truscott's name the next time you think Canada should have the
death penalty. The call for the death penalty comes up once in a while
after a particularly heinous murder, and it's understandable. How many of
us didn't have that thought cross our minds after Clifford Robert Olson
was sent to prison for life after confessing to killing 11 children?

There are dozens of cases that are left up to the justice system to
decide. And that system has some serious flaws.

Enough flaws to produce injustices, as well as a stubborn streak for
fixing those problems or admitting they even exist.

"We are satisfied that Mr. Truscott's conviction was a miscarriage of
justice and must be quashed," the ruling said.

Aside from Truscott, there are also the names of Donald Marshall Jr.,
David Milgaard and Guy Paul Morin - all wrongfully convicted of heinous
crimes.

Do you really want to risk executing a wrongfully convicted human being,
no matter how angry you are at the murder of an innocent person?

Truscott, who was 14 years old at the time, was actually sentenced to hang
for Harper's murder. Thankfully, that sentence was never carried out.

"There are so many wrongfully convicted in this country, and they just
seem to get swept under the rug," said Truscott.

Fortunately this miscarriage, after being swept under the rug, was swept
out the other side and into the light of day.

(source: Burnaby Now)