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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 23



BANGLADESH:

Bangabandhu Murder Case ---- SC lets death row prisoners appeal


The Supreme Court yesterday granted the applications by the condemned
prisoners in the Bangabandhu murder case seeking leave-to-appeal against
their death sentences.

A thee-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Justice M Tafazzal
Islam, passed the order and asked the petitioners to file regular appeal
by October 30.

Besides, the court extended its stay on the execution of the death
sentences until October 30 next.

The condemned petitioners are Lt Col (sacked) Syed Farooq Rahman, Lt Col
(retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed, Lt Col
(retd) AKM Mahiuddin Ahmed and Major (retd) Bazlul Huda.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with most of his
family members on August 15, 1975. A case was filed after 2 decades on
October 2, 1996.

On November 8, 1998, a trial court awarded death sentences to 15 retired
and dismissed army personnel for the carnage.

The High Court also upheld the capital punishment of 12 army men. Of them,
five are now in jail, one died and the rest are still at large.

AL UNHAPPY

Awami League is disappointed at the Supreme Court decision of allowing
appeal against the death penalty to 12 ex-army officials in Bangabandhu
murder case.

We as well as the whole nation are disappointed, afflicted and agitated as
the Supreme Court granted the applications by the condemned prisoners
seeking to appeal against their death sentences. I believe there is no
reason of granting the leave to appeal in this case, AL acting president
Zillur Rahman told reporters at his Gulshan residence yesterday.

(source: The Daily Star)






PAKISTAN:

VIEW: Discourage the death penalty


According to the human rights watchdog Amnesty International, Pakistan had
the largest number of executions after China and Iran in 2006. That year,
82 persons were hanged to death in different jails across the country.

In August 2007, 38 year old Sultan and 29 year old Muhammad Iqbal were
hanged in District Jail Multan. They were punished for the murder of
Muhammad Arif, committed 16 years ago!

These two hangings once again demonstrate the insensitive attitude of our
legal system towards common people. When the murder took place, Muhammad
Iqbal was a 17 year old boy. But the High Court and Supreme Court refused
to convert his death penalty to life imprisonment on the probability that
at the time of the murder Iqbal was more than eighteen years old.
According to the human rights watchdog Amnesty International, Pakistan had
the largest number of executions after China and Iran in 2006. That year,
82 persons were hanged to death in different jails across the country.

The auxiliary scenario is scarier. More than 7000 persons are on death
row. This constitutes the largest number of condemned prisoners in the
world. It is difficult to even imagine the nightmare these prisoners go
through on death row. Imagine a cell that is 12 ft by 9 ft into which
several human beings have been literally dumped for years and years. In
effect, the approach of the judiciary, especially the lower judiciary, in
murder trials is dubious and insensitive. Once a criminal is awarded the
death sentence, for all practical purposes his life becomes a living hell.

Mirza Tahir Hussain was a British national who spent 18 years on death row
in Pakistan for the murder of a taxi driver. He was released last year
after President Pervez Musharraf converted his death sentence to life
imprisonment under strong international pressure from the British
government as well as human rights groups. After his release from prison,
he agonisingly commented on capital punishment: "Maybe some people think
this (death penalty) is only right. That you should not have to worry
about killers, the sadists and the child murderers. But violence isn't
solved by violence and having seen the emotional brutality and the
cold-blooded depravity of capital punishment, I am convinced that not only
is the death penalty not part of the solution, it is actually part of the
problem. It stands for violence, futility and revenge. It has got nothing
to do with justice and only breeds further violence and disrespect for
life."

Mirza Tahir Hussain escaped the death penalty not because of the Pakistani
legal system but because he was a British national and political
compulsions saved his skin. This was not the case with Sultan and Iqbal
who were ordinary, poor citizens. The president suspended their capital
punishment twice in order to nudge the wronged families to compromise with
him. Iqbal's mother sold all their property to pay qisas to Muhammad Arif,
head of the aggrieved family. Muhammad Arifs sister accepted two hundred
thousand rupees for settlement in court. She appeared before the court,
made a forgiving statement but later refuted her words following pressure
from villagers and the biraderi. Indeed, the mother of the victim was full
of revenge even after 16 years, and refused to make a settlement.

Religiously speaking, the Holy Quran puts much emphasis on forgiveness:

"...We have prescribed for thee therein 'a life for a life, and an eye for
an eye, and a nose for a nose, and an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a
tooth, and for wounds retaliation;' but who so remits it, it is an
expiation for him, but he whoso will not judge by what God has revealed,
these be the unjust."

But the fact remains that Pakistan's tribal social structure is vindictive
and unforgiving. Notions of tribe (biraderi) and honour (ghairat) are
rigid and unchanging.

Unlike the United States and many other countries, our justice department
does not issue sentence guidelines to the courts which decide the extent
and nature of punishments in accordance with the provisions of the law.
The legal structure, which includes the judiciary, prosecution,
investigation and other supplementary services, is certainly not up to the
mark. Hence many innocent persons end up suffering for crimes they have
not committed. For example, a few months ago, 6 brothers were hanged in
Faisalabad even though most people of the area insisted that four of them
had not even been present at the scene of the crime, a fact confirmed by
local police officials.

2 cases highlight how the death penalty has been handled by the courts.
The first is Muhammad Javaid vs State (2007 SCMR 324). The Supreme Court
ruled that: "Normal sentence of Qatl-e-Amd (wilful murder) was death and
in absence of any mitigating or extenuating circumstances, sentence of
death cannot be converted into life imprisonment". However, in another
case, Nawab vs State (2006 SCMR 456), the Supreme Court said: "In the case
of of Qatl-e-Amd normal penalty under the law is death. Exceptional
circumstances must be shown for taking a lenient view and for the award of
lesser penalty."

I object to the term "normal penalty." Death cannot, should not and must
not be taken to be a "normal penalty." It should be awarded only in
exceptional circumstances. Policy makers and courts should change their
attitude towards capital punishment and laws that provide capital
punishment should be discouraged. Even where capital punishment is
provided in law, the courts should set very strict criteria for awarding
the death sentence. We need a more sensitive approach from the courts.

(source: Chaudhry Fawad Hussain-- The author is a lawyer; The Daily Times)