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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 17



INDIA:

Why death penalty in a civilised society?


October 10 is to be observed as the 'World Day against the Death Penalty.'
UN members will vote on a text declaring a global moratorium on death
penalty, the most inhuman punishment civilised society can levy. India
should vote in favour of the text.

THE COUNTDOWN has begun - on October 10, abolitionists worldwide will
answer the World Coalition's call and take action to accelerate the
decline of death penalty. This year, the 'World Day against the Death
Penalty' will coincide with the UN General Assembly's schedule. Following
a proposal from the European Union, delegates from the United Nations'
192-member States will vote on a text declaring a global moratorium on
death penalty. This would constitute the 1st step towards the definitive
outlawing of capital punishment.

A debate on death penalty is triggered in India whenever it is awarded in
sensational cases like the Bombay blasts or the attack on Parliament. In
view of the sensitivities involved, the death sentence has also been
assuming political tones. Our politicians lose no opportunity to look at
the issue from the vote-bank angle.

However it should be seen from a humanitarian and human rights angle. We
strongly believe that the Indian government has the right and the
obligation to ensure law and order and protect its citizens from violent
crimes. However, in its attempt to curb terrorism, the government should
ensure that protection of human rights is not relegated to 2nd place.

We sympathise with the relatives of those killed in the attack on the
Indian parliament complex in December, 2001. We do not want to downplay
the seriousness of the crime or the suffering it has inflicted on the
victims. But we should remember that death penalty is the ultimate, cruel,
inhuman and degrading punishment that a civilized society can levy.

Human rights organisations like Amnesty International express their
unconditional opposition to death penalty as a violation of the right to
life and the right to be not subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. In fact, the death penalty has never been shown
to be a more effective deterrent than other, more humane forms of
punishment.

The World Coalition against the Death Penalty (WCADP), of which
organizations like Amnesty International are members, is organizing a day
of local action around the world on October 10, celebrated as the World
Day against the Death Penalty.

The objective is to make a concerted push for its abolition worldwide by
mobilising popular support. Support is to be mobilised by encouraging
public discussion and strengthening public opposition to death penalty,
besides brining pressure to bear upon retentionist countries to stop
executions and abolish the death penalty.

The death penalty is not an abstract or theoretical issue. The decision to
apply it means that living men and women must be singled out and put to
death. It is the reality of its use around the worldthe use of the death
penalty against child offenders, the discrimination inherent in who is
selected for execution, the ever-present risk of the execution of the
innocent, or of those suffering from mental illness and the use of unfair
trials in the administration of capital punishment that add to the
unacceptable face of State killing.

Although often justified as being a deterrent, studies have shown that
death penalty does not provide the unique protection of benefit to
society. When such punishment is applied to systems which are subjected to
human error and prejudice, the result is that justice will not be served
but perverted.

The World Day 2007 marks the launch of a World Coalition, an international
effort to support the proposed resolution at UN and get as many countries
as possible to vote for it. The World Coalition is calling upon all its
members to get in touch with national governments to discuss their
position.

Over 2/3 of the world's countries have abolished death penalty in law or
practice. According to Amnesty Internationals latest information, 90
countries have abolished death penalty for all crimes; 10 countries have
abolished for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes and 30
countries can be considered abolitionist in practice, as they retain the
death penalty in law but have not carried out any execution in the past 10
years.

While 130 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice,
69 countries retain and use the death penalty. But the number of countries
which actually executes prisoners in any one year is much smaller. Since
1990, more than 50 countries have abolished capital punishment for all
crimes.

International human rights treaties prohibit anyone less than 18 years of
age at the time of commission of the crime from being sentenced to death.
However 8 countries since 1990 are known to have executed prisoners who
were under 18 years at the time of commission of the crime. They are
China, Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, USA and Yemen.

Scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence
that death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments.
Moreover, it is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. As long
as death penalty is maintained, the risk of executing the innocent can
never be eliminated. Like torture, execution constitutes an extreme
physical and mental assault on an individual.

Notwithstanding being the largest democracy in the world and priding
itself of a well-established 'rule of law' mechanism, India still upholds
death penalty. India must join the global trend towards abolition of this
cruel and degrading treatment, accepting and implementing international
law.

India has an opportunity to establish that it will adopt only civilized
methods of punishment, by voting in favour of a resolution to be moved at
the United Nations General Assembly, seeking a global moratorium on death
penalty.

(source: MeriNews)






INDONESIA:

21, alone and on death row


Matthew Norman was 18 when he decided to become a heroin smuggler.

Today he turned 21, locked up on death row in Bali, aware that this
birthday could be his last.

There was nothing resembling a celebration for the youngest member of the
Bali Nine heroin ring.

Norman's twin sister Cheryl is in Bali to support him. But because
Kerobokan jail does not allow visitors on Mondays, he spent the day alone.

There was no cake and no special privileges and he was allowed out of his
cell for just one hour. As far as birthdays go, it's hard to imagine a
bleaker scene.

Friends say Norman will get to see his sister and mother Robyn Davies
tomorrow when they will go to the jail for a small celebration, marking
the third birthday he has spent behind bars.

"Robyn had hoped to be able to bring a cake and some gifts, just something
simple, but it will have to wait until tomorrow," said Ed Trotter, a
Pentecostal minister from Australia who regularly visits Norman.

It has been a tough month or so for the young Australian who was arrested
in a Kuta hotel on 17 April, 2005, for conspiring to smuggle 8.2kg of
heroin from Bali to Australia.

In mid-August, Bali's Denpasar District Court - which heard Norman's final
appeal, lodged together with co-conspirators Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc Thanh
Nguyen - recommended the Supreme Court reject it because the trafficking
bid was an extraordinarily anti-social act.

While the Supreme Court has the power to reject the lower court's
recommendation, the news was a major blow for Norman.

"When the recommendation came through from the District Court judges in
Denpasar to dismiss his appeal, that was pretty heavy news to take,"
Trotter said.

"That was pretty depressing, but he seems to have bounced back now. All
things considered, he's pretty upbeat at the moment."

If the Supreme Court rejects the application, Norman's last hope of
escaping the firing squad will be an unprecedented pardon from Indonesia's
president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has never granted clemency to any
drug offender.

(source: Sydney Morning Herald)






KUWAIT/PHILIPPINES:

Overseas Filipino facing death penalty may be saved


A Filipino domestic helper facing the death penalty in Kuwait for killing
her female employer could get her sentence reduced after the Philippine
Embassy convinced the victim's mother and two siblings to forgive her.

Vice President Noli de Castro, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino
workers, relayed the news from Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo Endaya.

De Castro said the embassy was now working to convince the victim's
estranged husband as well as another sibling to forgive Marilou Ranario, a
move which could reduce the death sentence meted by a Kuwaiti court.

Ranario, from Bicol, admitted to killing her employer in January 2005
after the latter had repeatedly maligned Filipinos.

According to De Castro, the embassy has hired another lawyer to argue
Ranario's case in the Kuwaiti Supreme Court which is scheduled to hear the
appeal this week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs denied reports that Ranario had only 16
weeks to live, saying the verdict was still on appeal.

"It's not correct to say na bibitayin na siya (that she will be hanged).
Masyado namang pessimistic iyan (That's too pessimistic)," said foreign
undersecretary for migrant workers Esteban Conejos.

"The government is doing everything to save her. There's no hearing yet in
Kuwait because of Ramadan," he said.

(source: Global Nation)






QATAR:

Court to hear pair's death penalty appeal


THE Qatar Appellate Court will hear on December 24 the appeal of the 2
Bangladeshi youths who have been sentenced to death for killing a 73-year
old Qatari man in Doha last year.

After the duo were found guilty of the crime, a high court bench,
comprising a panel of 3 judges, had sentenced them to death on May 30 this
year. A court-appointed lawyer had represented the accused before the
trial court.

According to the statements made by the accused before the authorities and
court records, the deceased used to sodomise the youths. On the fateful
night, he was killed following a quarrel with the youths.

The incident took place at the residence of the victim, part of which was
used as a supermarket. The victim had been living separately from his
family comprising 6 daughters and 4 sons, for about 35 years.

According to sources, both the condemned youths had entered Qatar on visit
visas. While one of them came to Qatar on a six-month visit sponsored by
his father, a long-time resident of Qatar, the other arrived on a tourist
visa.

One of them hailed from Shariatpur district and the other from South
Rangamatia village in Chittagong district of Bangladesh. Both of them came
from very poor families, sources said. A spokesman for the Bangladesh
embassy said the mission was in touch with the public prosecutors office,
the court and the relatives of the two convicts.

"I have full faith in the Qatari judicial system. I respect the law of the
land and I am confident justice will be served," an embassy official said,
adding that the mission would do everything possible to save the lives of
the condemned Bangladeshis.

When contacted, the brother of one of the convicts told this correspondent
on phone that his entire family had been grieving after hearing the courts
ruling.

"My 2 sisters and old parents have always been praying for Allah's mercy
for my brother's release. Our sorrow knows no bounds," he said.

We have heard that the Qatari people are kind-hearted. I appeal to them to
forgive my brother."

The father of one of the convicts told Gulf Times yesterday that he would
go to the kin of the deceased during Ramadan to seek their forgiveness. "I
am a father. I have to use all lawful means for saving my son's life
during this month, while paying due respect to the court verdict," he
said.

Many members of the Bangladeshi community said they were shocked to hear
the sad story about the murder and the following death sentence to the
accused. "We all respect the law of the land. We pray and hope the kin of
the deceased forgive the young men who have been condemned to death," they
said.

(source: Gulf Times)