Oct. 10
TAIWAN:
Groups call for abolishing death penalty
Amnesty International (AI) Taiwan and the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death
Penalty on Monday, World Day Against the Death Penalty, reiterated their call
for the government to abolish capital punishment in Taiwan and to align with
international standards of human rights. "We will remember today as the
birthday of Chiang Kuo-ching, instead of Taiwan's National Day," said Lin
Hsin-yi, executive director of the alliance at a film-showing event organized
by the 2 groups to raise public awareness of the issue of death penalty.
Chiang, born on Oct. 10, 1975, was an Air Force serviceman who was wrongfully
executed on a rape and murder conviction 14 years ago. He was acquitted in a
posthumous retrial by a military court Sept. 13, 2011. Lin and members of AI
Taiwan urged the government to release Taiwanese death row inmate Chiu Ho-shun,
whose death sentence was finalized in July. Chiu was convicted by the High
Court of kidnapping and murdering a school child in 1987. Yang Tsung-li, deputy
director of AI Taiwan, said that his organization believes Chiu have been
forced into confession by torture. He criticized the court for not abiding by
the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" and said AI Taiwan would
continue to fight for the rights of death row inmates alongside international
organizations.
(source: Centnral News Agency)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
17 men taken off death row, but back in court
The 17 men reprieved last month from death row, where they had been sent for
the killing of a man in a brawl over bootlegging, were back in court yesterday.
2 Pakistani men who claimed to have been injured in the same fight have filed a
compensation claim against the Indian men, which was yesterday heard in the
Sharjah reconciliation committee.
The committee heard that Mushtaq Ahmed and Shahid Iqbal were injured in the
January 2009 fight that killed the Pakistani Misri Nazir Khan. The 2 want Dh1.5
million for their injuries.
"The committee asked the [Indian] men if they want to pay compensation," said
SP Singh, a hotelier who, along with other donors, paid Dh3.4 million blood
money to the family of the dead man to secure the Indian men's release.
But Mr Singh said after the meeting: "We do not want to give any compensation
to them."
The committee will refer the case to Sharjah civil court if the 2 sides cannot
reach an agreement.
Mr Ahmed has said his injuries make it difficult for him to work.
"I cannot work because my hand had to be operated on after the sword injury and
now I cannot lift anything heavy," he said. "It has been difficult to support
my family because I have not been able to earn. Compensation is our right."
The next hearing in the case has been set for October 18.
Khan was beaten to death in an industrial area in Sharjah during a turf war
over alcohol bootlegging.
The 17 men were found guilty of his murder, and were sentenced to death in
March last year by the Sharjah Court of First Instance.
But last month the Sharjah Appeal Court commuted the men's sentence to 2 years,
which was less than they had already served.
The men were not released, however, because the Public Prosecution had referred
the appeal court's judgment to the Federal Supreme Court.
The prosecution argued that the ruling had not taken into account the plight of
the injured men.
"The court was silent about the 2 injured," said Bindu Suresh Chettur, the
legal representative whom the Indian government appointed to represent the 17
convicted men.
"This has not been examined and - to rectify that error it has been sent to the
apex court."
(source: The National)
SAUDI ARABIA:
5 more Bangladeshis on Saudi death row
5 more Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia may meet a fate similar to that of
their eight compatriots, who were beheaded in public in Riyadh on Friday for
murdering an Egyptian security guard.
“A Sharia court has sentenced five Bangladeshis in Riyadh to death in three
cases for murdering their three compatriots,” Haroon-or-Rashid, Bangladesh's
labour counsellor in Riyadh, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The identities of the 5 Bangladeshis or their victims could not be known. Of
the convicts, 4 are in prison and 1 is on the run.
Rashid said there was still scope for the accused to file an appeal or reach a
settlement with the complainants.
“The 4 convicts, who have been in jail for 4 years, could be executed unless
the cases are settled amicably,” said the diplomat.
“We have been trying to reach a settlement, but have failed thus far.”
Meanwhile, human rights activists have condemned the execution of the 8
Bangladeshis in public, terming it barbaric and unacceptable.
The migrant workers were beheaded in the Saudi capital for their involvement in
a robbery and murder of an Egyptian security guard in 2007.
National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman said the beheadings of
the Bangladeshis in public had traumatised people at large. The executions went
against the spirit of international human rights laws which say that no penalty
should violate human dignity, he said.
“It can take a lifetime for some to recover from a trauma,” Mizanur Rahman
said.
Sultana Kamal, executive director of Ain O Salish Kendra, said, “There are no
words to condemn the execution of the eight Bangladeshis. This is barbaric,
appalling and a crime against humanity. The right to life has been taken away
from the accused.”
Sultana Kamal said such executions went against the very ethics of human
rights.
She wondered why the issue had not been communicated to the UN or raised with
other human rights bodies.
In his reaction, Shahdeen Malik, an eminent jurist, said, “Beheading in public
is a medieval punishment and contrary to all norms of civilized society. It
goes against the prohibition on cruel and inhuman punishment as enshrined in
our constitution and in international legal instruments.”
He said Bangladesh had sufficient leverage with Saudi Arabia and should have
done more to save the convicts.
Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of the human rights body Odhikar, said, “We think
our government and the embassy have failed to protect the Bangladeshis. It
should not have happened.”
He said the government should have done more to persuade Saudi Arabia to hand
over the convicts to Bangladesh and allowed them to have the sentences carried
out on their home soil.
Their execution in Saudi Arabia had exposed the weakness of Bangladesh's
foreign policy, he noted.
The news of the execution of the eight Bangladeshis came as a deep shock to
their family members.
Fifty-five-year-old Sufia Begum, mother of Matiar Rahman, one of the eight
executed on Friday, has not been able to come to terms with the fact that she
will never see her son again.
“Oh, my son, come back to me,” she wept as she held a picture of her son at her
house in Naranpur village in Faridpur.
“We want to see the face of our son,” said Abdul Hye, father of Suman Mia, who
was also beheaded on Friday, at his home in Kishoreganj.
Bangladesh embassy officials in Riyadh said all eight Bangladeshis executed in
the kingdom were buried at the Riyadh Central Graveyard on Saturday.
(source: The Daily Star)
****************
Public Executions in Saudi Arabia Spark Fury in Bangladesh
Human rights activists have condemned the public execution of 8 Bangladeshi
migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.
According to reports, the 8 men were beheaded in Riyadh on Friday following
conviction for the alleged killing of an Egyptian national in April 2007. 3
other Bangladeshis who were also convicted of murder, were sentence to prison
terms and flogging.
Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), a Bangladeshi legal aid and human rights
organization, said that while the executions were carried out under Saudi laws,
such a punishment will cause grave suffering to the families of the condemned
men. ASK also pointed out that foreign workers in Saudi Arabia often don’t
understand the nuances of Saudi law, do not understand the Arabic language, and
frequently fail to secure effective legal representation.
ASK has urged the Bangladeshi government in Dhaka to provide legal assistance
to countrymen who find themselves in serious trouble in foreign countries.
According to Sultana Kamal, executive director of ASK in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi
government did not even inform the families of the executed men – they learned
of it through newspaper reports.
“They [migrants] are poor people they go there [Saudi Arabia] for economic
reasons and we are not sure whether they were given enough opportunity to
defend themselves and why weren't the families informed?,” she told Radio
Australia.
However, it is unlikely that Bangladeshi officials will do much to pressure the
Saudis – there are an estimated 2 million Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia
and their cash remittances home are important to the impoverished nation’s
economy.
Similarly, the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International is
also outraged by the mass beheading, citing that since the end of the Holy
month of Ramadan, executions have resumed in Saudi Arabia at an alarming rate.
Amnesty stated that the Saudis have now executed 58 people this year, more than
double the rate for all of last year.
“Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards
for fair trial and news of these recent multiple executions [are] deeply
disturbing,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s Deputy Director for Middle
East and North Africa.
“The Saudi authorities appear to have increased the number of executions in
recent months, a move that puts the country at odds with the worldwide trend
against the death penalty. The [Saudi] government must establish an immediate
moratorium on executions in the Kingdom and commute all death sentences, with a
view to abolishing the death penalty completely.”
Amnesty also pointed out that many of those who are executed in Saudi Arabia
are foreign workers from poor countries who can neither afford lawyers, nor
even understand the Kingdom’s court system.
“Defendants often have no defense lawyer and are unable to follow court
proceedings in Arabic,” Amnesty stated. “They are also rarely allowed formal
representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress
of legal proceedings against them. They, and many of the Saudi Arabians who are
executed, also have no access to influential figures such as government
authorities or heads of tribes, nor to money, both crucial factors in paying
blood money or securing a pardon in murder cases.”
Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh, Abdullah. N. Al Bussairy, told
the Daily Star newspaper of Bangladesh, insisted that his government tried to
help Dhaka officials pay blood money to the family of the murdered man in Egypt
(whose forgiveness might have spared the convicted men, under Sharia law).
However, the intervention didn't succeed.
(source: The International Business Times)
EUROPEAN UNION:
EU for abolishing death penalty
"The European Union reaffirms its absolute opposition to the use of the death
penalty,” said a letter signed by nine heads of mission of the EU countries in
Dhaka.
The letter marked the observance of the European Day against the Death Penalty
and the World Day against the Death Penalty today.
To mark the day, the EU countries are carrying out a range of activities to
highlight the importance of minimum standards being observed in the application
of the capital punishment.
The EU envoys in the letter said, "The death penalty concerns everyone's right
to life. The state, with its particular responsibility as the ultimate
guarantor of all persons' human rights, should not deprive anyone of his or her
life."
They said the European Union encourages all measures aimed at abolishing the
death penalty.
The envoys referred to a United Nations resolution adopted in 2010, which
called upon all states in the world to establish a moratorium on executions
with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
"We hope that all members of the UN including Bangladesh will take the actions
which the Resolution calls for, and thereby contribute more to the development
of fundamental rights and human dignity in the world," the EU envoys said.
The letter was signed by French Ambassador Charley Causeret, German Ambassador
Holger Michael, the Netherlands Ambassador Alphons Hennekens, Swedish
Ambassador Anneli Lindahl Kenny, Danish Ambassador Svend Olling, Italian
Ambassador Giorgio Guglielmino, Spanish Ambassador Luis Tejada Chacón, British
High Commissioner Robert Gibson and Ambassador of the European Union William
Hanna.
(source: The Daily Star)
GLOBAL:
'Death Penalty: Cruel, inhuman and degrading with lethal consequences'
This year`s World Day Against Death Penalty focuses on the inhumanity of the
death penalty as a cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.Today,
October 10, the world marks the Anti- Death Penalty Day. However, the day is
marked like no other as there is no jubilation but rather mourning and pain for
the several persons who instead of glory have found blood and ashes because of
the laws in place.
In Tanzania, October 10, finds several prisoners on death row with some
innocent, living an unpredictable life with the psychological torture of not
knowing whether they would see the next day.
Not long ago, this scribe managed to talk to a convict who had stayed on death
row for 18 years for killing someone he did not know his name let alone his
face. Luckily, he won an appeal and is now out alive but if he were to be
executed the story would have been tragic.
Amnesty International maintains that more often prisoners with influential
families or other connections are more likely to escape execution unlike those
who are poor and come from marginalized communities.
“In short, the death penalty is not only applied unfairly and in a secretive
manner, but rather it is also discriminatory and is used against those who are
least able to access their rights. It is little more than a macabre lottery
whose consequences, for many, are lethal,” says Amnesty International.
In Saudi Arabia, several people have been and are being beheaded in public as a
result of the law. One of such ruthless act according to the Amnesty
International took place on the morning of April 4, 2005, where six young
Somali nationals were taken from their prison cells in Jeddah, western Saudi
Arabia, and beheaded in public.
The 6 had escaped war-torn Somalia in search of a better life only to fall
victim to Saudi Arabia’s relentless use of the death penalty. Their families
were unable to recover their bodies for burial.
This year's World Day Against the Death Penalty focuses on the inhumanity of
the death penalty as Death row inmates around the world are held in appalling
conditions: the cells are not suitable for a human being; the dietary regime is
inadequate; and access to medical care is difficult.
“Not only are inmates placed in physically cruel and unusual circumstances, but
their mind is also greatly affected by their situation, with many death row
inmates suffering from mental illness and mental disabilities as a result of
their death sentence,” stresses the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
The coalition mentions the capital punishment as unfair as it is discriminatory
and is often used disproportionately against the poor, the mentally ill and
those from racial and ethnic minorities.
“The effects of murder cannot be erased by more killing, and the death system
prolongs the suffering of victims’ families. It inflicts more pain on families
of those on death row, and it is inefficient as it has never shown that it
deters crimes more effectively than other punishment,” says the coalition.
There are several methods used to carry out the executions ranging from
stoning, beheading, and executing by rope, lethal injection, electrocuting,
shooting and all you can think of. However, executions, regardless of the
method used, are cruel and inhumane.
They can and do go wrong in many cases. Those in charge of executing also live
and sleep with the guilty of seeing someone depart from the world. The horror
in the victim’s eyes and the last moments is definitely not something one would
want to remember, they are forced to live with a nightmare.
No wonder, the hang man is considered as one of the worst professional on
earth, and only a man out of his senses would want to be employed in this
department where all one has to do is to terminate one’s life simply because
the law allows him to do so. Experience indicates that there have been
countries where people advertised for a job vacancy for such a position and no
one turned up for it.
In Tanzania there have been several historical decisions that were made to
depict the evil deed of the death penalty as was the case with the late Chief
Justice James Mwalusanya who in the famous Death penalty case of Republic v
Mbushuu alias Dominic Mnyaroje 1994 TLR, case No. 146 of the High Court;
bravely and boldly came forward and challenged the constitutionality of the
death penalty. In his words and in deciding this case he said:
”I hold that the two petitioners have managed to prove on a balance of
probabilities that the death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment and or treatment and also that it offends the right to dignity of
man in the process of execution of the sentence.
At the same time the Republic has failed to prove on a balance of probabilities
that the impugned law is in the public interest and that it is a lawful law
under article 30(2) of the Constitution. It is therefore my finding that the
death penalty is unconstitutional - and therefore void as per article 64(5) of
the Constitution. Order accordingly”
An anti death penalty activists from the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC)
Harold Sungusia says the law calls for mandatory free legal assistance for
persons convicted of murder but stresses upon the need for those charged to be
given a chance to pick a legal representative of their choice.
“ Appointing an advocate for them could lead to conflict of interest as a
relative of a victim whose convict has killed may be appointed to defend them
raising doubt on impartiality,” says Sungusia.
Activists call upon the need to abolish the death penalty and alternate with
life imprisonment on account that no justice system is safe from judicial error
and innocent people are likely to be sentenced to death.
Several measures have been taken in the country with the LHRC, SAHRINGON
Tanzania Chapter and the Tanganyika Law Society taking lead by filing a
petition at the High Court of Tanzania on October 10, 2008 calling upon the
government to scrap the death penalty in its country books and alternate for
the life imprisonment.
Sadly, the case is moving at a snail pace but it is our hope that one of these
days our country will take heed of the advice. But as for now the fight must go
on, to have a state that will respect the right to life by scraping this
inhumane and degrading punishment.
May the souls of the victims of the capital punishment in the world rest in
peace and may those on death row live with hope while knowing that someone is
fighting for them. Let them say in their souls, ‘This Too Shall Pass’.
(source: IPP Media)
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