May 29
MALAYSIA:
Filipino maid to hang for drug offence
The High Court here sentenced a Filipino maid to the gallows for trafficking
1126.9 grams of cocaine at the Puduraya Bus Terminal in Kuala Lumpur, 3 years
ago.
Judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak sentenced Eliza Sans Gabrier, 45, after the
defence had failed to raise any reasonable doubts in the prosecution's case.
In his judgement, Mohd Sofian said the defence's argument was merely denial, as
such the court had no other option but to hand her the capital punishment.
Gabrier, who stood in the dock did not give any immediate reaction when the
interpreter explained what had transpired, but just closed her face with a
white towel.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Lokman
Kassim, 9 witnesses were called to the stand.
Gabrier was accused with possession of 1,126.9 grams of cocaine at the Puduraya
bus terminal here at about 8.50am on Aug 28, 2009. She was represented by N.
Subramanyam.
(source: Bernama)
EGYPT:
Q&A on the Trial of Hosni Mubarak----see:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/28/egypt-qa-trial-hosni-mubarak
(source: Human Rights Watch)
JAPAN:
Lay judges torn by death penalty----Citizens find deeming who lives, dies tests
their moral fiber
The mental and physical burden that lay judges bear in hearing potential death
penalty cases has become a key focal point in the review of the de facto jury
system.
Contentious issues relating to lay judges' participation in cases punishable by
death include having to commit to long court proceedings, as well as the
difficulty in deciding whether a defendant should live or die.
The lay judge system was introduced in May 2009 with the aim of involving
ordinary citizens in court trials.
Together with three professional judges, six citizens randomly selected from
eligible voters examine murder and other serious criminal cases at district
courts. Lay judges also participate in determining sentences.
The system is now being reviewed three years after its debut, as required by
law.
With the expectation that death sentences delivered in lay judge trials will
ultimately be finalized as appeals are exhausted, how participants feel about
their decisions is increasingly becoming a matter of public debate.
In April, 2 men who served as lay judges in a complicated murder case spoke at
a news conference after they and their colleagues at the Saitama District Court
sentenced the defendant to death. The high-profile trial dealt with a woman
accused of committing serial murders.
The men acknowledged that the trial was mentally taxing and affected their
work, but neither criticized the lay judge system itself. The trial lasted 100
days, the longest case so far examined by citizen judges.
"The trial was long and complex, and it led me to do some soul-searching," one
of the men said.
The other said that although the trial placed a heavy burden on him, he felt a
sense of accomplishment after it was completed.
Meanwhile, a professional judge who heard about the men's comments
characterized the trial as more successful than expected. The trial indicated
that the citizen judge system functioned smoothly, he said.
But there is concern that problems can be overlooked if attention is overly
focused on the opinions of citizen judges who are willing to speak in public.
"The greater the burden people feel, the more reluctant they are to express
their opinions," said Kiichi Nishino, a former judge who is now a professor at
Niigata Law School. "We should assume that fundamental problems with this
system are hidden in voiceless opinions."
With executions of death-row inmates sentenced by lay judges eventually to be
carried out, unease is gnawing at citizens who have delivered such verdicts.
A company employee who participated in a trial in the city of Nagano of one of
three men sentenced to death for murder, indicated he felt the victim may not
have been beyond reproach.
"The defendant did not appear to be an evil man, and I felt as if I could have
become friends with him under different circumstances," the former lay judge
recalled.
When he happened to see an execution chamber on a television program, the man
said he wondered how the defendant would feel walking to the gallows. He said
he is tormented when he draws a mental picture of the defendant.
Meanwhile, a man who participated in an arson and murder trial in Osaka
stressed that cases punishable by death should be examined by lay judges.
Citizens' involvement encourages increased information disclosure, he
explained.
A major bone of contention in the Osaka case was whether execution by hanging
amounts to "cruel punishment" banned under the Constitution. After watching a
video of a mock execution in the courtroom, the lay judges concluded that
hanging is constitutional.
The man who emphasized the need for citizen involvement said he did not
personally feel a moral burden about the death sentence against the defendant
because the decision was made collectively.
He acknowledged, however, that after the real execution actually takes place,
"I may feel different."
(source: Japan Times)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan judges pressured to use blasphemy law
Pakistani judges are often pressured to convict people accused under the
country's blasphemy laws that call for the death penalty for anyone insulting
Islam, a special U.N. representative said Tuesday.
Gabriela Knaul, the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers, told a news conference that lawyers are also reluctant to defend
clients accused under the blasphemy laws because of intimidation.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws call for the death penalty for anyone insulting
Islam, its holy book or the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistani Christians live in fear
of being arrested under the laws, which critics say are often misused to settle
personal scores or family feuds.
"I am especially concerned regarding cases brought under the so-called
blasphemy law as it was reported to me that judges have been coerced to decide
against the accused even without supporting evidence," Knaul said.
"They are afraid of reprisals by local communities because of their
interpretation of the law," she added.
Lawyers who represent people accused in such cases are often targeted and not
able to properly represent their clients, she said.
Last year, 2 prominent Pakistani political figures who spoke out against the
blasphemy laws were killed in attacks that raised concerns about the rise of
religious extremism in Pakistan.
Liberal politician Salman Taseer was shot and killed by one of his own guards
in January 2011, and in March 2011, militants gunned down Shahbaz Bhatti, the
only Christian minister in Pakistan's Cabinet.
Knaul made the comments as she was wrapping up an 11-day trip to Pakistan
looking at the country's judicial system.
She praised Pakistan's progress since the end of the military dictatorship that
once ruled the country but pointed out a number of areas for progress. Knaul
said she was concerned about working conditions for many lower-level courts,
which often operate without electricity, water or proper sanitation.
The United Nations official pointed out the lack of women in the Pakistani
Supreme Court, and the threats of violence often faced by lawyers across the
country.
(source: Associated Press)
INDONESIA:
British couple face death after drug-smuggling 'sting' in Bali----A young
couple with a 6-year-old daughter are among four British citizens facing the
death penalty in Indonesia for their alleged involvement in a £1.6 million
cocaine smuggling ring.
The couple, named last night as Julian Ponder and Rachel Dougall, were arrested
with another British man in a sting operation provoked by the arrest of Lindsay
June Sandiford, 55, a Redcar housewife. The couple described the allegations as
a "fit up".
The 4 are accused with an Indian man, of trying to smuggle 11lb of cocaine into
Bali from Bangkok and of being part of an international drug trafficking gang.
On Monday, the group was paraded on television in orange prison clothes in a
powerful message by Indonesian officials to other would-be traffickers. Only
Mrs Sandiford was identified by police, as the others chose to wear balaclavas.
Yesterday, as the first pictures emerged of the couple, their friends on the
island chose to speak out to dismiss the allegations as a "joke".
They said Miss Dougall, from Brighton, was a "party girl" who had been
innocently caught up in a "bigger game". Distraught relatives had been calling
Bali from Britain worried about the wellbeing of her 6-year-old daughter,
called Kitty, who was currently being looked after by their maid.
Mrs Sandiford, a mother of 2, was arrested on May 19 allegedly trying to
smuggle 11lb of cocaine into Bali's international airport in the lining of her
suitcase.
Yesterday, it emerged that she had agreed to co-operate with the police, in an
attempt to reduce any future sentence and had given them details of the British
couple's alleged involvement in the plot.
"The reason she co-operated was, we pointed out that if she stayed silent, the
whole illegal drug importation attempt would be on her shoulders," Made Wijaya,
the head of customs at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport said.
Mrs Sandiford allegedly told drug squad officers that she had not met any of
the other gang members but had received instructions to go to a hotel by the
beach in Legian, near the fashionable area of Seminyak, and wait for a call.
Police decided to move her to a smaller hotel and told her to say the original
one was full.
Four days after her arrest, Mrs Sandiford received a call from Mr Ponder,
allegedly telling her to go to a small resort called Villa Lumbung Dumah
Buitan, in Candidasa on the island's eas coast.
Mrs Sandiford was allegedly told the drugs would be collected from there by a
Thai contact linked to the people who had originally given her the cocaine in
Bangkok.
Police believe she was watched by the other suspects for a couple of days
before they approached her again.
Finally, at noon on May 25, Mr Ponder came to the villa to meet Sandiford,
police said. After picking up the drugs, which had been disguised as a present
in pink wrapping paper, police arrested him. A fourth Briton, named as Paul
Beales, was also arrested that day near to Candidasa in a separate vehicle.
Mr Ponder was taken to the home he shared with Miss Dougall and their daughter.
A search of their rooms turned up two packets of Marlboro cigarettes containing
more cocaine, police said.
A friend of the couple described the police's suggestion that they were part of
an "international network" of drug traffickers as "a joke".
"She [Miss Dougall] is a party girl and I believe that she has been caught up
in this somehow. I think she has been coerced and wrapped up in a bigger game
than she really understood."
Another expat said: "She always had these fabulous designer clothes on. You'd
see her dancing on the tables. She was the life of the party."
News of the arrests shocked Bali's large expat community, drawing comparisons
with the "Bali Nine", a group of Australians jailed in 2005 for trafficking
heroin. 2 of those Australians are now on death row and are being held in the
notorious Kerobokan jail to which the britons are likely to be taken.
(source: The Telegraph)
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