[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 10


AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA:

Australian FM to plead for drug smugglers in Indonesia


Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday he would use
upcoming talks in Indonesia to raise the issue of clemency for three
Australian drug traffickers held there on death row.

Smith, who will meet with his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda in
Jakarta on Monday, said he would discuss the plight of the three men, who
face death by firing squad.

The trio are part of the so-called "Bali 9", a group of Australians
convicted over a foiled plot to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18 pounds) of
heroin from the Indonesian resort island into Australia in 2005.

"I'll be just making the point in our formal bilateral conversation in
Jakarta tomorrow that we have 3 of the Bali 9 still subject to the death
penalty," Smith said.

"I'll make inquiries about the progress of their cases through the
Indonesian legal and judicial system and, again, make the point that when
those processes have completed, that if any of those three still remain
the subject of the death penalty, we'll be making a plea for clemency in
accordance with our normal processes."

Smith said that while the Australian government was opposed to the death
penalty, he would not raise the issue of clemency for those responsible
for the deaths of 88 Australians in nightclub bombings in Bali in 2002.

"The prime minister and I have both made clear that we don't propose to
make representations on behalf of terrorists who have been subject to the
death penalty," he told Australia's Channel 9.

"So I won't be making any individual representations so far as the Bali
bombers are concerned."

(source: Agence France Presse)






BAHRAIN:

Bahrain slammed over death penalty legisation


Proposed legislation enforcing the death penalty for people found guilty
of disclosing state secrets and documents to rival nations has been
condemned by a leading human rights group in Bahrain.

The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) slammed Bahrain's
parliament for including the death sentence in new legislation despite
international denunciation of the punishment, UAE daily Gulf News reported
on Sunday.

"Lawmakers should keep up with international trends while drafting their
legislation as many countries are fighting to scrap the death penalty in
their outdated laws, while here we are reimposing it," Faisal Fulad, BHRWS
member and MP, was quoted as saying.

"Killing people cannot be justified as those with massive crimes could be
sentenced to life imprisonment because life and death are granted by God
only."

Every human being had the right to live even those who were disloyal to
their state as emphasised by the International Declaration for Human
Rights, he noted.

(source: ArabianBusiness.com)