Feb. 6
THAILAND:
Drugs: Chalerm seeks swift death penalty
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung is backing an amendment to the
Narcotics Act to shorten the appeals process for drug offenders sentenced to
death and expedite their executions.
Mr Chalerm, who oversees the government's narcotics suppression drive, said on
Monday he was discussing the idea with Achporn Charuchinda, secretary-general
of the Office of the Council of State.
His proposal covers drug offenders given the death penalty by the Criminal
Court. They will no longer be allowed to file an appeal to the Court of Appeal
in Regions 1-9 but only to the main Court of Appeal.
If the Appeal Court rules in favour of the lower court’s decision to execute
the defendants, a clear time frame will be given for when the sentence is to be
carried out, he said.
“In drug cases, when the lower court and the appeal court agree [with the death
sentence], the execution date can be scheduled immediately. There will be no
need for extensions,” Mr Chalerm said.
(source: Bangkok Post)
IRAQ:
Iraq court rules death for kidnapper of foreigners
An Iraqi court has sentenced a man to death for murder and for kidnapping
French citizens and an Iranian consul, a statement released on Monday by the
Higher Judicial Council said.
The Central Criminal Court sentenced the man identified only by his initials
SKh for "belonging to the so-called Islamic Army and carrying out kidnapping
and killing operations, including kidnapping an Iranian consul and 2 French
citizens," the statement said.
The death sentence can be appealed.
Two French journalists were kidnapped in 2004 south of Baghdad by the Islamic
Army in Iraq, but were later released.
Also in 2004, Iran's mission in Baghdad said Fereydun Jahani, its consul in
Karbala, disappeared after the Islamic Army said it had "detained" him for
"stirring sectarian strife" and "activities outside his diplomatic duties."
Jahani was freed after 55 days.
The man was arrested in an army raid on Al-Yarmuk in west Baghdad, and admitted
to being the Islamic Army's leader in the south of Baghdad province -- an area
known as the Triangle of Death -- the statement said.
The man confessed to a judge to kidnapping 2 brothers as they travelled to the
centre of Baghdad province and killing one of them, while the fate of the other
is unknown, it said.
He also admitted to a number of operations including attacking Iraqi officials,
kidnapping the French citizens, targeting and kidnapping the Iranian consul and
taking part in the killing of an Iraqi army colonel, it said.
A court in 2010 sentenced two Iraqis who admitted to being members of the
Islamic Army to life in jail the kidnap of the two French journalists and for
taking part in the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
The August 19 bombing killed UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello
and 21 of his colleagues, and marked the start of an escalating wave of attacks
blamed on Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups.
The Islamic Army in Iraq is a Sunni Salafist group that includes former army
officers in the regime of executed dictator Saddam Hussein. The group first
appeared in 2004, a year after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
CANADA:
Skurka's Spin: Can the death penalty return to Canada?
50 years have passed since the last person was executed in Canada.
A debate about restoring the death penalty was renewed last week after a
Conservative senator suggested that murderers should have ropes placed in their
cells to decide whether to kill themselves. He did add, however, that he
objected to the death penalty.
The Senator apologized for the comment, but later noted that he was simply
expressing an opinion shared by a number of Canadians.
The episode spurred one National Post columnist to argue that bringing back the
death penalty was a worthy topic of debate in this country. He pointed to a
2010 Angus Reid survey that found that almost 2/3 of Canadians supported
capital punishment for homicide.
If the political will existed, could legislation be introduced by the
government to reintroduce the death penalty to Canada?
In order to answer this question, the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in
2001 in the case of Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay needs to be revisited.
Burns and Rafay were 18-year-old Canadian citizens who were wanted to face
trial for multiple counts of 1st-degree murder in the state of Washington. Both
young men were facing the prospect of the death penalty if convicted.
Rafay's parents and sister were found bludgeoned to death at the family home.
The key pieces of evidence against Burns and Rafay were alleged confessions to
an undercover RCMP officer posing as a crime boss. There were admissions that
Burns killed the 3 victims with a baseball bat while Rafay observed. The motive
alleged for the horrific crime was that Rafay would inherit his parents' assets
and receive the proceeds of a life insurance policy that would be shared with
Burns.
Burns and Rafay returned to Canada and American authorities sought to extradite
them to the state of Washington for their joint trial. The Canadian justice
minister ordered their extradition without seeking assurances that Burns and
Rafay wouldn't suffer the death penalty. The B.C. Court of Appeal set aside the
ministerial decision and directed the Canadian government to seek such
assurances as a condition of surrender. An appeal was subsequently launched to
the Supreme Court of Canada.
The nation's highest court reached a unanimous decision. The Supreme Court
recognized that Canada's legal system is fallible and that a fair trial doesn't
always guarantee a safe verdict. However, in cases of capital punishment, there
is no correction possible. The final outcome could be the killing of innocent
people.
The Supreme Court of Canada highlighted that largely because of the progress
made in forensic testing, including DNA testing, a few instances of wrongful
convictions for murder had been documented in Canada. The names of Donald
Marshall Jr., David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin, Thomas Sophonow and Greg Parsons
were examples provided by the court. It should be noted that David Milgaard
languished in a prison cell for almost 23 years as an innocent man. It doesn't
require much imagination to speculate about the tragic result if a rope had
been slid through his prison bars.
The Supreme Court of Canada held the death penalty was final, irreversible and
its deterrent value was questionable. The imposition of the death penalty had
been described as arbitrary and its implementation led to psychological and
physical suffering. The Supreme Court accepted that capital punishment engaged
the underlying values of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment
set out in the Charter of Rights.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the decision of the B.C. Court
of Appeal. The court accepted that it wasn't in accordance with the principles
of fundamental justice under the Charter if assurances relating to the death
penalty weren't sought as a condition of surrender for Burns and Rafay.
The legacy of this landmark decision is that the death penalty will most
assuredly be held to be unconstitutional if it is ever enacted as legislation
by any government of Canada. The notwithstanding clause is in place to override
the Charter infringement but no federal government has ever relied on the
provision. The potential for the clause to be invoked by any government for
capital punishment appears extremely remote.
(source: CTV News)
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