July 9
INDONESIA:
Bali 9 member's death row plea
An Australian drug smuggler on death row in Indonesia has appealed for
presidential clemency.
A member of the Bali 9 smuggling gang, Myuran Sukumaran, 31, through his
lawyers submitted a request for clemency to the Denpasar district court on the
island of Bali on Friday, the court's spokesman Amser Simanjuntak told
reporters yesterday.
"We received the clemency request on July 6, and we will process it as soon as
possible and send it to the Supreme Court, which will hand it over to the
president," he said.
"The letter states that the convict has repented and has been working to better
himself while in prison. He is pleading to the president to spare him the death
penalty."
Sukumaran was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in an attempt to
smuggle 8 kilograms of heroin into Australia from Bali in 2005.
He is being held in Kerobokan prison on the resort island, along with
Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, who was granted a 5-year cut in her
20-year jail term in May.
Witnesses in the prison have provided testimony to support Sukumaran's case, Mr
Simanjuntak said.
Sukumaran is 1 of the 2 Bali 9 gang on death row. The rest are serving lengthy
sentences, including life terms.
Indonesia enforces stiff penalties for drug trafficking, including life
imprisonment and death.
(source: AAP)
***********************
Bali 9 member files for last-ditch pardon
The 2nd Australian Bali 9 member facing the death penalty has applied for a
presidential pardon.
Myuran Sukamaran and Andrew Chan are both facing the death penalty over the
failed plot to carry heroin to Australia in 2005.
The other 7 members of the so-called Bali 9 are serving prison sentences of
between 20 years and life behind bars.
Earlier this year Chan filed an appeal for clemency to the president, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono.
Now Sukamaran has also filed for a pardon as a last attempt to avoid the firing
squad.
The district court where the appeal was filed has 20 days to pass it to the
supreme court, which has three months to consider the appeal and refer it to
the president.
Last year Mr Yudhoyono said he was unlikely to grant clemency in death penalty
cases.
(source: ABC News)
IRAN----executions
3 prisoners were hanged in the prison of Qazvin (west of Tehran)
3 prisoners were hanged in the prison of Qazvin (west of Tehran) early this
morning Monday July 9.
According to the official web site of the Iranian judiciary in Qazvin, 3
prisoners identified as "H. B." and "Gh. S." convicted of participation in
keeping and transporting 2680 grams of heroin, and "M. Sh." convicted of
selling 68 kilos and 200 grams of opium.
Age of none of the prisoners was mentioned in the report.
The charges have not been confirmed by independent sources.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
**************
New charges may be coming in apostasy case
Sunday July 8 marked 1,000 days since Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was imprisoned
in Iran for apostasy.
According to a report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Iranian Pastor
Youcef Nadarkhani may face fresh charges in September.
The report makes note of new charges that may concern crimes against national
security and possibly blasphemy in order to make his death sentence appear more
acceptable. September 8, 2012 appears to be the new date for trial, according
to CSW sources.
Nadarkhani faces the death penalty. Without the intervention of Supreme Leader
or the Head of the Iranian Judiciary, authorities will carry out the Supreme
Court ruling, which upheld the conviction.
It means Nadarkhani could be executed if he refuses to recant. Voice of the
Martyrs says he has been pressured consistently--offered freedom in exchange
for renouncing his faith on at least 4 occasions--but refuses to do so.
In a public statement, CSW's Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston said, "CSW is
deeply concerned at reports that Pastor Nadarkhani may face fresh charges in
September. The Iranian government is increasingly bringing charges against
Christians on political grounds to mask the fact that like Pastor Nadarkhani
and Pastor Fathi Malayeri, they have been arrested and imprisoned solely on
account of their faith.
"We are also concerned by the lack of due process in these cases and continue
to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Pastor Nadarkhani,
Pastor Fathi Malayeri, and others who are unjustly imprisoned or facing
execution following flawed judicial processes. CSW urges the Iranian
authorities to ensure respect for the right to freedom of religion, which is
guaranteed in the international covenants to which Iran is a signatory,
including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)."
Please continue to pray for wisdom and strength for Pastor Nadarkhani and for
those trying to help him. Ask God to change hearts, and pray for open doors.
CSW is a Christian organization working for religious freedom through advocacy
and human rights in the pursuit of justice.
(source: Christian Post)
SINGAPORE:
Death penalty no longer automatic for some offences: DPM Teo
Judges will be given discretion to impose life imprisonment instead of death
penalty in certain specific instances of drug trafficking and murder.
This comes after a review of the death penalty by the Ministry of Home Affairs
in December 2010. It had deferred all executions since it began reviewing drug
cases in July last year.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean said in
Parliament on Monday that the review reaffirmed the relevance of the death
penalty for all the offences to which it currently applies.
Mr Teo said that for drug trafficking, mandatory drug penalty will continue to
apply except where two 'specific, tightly-defined' conditions are both met.
First, the person must have only played the role of a courier. He or she must
not have been involved in any other activity related to drug supply or
distribution.
Second, the person must have cooperated with authorities in a "substantive"
way, or has a mental disability that "substantially imapirs" his judgment of
the gravity of the act.
Other than these instances, the death penalty will remain, such as for drug
kingpins and distributors, said DPM Teo.
Minister for Law K Shanmugam, who spoke after DPM Teo in Parliament, said that
in respect of how the mandatory death penalty applies to cases amounting to
murder, the Government intends to apply capital punishment only when there is
an intention to kill.
He said that those intended to cause the death of their victims should be
punished with the most severe penalty, and that the law should have a provision
for the most powerful deterrent in these sorts of cases.
However, he said that other categories of murder could be committed with
different degrees of intent and under various situations that may not merit the
death penalty. It is in these cases that the courts may be given the discretion
to mete out either life imprisonment or capital punishment.
"This change will ensure that our sentencing framework properly balances the
various objectives: justice to the victim, justice to society, justice to the
accused, and mercy in appropriate cases," said Mr Shanmugam.
Mr Shanmugam said that all accused persons who meet the requirements can choose
to be considered for re-sentencing under the new law, once the draft
legislation is in place.
He cautioned those giving legal advice to accused persons to carefully study
the legislation when it is enacted and to properly understand the 'precise
scope of the changes'. He warned them against making any assumptions or giving
misleading advice.
Both ministers said, meanwhile, that Singapore still sees the relevance of
death penalty to most cases.
Mr Shanmugam in particular said that the mandatory death penalty will continue
to apply to firearms offences as these pose a serious threat against law and
order and the government must continue to maintain a highly deterrent posture.
He said that in making the changes, the government seeks to achieve and balance
two broad objectives. The first is to continue taking a strong stance on crime
and the second is the refinement of the approach towards sentencing offenders.
Draft legislation implementing the changes outlined today will be introduced
later this year.
(source: Asia One Newswatch)
*********************
Law associations hail changes to mandatory death penalty
The Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS) and the Law Society of
Singapore have hailed the proposed changes to how the mandatory death penalty
is applied in drug trafficking and homicide cases.
Their statements in full are as follows:
"The Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore is heartened to hear that the
Ministry of Law is proposing the partial abolishment of the mandatory death
penalty for certain offences.
"This marks a significant first step in re-tuning the oft-derided application
of the mandatory death penalty for accused persons who are not at the extreme
ends of the culpability scale. The Ministry of Law's proposal to give our
Judges the discretion in deciding if the death penalty should be imposed in
Section 300(b), (c), and (d) of the Penal Code recognises that there is a wide
spectrum of culpability in murder cases. We are glad that the Ministry of Law
has acted upon the realisation that the mandatory death penalty has a limited
(if any) deterrent effect on certain accused persons such as those who act
without properly considering the consequences of their actions. In this vein,
the limited exceptions moored by the Ministry of Home Affairs for certain drug
runners recognise the need not to impose the ultimate penalty on the pawns in
the drug trafficking game.
"Further, the proposal to consider the retrospective application of these laws
to the inmates currently on death row is reflective of the sincere thought that
has been put into formulating this progressive change in the law. The ACLS
understands that the effecting of the death penalty has been suspended since
2011 and the new measures put in place will provide a massive sense of relief
to these inmates. The ACLS looks forward to contributing to the discussion
surrounding the scope of the proposed retrospective effect of the said
amendments.
"This change is a significant milestone in Singapore's legal history and
recognises that the measure of a society is how it treats its most unfortunate.
Death row inmates deserve punishment, but not all deserve death. These new
measures are progressive and will have (a) massive impact on the criminal
justice system," wrote Mr Subhas Anandan, President, ACLS.
"The Law Society welcomes this development in our criminal justice system.
During the review of the Penal Code in 2007, the Society had recommended to the
Government that the death penalty should be discretionary for all offences
where the death sentence is now mandatory. This 1st step towards greater
discretion in sentencing for murder offences will give judges more flexibility
in the administration of justice, and more room to temper justice with mercy
where the facts of the case require," wrote Mr Wong Meng Meng, SC, President of
the Law Society of Singapore.
"This is a historic moment for the criminal justice system in Singapore. The
announcement represents a significant step in humanising the criminal law. The
criminal Bar has laboured many years for such a change to the mandatory death
penalty in order to give the courts more discretion. We are very happy that the
Ministry of Law has heard our voice over the years and that our views matter.
As criminal lawyers, we are proud to be a stakeholder in the administration of
criminal justice," wrote Mr Wendell Wong, Chairman, Criminal Practice
Committee, Law Society of Singapore.
(source: todayonline.com)
*************************
Criminal lawyers, MARUAH welcome death penalty review
Human rights group MARUAH and the Association of Criminal Lawyers have welcomed
the announcement by the Singapore government that the death penalty will no
longer be mandatory in certain limited circumstances.
The Association of Criminal Lawyers called the move a significant milestone in
Singapore's legal history. Its president, Subhas Anandan, said death row
inmates deserve punishment but not all deserve death.
But MARUAH said it regrets the "narrow scope of this move", and that it is
"troubled" that the mandatory death penalty will continue to be maintained for
offences such as intentional murder, kidnapping, firearms offences and drug
trafficking where the conditions spelt out by the government are not met.
In its submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the Universal
Periodic Review of Singapore in 2011, MARUAH has highlighted that the mandatory
death penalty fundamentally conflicts with international human rights norms.
So MARUAH said it is glad at this "first step towards consistency with
universal standards of human rights", but it called on the Singapore government
to do much more.
In a statement, MARUAH president Braema Mathi said: "We applaud the Singapore
government for taking this important first step. But this is only a small step
in the right direction, as the mandatory death penalty is fundamentally
troubling, and it continues to be applied to a substantial number of criminal
offences."
In a phone interview with Channel NewsAsia, she described the review of the
mandatory death penalty as a move towards "greater enlightenment".
"That is really bravo. That is really moving towards a greater enlightenment by
the government. This has been too harsh and too long for too many. I still
think the death penalty as a tool needs to be discussed thoroughly by the
public. It has to be a proper dialogue with the public to fully understand and
comprehend whether it is really the best deterrent that we can have to really
stamp out drug trafficking or to reduce drug addiction?" said Ms Braema Mathi.
The government announced on Monday that it will change the law such that the
mandatory death penalty will not be applied in two types of cases: firstly,
where a drug trafficker only played the role of a courier, and the trafficker
had substantively cooperated with the police or had a mental disability; and
secondly, where there is a homicide but there was no intention to kill.
In these cases, the courts may either impose the death penalty or sentence the
convicted person to life imprisonment with caning.
(source: ChannelNewsAsia)
********************
Singapore to relax, but not remove, death penalty: Deputy PM
Singapore's deputy prime minister on Monday said the country plans to ease its
mandatory death penalty in some drug and murder cases but not abolish the
ultimate punishment that human rights groups condemn as barbaric.
The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state, which has a zero-tolerance policy for
illegal drugs and imposes long jail terms on convicted users, has hanged
hundreds of people - including dozens of foreigners - for narcotics offences in
the last two decades, Amnesty International and other groups say.
That approach prompted science fiction writer William Gibson to describe
Singapore as "Disneyland with the death penalty".
But the government, reflecting changes in "our society's norms and
expectations", will put forward a draft law by the end of this year to give
judges more leeway to deal with certain drug and murder cases, Deputy Prime
Minister Teo Chee Hean told parliament.
"While there is a broad acceptance that we should be tough on drugs and crime,
there is also increased expectation that where appropriate, more sentencing
discretion should be vested in the courts."
To avoid execution for drug trafficking, two specific conditions must be met,
he said. First, the accused must have acted only as a courier, with no other
part in the supply or distribution.
"We also propose to give the courts the discretion to spare a drug courier from
the death penalty if he has a mental disability which substantially impairs his
appreciation of the gravity of the act, and instead sentence him to life
imprisonment with caning," Teo said.
Alan Shadrake, a British author who was jailed last year for criticisms of
Singapore's judiciary in his book "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in
the Dock", welcomed the proposed changes.
"It's not the end of the death penalty. But it's a move in the right direction
that no one really expected," he told Reuters from Kuala Lumpur where he now
lives.
Singapore, whose customs forms warn arriving travellers of "death for drug
traffickers" in no uncertain terms, has suspended all executions since the
government began a review a year ago.
Governed by the People's Action Party since independence in 1965, Singapore is
one of the safest places in the world - a feature it trumpets as it strives to
be a global finance centre.
But the likes of heroin and methamphetamine have not been eradicated and an
active club scene fuels demand for "party drugs".
Drug offenders made up almost two-thirds of Singaporeans in prison as of the
end of last year and the number of young abusers arrested has risen, said Teo,
who is also minister for home affairs.
Despite the proposed changes in sentencing, Teo made clear that capital
punishment is not going away.
"In particular, the mandatory death penalty will continue to apply to all those
who manufacture or traffic in drugs - the kingpins, producers, distributors,
retailers - and also those who fund, organize or abet these activities," he
said.
Law Minister K. Shanmugam, also addressing parliament, said the government
wants capital punishment to apply in murder cases only when there was an
intention to kill. In other instances, the mandatory death penalty will not be
used.
Not all Singaporeans were in the mood for compassion, with several arguing on
websites the lighter sentences would encourage crime.
"Why do we need to lower our threshold? To appease foreigners who grew up with
drugs?," What Now wrote on Yahoo Singapore.
"This government is selling our future."
(source: The Star)
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