Sept. 6
SOUTH SUDAN----executions
UN: South Sudan hangs 2 inmates at prison in Juba
2 prisoners have been executed by hanging at a prison in the capital of the
newly-independent nation of South Sudan, the United Nations (UN) reported on
Friday, adding that they may have been convicted without having proper legal
assistance.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
said during a news conference in Geneva that two men were hanged Tuesday in the
Central Prison in Juba. "One of the issues there is that they did not have
proper legal assistance," Colville said, without giving other details.
The executions in South Sudan follow a sudden wave of executions in other
countries in recent days. 9 death row inmates were executed by firing squad in
Gambia late last week after they were previously convicted of murder or
treason, or both. Iraq then executed 21 prisoners convicted of
terrorism-related offenses on Monday and five more on Wednesday.
Colville voiced his concern about the executions in South Sudan as well as the
executions in Iraq and Gambia. "We urge all States, who have not yet done so,
to introduce - or reintroduce - an official moratorium on the use of the death
penalty aiming to abolish it," he said, noting that 150 states have already
abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium.
South Sudan became independent in July 2011 when it officially seceded from
Sudan as a culmination of a six-year peace process which began in January 2005
with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the
Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The executions on Tuesday are believed to be the country's first this year.
Five people convicted of murder were executed in 2011, four of them in November
alone, and at least one other person was sentenced to death, according to an
annual report from human rights group Amnesty International.
At least 150 people were known to be on death row in South Sudan as of early
November, including 91 at the Central Prison in Juba, 32 at Wau Prison in
Western Bahr el Ghazal State, and 27 at Malakal Prison in Upper Nile State.
Amnesty International says trials in the country are often flawed, with many
people being tried without legal representation even when the defendant does
not understand Arabic.
(source: BNO News)
GAMBIA:
Gambian Cleric Supports Capital Punishment
The outspoken Imam of Gambia's State House Mosque, Alhaji Abdoulie Fatty, has
used his Friday sermon to publicly endorse the enforcement of the controversial
death penalty in the country.
Commenting for the 1st time on the execution by a firing squad of 9 death row
prisoners including a woman on the directives of President Yahya Jammeh, Imam
Fatty told his congregation that the enforcement of the death penalty was in
line with the dictates of the Islamic religion.
"Islam decrees death for those found culpable of murder, which is clearly spelt
out in the Qur'an and other scriptures before it," the Saudi Arabia educated
cleric said.
"The wisdom of this law in Islam is affirmed by its ability to promote peace
and stability in society by deterring those with a proclivity for such gruesome
acts. It will also stop people from attempting revenge on those who murder
their relatives which would have spawned anarchy and strife in the land. Islam
recognises everybody's right to life and therefore put measures in place to
make sure such a right is not breached by anybody with impunity."
The cleric added: "In fact, this is not meant to be a source of suffering for
the condemned but a relief. This is because a worse fate might await them were
they allowed to live with the possibility of vengeance by relatives. But by
putting them to death, there is a high possibility Allah will make the hearts
of those they have killed to forgive them and allow them entry into Jannah
(paradise) if they repent."
Imam Fatty however, said that murderers can be forgiven according to Islamic
law (Shariah) by the families of their victims in exchange for compensation.
Quoting a verse in the Muslim scripture to back his claim, the cleric said:
"Allah says in the Qur'an that those who kill innocent people should be killed
as He instructed to the people before us. But recourse can be made to the
family of the murder victim by the people responsible for the execution to know
whether they have forgiven the murderer for the killing of their relative or
not. If the family is disposed to forgiving the perpetrator in exchange for
compensation, then he can be let free on fulfillment of that condition.
"It is important for Muslims to bear in mind that this is meant to protect
their lives and property. What use is it to have a property when someone can
come and kill you with knowledge that he can get away with it?
"In such a situation, no one will be safe and we will all live in perpetual
fear of our lives and property. Allah knows best what is best for us and we
shall not find Him errant in the way He has set laws for us. How can you
venture out to pray when you are in fear of your life and your properties are
not secure?" Imam Fatty asked.
(source: Jollof News)
***********************
AI, 65 rights groups renew call on Gambia to halt executions
Amnesty International (AI), along with 65 other human rights groups and West
African civil society organisations, on Wednesday renewed calls on Gambian
government not to carry out any further executions. In a statement received in
Dakar by PANA, the groups further called on Gambia to 'immediately and publicly
commit to an official moratorium on the use of the death penalty,' with a view
to abolish it in the West African nation.
'The government must also release, if requested by the families, the bodies of
the individuals who were executed last week,' the groups said.
They said the executions a few days ago were done without prior notification to
the nine prisoners, their families or lawyers.
'Fears for those who remain on death row have been exacerbated by the fact that
family members have been unable to have access to the prison or to communicate
with the inmates since last week,' the statement added.
The rights groups also said that many prisoners had been sentenced to death
after unfair or politically-motivated trials and that due process safeguards
were frequently not observed.
According to the rights groups, the Gambia violated international standards by
applying the death penalty.
'The executions are also in stark contrast to the trend, both in West Africa
and globally, towards ending the use of the death penalty. Since 2000, Cote
d'Ivoire, Senegal and Togo in West Africa, as well as Burundi, Gabon and
Rwanda, have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.'
The groups said within the last few months Ghana had accepted the
recommendation of a Constitution Review Commission to abolish the death
penalty.
It said Benin became the 75th state worldwide and the 10th in Africa to ratify
the 'Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR)' aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.
(source: Afrique Jet)
SOUTH KOREA:
Hideous Crimes Spark Debate on Death Penalty
After a 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted last Thursday, South Korea has
been painfully mulling over what is the best solution to put to an end a
seemingly endless recurrence of such hideous crimes.
Last week, the school girl was kidnapped by a 22-year-old man while sleeping at
her house in Naju, North Jeolla province. The suspect, who was living in her
neighborhood and an acquaintance of her mom, violently raped and tried to kill
her by strangulation, police said. The girl lived but was severely injured and
has been hospitalized since.
In a separate case in Tongnyeong in July, a 10-year-old girl was raped and
killed by a neighborhood man on her way to school. Her body was found buried in
a nearby mountain a week later.
A society-wide debate from online forums to parliament led to a sensitive
topic: whether the country should resume execution of death-row inmates - 60 in
all - in a way to discourage serious crimes from happening again. The 60 are
convicted in the deaths of 207 people.
On Wednesday, presidential frontrunner Park Geun-hye of the ruling New Frontier
Party fanned the flame by saying that the country should keep the capital
punishment.
"I think there is a need for the death penalty to continue to exist to warn a
criminal convicted of inhumane and unacceptably horrendous crimes that he also
could die," she said.
Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo went a step further. "Public safety is
aggravated because we don???t carry out execution," he said on Wednesday.
South Korea has the death penalty, but no execution has been carried out since
former President Kim Dae-jung came to power in 1998. The last execution
happened in December 1997 when 23 people were put to death. The county was
classified in 2007 as abolitionist in practice by Amnesty International.
Critics of the capital punishment in South Korea argue that if the country
resumes execution, it will bring back the "ghost of the past," referring to the
dark times of iron-fist dictatorship when the death penalty was often used to
get rid of political opponents. Some also argue that the capital punishment is
not proved to be effective in containing serious crimes.
Meanwhile, sex crimes against minors have been increasing in numbers in recent
years. And the government is pointing a finger at the rise of child pornography
on the Internet.
On Wednesday, Suwon Prosecutor's Office charged 61 people who either spread or
possess child pornography. It was the 1st time that people are charged for
simple possession of child pornography.
The move was aimed at "creating a social atmosphere of zero tolerance toward
child pornography," the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. It also said
an investigation into recent crimes against children confirmed the connection
between sexual crimes and frequent watching of child pornography.
The awareness of the seriousness of child pornography is very low in the
country. A relevant law that came into effect in 2008 stipulates that a person
who possesses such files is subject only to a fine. Even so, the law has never
been applied before.
On Wednesday, there was a move in the National Assembly to enhance penalties
against child molesters. New Frontier Party lawmaker Park In-sook proposed a
law to carry out a surgical castration to some of a serial and habitual
offender.
Appearing in a local radio show on Thursday, the doctor-turned-lawmaker said,
"A surgical castration is a surefire, cheap, safe and permanent solution." She
added, "The country is giving punishments that are too lenient. In one case, a
father who raped his own biological daughter repeatedly for 12 years got only a
10-year prison term."
Back in May, a chemical castration took place for the 1st time on a serial sex
offender.
(source: Wall Street Journal)
INDIA:
High court confirms death sentence for militant
The division bench of the Gauhati High Court upheld the death sentence awarded
by a lower court to a dreaded militant in Tripura for killing 15 people 15
years ago, officials said here Thursday.
This is the 1st time in the 4 1/2-decade-long history of terrorism in the
northeastern state that a terrorist has been given the capital punishment.
"The division bench of the Agartala bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising
justices I.A. Ansari and S.C. Das has Wednesday upheld the capital punishment
awarded by the additional district sessions court to an NLFT (National
Liberation Front of Tripura) militant Ashok Debbarma, 39," a senior police
official told reporters.
A group of heavily armed NLFT guerrillas led by Ashok Debbarma mowed down 15
men, women and children and injured 4 others at Jarulbachai in western Tripura,
30 km north of here, Feb 11, 1997.
The Tripura government had asked the CID to probe the massacre. The CID
officials, after inquiring into the killings, filed chargesheets against 16
extremists, eleven of whom were absconding.
Of the 5 arrested militants, 3 had been exonerated by the additional district
sessions court for lack of evidence while another fled from police custody
during the trial.
The police official said that the main accused Ashok Debbarma challenged the
Nov 10, 2005 verdict of the additional district sessions court before the
division bench of the Gauhati High Court, which after a long trial pronounced
the verdict of upholding the lower court's judgement.
Defence counsel Saumek Deb said they were yet to decide whether to appeal
before the Supreme Court against the high court order.
Lawyers in Tripura said that this was the 1st time the death penalty had been
awarded to a militant in the entire northeastern region.
(source: IANS)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan Christian Cabinet member urges re-think of blasphemy law
What began as a blasphemy accusation has led to scandal and a call to
re-evaluate Pakistan's blasphemy law.
Todd Nettleton, spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs USA, says the blasphemy law
is often misused by Muslims to settle personal scores with Christians. Even
unproven allegations can prompt a violent public response.
"Whatever it is that you wanted to get even with them for, you can take care of
that while they're locked away in prison", says Nettleton. "Even if eventually
the court says, 'There was no evidence of this. This is a ridiculous charge;
let this person go.' They've still lost 4 to 7 years of their lives fighting
the charges and waiting for the legal process to go forward."
Nettleton goes on to say, "The level of what it takes to get the charges filed
is so small, and it really ruins somebody's life." Gospel work has been
negatively impacted, too. He explains that "if you say anything negative about
Mohammed, that's blasphemy. Obviously as we share the Gospel, we want to do
that out of a sense of love and out of a sense of respect. But at some point,
when you compare two religions, you're probably going to say something negative
about Islam and about Mohammed and about the Quran. All of those things would
fall under the blasphemy laws there in Pakistan."
In other words, the interpretation is loose, and yet the penalties are harsh.
Convictions carry the potential of a life sentence for desecrating the Quran
and the death penalty for insulting the prophet Muhammad.
The case that started the ball rolling involves a young girl, Rimsha Masih, who
is developmentally disabled. She is in custody nearly 3 weeks after she was
accused of burning pages containing verses from the Quran.
In an odd twist to the case, Nettleton says, "The mullah at her local mosque:
apparently now there are witnesses who say he put the burned pages in her stuff
and then took the stuff to the police and said, 'This is Rimsha's stuff.' She's
been burning pages from a Quran'."
Investigating authorities found the motive revealing. "Apparently now, it was
all a set up by him to try to get the Christians out of the village or create
animosity by the Muslims toward the Christians. So that evidence coming on top
of the questions that were already there because of her age, or because of her
mental capacity, is really giving some momentum to this idea of 'this is really
a black eye for the entire country to have these laws on the books.'" With that
evidence, the cleric was arrested for tampering with evidence. Activists hope
to use the case to stop the abuse of Pakistan's strict laws on insulting Islam.
As a result of the turn of events, activists hope Masih could be released as
early as tomorrow. According to Open Doors News, Rimsha Masih is likely to be
cleared of the blasphemy charge against her, but Nettleton says the family's
life is changed. "Even if she is released on Friday and is returned to her
family, there is still an issue of safety for them that we can pray about and
pray for."
Police put the girl in jail both to placate angry demonstrators and to keep
Rimsha safe from attack. Her parents likewise were removed to protective
custody, while hundreds of Christian neighbors fled to the relative safety of
more distant Islamabad sectors.
Paul Bhatti is the Minister for National Harmony, and the only Christian on the
cabinet. He is calling for a re-evaluation of how the law is enforced. His
brother and predecessor Shahbaz Bhatti was gunned down last year for speaking
out against the blasphemy law.
However, Nettleton says the circumstances now are different. "The fact that
someone has suggested reforming the blasphemy law is not a new thing. What will
be interesting to see--especially in light of this mullah being arrested--is if
this gains any traction within the legislative process there and if there is
really some practical change for the Christians in Pakistan."
Pray for justice, as it relates to the blasphemy law. This is a unique opening
to change laws that are unfair. "Pray for the Christian community there,
regardless of what happens with the government or what happens with the
blasphemy laws, that they will continue to focus on Christ and be a witness for
Him in spite of whatever laws are on the books or whatever persecution comes
their way."
(source: Mission Network News)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Jailed abroad: 'Around 1,800 Pakistanis doing time in Saudi jails----Most
prisoners accuse???d of drug trafficking, forgery and theft
There are 1,831 Pakistani prisoners in different jails of Saudi Arabia at
present and 40% of them are in for drug trafficking, Foreign Minister Hina
Rabbani Khar said in her written reply submitted before the National Assembly
on Wednesday.
Drug trafficking is a serious offence in Saudi Arabia punishable by death
penalty, the reply said. All other offences in Saudi Arabia are dealt in
accordance with Islamic injunctions and the Sharia law.
The Foreign Office record further reveals that among other Pakistani prisoners,
7% are in for murder and rape, 27% are facing charges of forgery, fraud and
theft, while 26% are interned for offences like traffic accident, bribery,
brawl, trespass and moral turpitude.
The total number of Pakistani women in Saudi jails stands at 30.
"Our missions have requested the Saudi authorities to provide information about
the number of under trial Pakistani prisoners at present, along with their
period in custody. Their reply is awaited," the foreign minister said.
The Foreign Office list also provided the names of jails where the Pakistani
prisoners are being kept.
(source: Express Tribune)
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