[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 29


CANADA:

Tories' death-penalty stance faces trial during election


The widely expected mid-October federal election would see one of the
Conservative government's most controversial decisions - its refusal to
seek clemency for a Canadian on death row in the United States - put on
trial at the height of the campaign.

The Federal Court of Canada has scheduled a 2-day judicial review of
Canada's new policy on the death penalty to begin Sept. 29 in Toronto.

A legal team representing Alberta-born murderer Ronald Smith and
government lawyers will present opposing arguments about the October 2007
policy change, which ended a long-standing federal practice of
automatically seeking clemency for any Canadian facing execution in a
foreign country.

Smith filed a lawsuit last November arguing his rights as a Canadian were
violated by the government's sudden policy reversal - first publicly
voiced by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.

Smith is seeking a court order to overturn the decision.

"When the evidence comes out, it will be clear to everyone that this was
not a rational policy decision that was taken but a spur of the moment
reaction by the minister without considering the consequences," said Lorne
Waldman, a Toronto defence lawyer representing Smith.

"I hope that people will pay attention - and I think it's more likely that
they will in the middle of an election campaign - to the fact that we've
had to go to court to try to force the government to do what we believe
they have an obligation to do: to protect a Canadian citizen at risk of
the death penalty."

The policy switch was first revealed to Canwest News Service last Oct. 31,
shortly after it had reported that Canadian diplomats were pressing
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to grant clemency to Smith and allow his
transfer to a Canadian prison.

Days later, amid an uproar in the House of Commons over the issue, Prime
Minister Stephen Harper explained that Canadian officials had been ordered
to halt all efforts to save Smith's life because seeking clemency for a
double-killer was sending the "wrong signal" to Canadians at a time when
his Conservative government was pushing a law-and-order agenda targeting
violent crime.

The new Conservative policy stated the government would not seek clemency
for Canadians on death row in democratic countries, such as the U.S.,
which are seen as having fair trials and the rule of law.

The four federal opposition parties, Amnesty International and other human
rights advocates - as well as the Catholic and Anglican churches of Canada
- denounced the decision as a betrayal of Canada's long-standing rejection
of capital punishment.

Some critics argued - despite denials by Harper and his key ministers on
the matter - that the decision suggested a Conservative majority
government might one day reintroduce the death penalty to Canada.

Experts have also slammed the policy as diplomatically untenable, forcing
Canadian officials to selectively target certain countries' legal systems
as "undemocratic" and undermining efforts to secure clemency for Canadians
facing execution or other legal troubles abroad.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson later softened the government's stance on
the issue, suggesting that only "mass" or "multiple" murderers - including
Smith - should not expect Canada to seek clemency from a foreign death
sentence.

Smith, 50, confessed in the early 1980s to killing 2 Siksika Indian men
during a drunken road trip from Red Deer, Alta., to Montana.

Smith initially requested the death penalty and was sentenced to die by
lethal injection.

He later changed his mind and has been battling in court for more than 20
years to have the death sentence overturned.

Earlier this week - in a decision that Waldman says has "encouraged"
Smith's legal team that they can win a positive judgment in their case - a
Federal Court judge ruled that Day had been "wholly unreasonable" in
rejecting a Canadian citizen's request to be transferred from a U.S.
prison to serve his sentence in this country.

Federal Court Justice Michael Kelen rejected Day's argument that allowing
the transfer of convicted child molester Arend Getkate would threaten the
security of Canadians, a caveat in Canada's International Transfer of
Offenders Act that gives Day the discretion to refuse transfers.

"Use of the phrase 'threat to the security of Canada' has traditionally
been limited in other legislation to threats of general terrorism and
warfare against Canada or threats to the security of Canadians en masse,"
Kelen wrote in an Aug. 25 decision, provided by the court Thursday.

(source: CanWest News Service)






INDIA:

Servant gets death sentence for murdering homemaker


A man was sentenced to death by a court today for murdering a woman last
year, in whose house he was working as a servant.

Surjendu Biswas, additional district session judge, Alipur, awarded the
capital punishment to accused Bikku Yadav alias Nikku Yadav alias Nikara
Yadav. The sentenced is, however, subject to confirmation by the Calcutta
High Court.

The judge had yesterday convicted Yadav of the murder of Ravinder Kaur
Luthra and robbing of her flat in posh Ballygunge area here.

Luthra was murdered on the night of February 14, 2007. Her Husband Asit
Mohan Luthra was away in Vizag at that time. Their two sons stay in
Bengaluru and London, according to the prosecution.

When the maid, the milkman and the driver came the next morning but failed
to get any response from inside, the police were informed and Luthra's
body was found. A chain was used to strangle her.

Money in Indian and foreign currency and jewellery were missing from an
almirah which was found open. The maid told the police that she had seen
Yadav leaving with a bag.

Yadav injured himself after a fall from his cycle on a road away from the
Luthra residence. When local people took him to hospital, he gave his
original name and the address of the Luthras during admission. The police
arrested him from the hospital.

The bag containing the stolen money and jewellery was found from one
Yadav's friends but he did not know its contents.

(source: Sahara Samay)






INDONESIA:

No date set yet for Bali bombers' execution: Indonesian attorney general


The exact date has not been set so far for the execution of Bali bombing
death-row convicts Amrozi bin Nur Hasyim, Imam Samudara and Ali Gufron.

"The date for Amrozi's execution would be decided after the Moslem
Ramadhan fasting month which starts on September 1," the national Antara
news agency on Thursday quoted Indonesian attorney general Hendarman
Supandji as saying.

"I received the dossiers on the execution on Wednesday but it cannot be
carried out in the fasting month. Let's wait until after Ramadhan," he
said, adding that it would certainly be carried out before the end of this
year.

"Earlier, I expected that the dossiers, not the execution, would be
completed before the fasting month but media reports said it was the
execution that should be carried out before Ramadhan," he said.

Asked about a request by the Muslim Defense Lawyers' Team (TPM)that the
execution be conducted by lethal injection instead of firing squad, the
attorney general said it would depend on existing law.

The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on Oct. 12, 2002 in the tourist district
of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack was the deadliest act
of terrorism in the history of Indonesia, killing 202 people, 164 of whom
were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. Some 209 people were
injured.

(source: Xinhua News)






CONGO:

Prosecutors Ask for Death Penalty in Botheti Trial


Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty in the trial of the alleged
killers of Kinshasa Member of Parliament Daniel Botheti. The former
vice-president of the provincial assembly of Kinshasa was gunned down by
armed men on July 6, 2008 as he was returning from a party.

One of the alleged killers, Patrick Mwewa, had earlier said that the
governor of Kinshasa, Andre Kimbuta, had ordered the murder. He recanted
his story after being confronted with the governor during the trial and
asked for his forgiveness.

Prosecutors have said they have found no evidence of the governor's
involvement in the crime.

(source: Congo Planet)




IRAN/SAUDI ARABIA:

More Executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia


Even as a worldwide campaign to end the death penalty for drug offenses
gears up, the resort to the ultimate sanction continues apace, especially
in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. According to reports compiled by
the anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain, this month Southeast Asia is
reporting no drug executions, but it's a different story in the Middle
East, especially in Iran.

International Anti-Drugs Day drug burn, TehranBut not just Iran. On August
21, Saudi Arabia got in on the action, executing 2 Pakistani nationals for
smuggling drugs. The pair were beheaded by the sword after they were
caught smuggling heroin in the eastern city of Damman. That was the 63rd
execution this year in the country, with drug offenders accounting for
between a third and one half of them.

Meanwhile, in the Islamic Republic, the executioner has been busy this
month. On August 7, three men convicted of drug trafficking and murder
were executed in a prison in the holy city of Qom. Authorities provided no
details of the murder for which they were convicted, but said they were
caught with 1,080 kilograms of opium. They were identified only by 1st
names.

4 days later, 3 unnamed convicted drug traffickers were hanged in a prison
in the southeastern city of Zahedan. They had been caught with 30 kilos of
morphine and 22 kilos of heroin. Things got really busy last week. On
August 20, 2 men were hanged after being convicted of drug smuggling
inside a Tehran prison. One of them had been sentenced to life in 2007 for
smuggling, but was upgraded after being caught doing it again while
imprisoned. That same day, yet another drug trafficker was executed in
Zahedan. Bahrum Nikpur was hanged after being found guilty of possessing
14 kilos of opium and six kilos of heroin. Also that same day, 4 people
were hanged for rape and drug trafficking in an unspecified prison in
Iran.

It is not clear if there were 4 drug trafficking rapists, whether it was
rapists and drug traffickers executed together, or how many were rapists
and how many were drug traffickers. All the same to anti-drug zealots,
perhaps.

(source: Drug War Chronicle)