[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 13



INDIA:

Cabbies get death for Aussies rape-murder


2 taxi drivers were on Monday awarded death sentence for killing
59-year-old Australian tourist Dawn Emilie Griggs after gangraping and
robbing her in 2004.

The court convicted the duo  Jyotish Prasad and Ashish Kumar  under
Sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and
said that "the crime committed by the two taxi drivers deserves death
sentence".

Prasads mother started crying inconsolably inside the courtroom after the
pronouncement of the verdict and said, "My poor and innocent son is
wrongly being awarded death penalty," she said.

In a jampacked courtroom where people, including media personnel and
lawyers were jostling for space, the judges pronouncement came as a huge
surprise for the two taxi drivers and their family.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 each on the convicts who were
held guilty of gangrape, robbery, destruction of evidence.

The court had convicted the 2 accused on August 2 and postponed the order
on quantum of sentence for Monday.

Griggs was found murdered in a deserted area here on March 17, 2004,
within hours of landing at the IGI airport from Hong Kong.

Besides awarding the death penalty for murder, the court also handed down
the convicts rigorous life imprisonment for raping the tourist who had
come here to join a meditation course.

Griggs, who landed in Delhi from Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific flight in
the early hours of March 17, 2004, for enrolling for a meditation course
with Brahmakumari Aishwarya Vidyalaya here, had taken a pre-paid taxi from
IGI airport and was later found murdered.

The court convicted Prasad, 28, and Kumar, in his early 30s for the
various offences.

As there was no eyewitness to the gruesome killing, the prosecution had
relied upon circumstantial as well as forensic evidence, including the DNA
reports of the convicts to prove charges against them.

The police had traced the duo by scrutinising the records of pre-paid taxi
booth at the airport. Prasad was arrested on the date of incident while
Kumar was apprehended on his disclosure on March 21.

(source: Howrah News Service)






ASIA:

Expert says capital punishment dying out in Asia


Capital punishment is declining in most Asian countries and will likely
disappear from the region, an expert said Wednesday.

David Johnson, a University of Hawaii sociology professor, said the trend
appeared to be linked to a shift away from authoritarian government.

"I think in the long run, probably the death penalty is going to disappear
in Asia as it seems to be doing in many parts of the rest of the world,"
said Johnson, who is visiting the Australian National University, told The
Associated Press.

(source: Associated Press)