Dec. 14
MALAYSIA:
Customs nabs man with drugs worth RM3.2mil
The Selangor Customs Department has detained a man in connection with the
seizure of an assortment of drugs worth about RM3.2mil.
The 40-year-old suspect, who was in a car, was nabbed at a traffic light
junction in Jalan Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur about 1.30pm yesterday.
In his vehicle, a plastic bag containing syabu weighing 500 grammes, which was
meant for distribution, was seized by a team of customs enforcement personnel.
Customs Assistant Director-General (Enforcement) Abdul Wahabi Abdullah said the
suspect later led the team to his rented condominium in Dutamas Raya in Kuala
Lumpur, where packages of drugs comprising syabu, ecstasy, ketamine and Erimin
5 were found.
He told a press conference Friday, the seizure involved five kilogrammes of
syabu (including the syabu found in the car), ecstasy in form of pills and
powder, 1,700 Erimin 5 pills and several packets of packed ketamin.
Also seized from the suspect were RM11,500 and Russian currency.
Abdul Wahabi said the suspect, who was remanded for 7 days, was being
investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries
the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
(source: The Star)
INDIA:
Court confirms conviction of main accused, acquits rest in 2000 van blast case
The Karnataka high court has set aside the order of a special court that
awarded death penalty to 4 persons, said to belong banned Deendhar Anjum
organisation, in relation to the blast that took place in a van near Minerva
Mills on Magadi Road on July 10, 2000.
The van exploded when main accused Syed Mohammed Ibrahim and 2 of his
accomplices were assembling explosives, killing the other 2.
It had happened just after the blast at St. Peter and Paul Church at J J Nagar.
A division bench headed by Justice D V Shylendra Kumar rejected the reference
for confirming the death penalty and in addition, acquitted all the accused in
relation to charges of waging war against the State under Section 121 of IPC.
However, the bench confirmed the 10 years imprisonment imposed upon Syed
Mohammad Ibrahim, the accused number one, under the provisions of Explosives
Substances Act. It also ordered for setting off the period, as he had already
spent the period of detentiion since his arrest on July 14, 2000.
Syed Hasan Uz Zama, Abdul Rehaman Sait, Zakir, Mohammad Fida Ur Rehaman
Siddique, Amanath Hassan Mulla, Syed Khaloq Uz Zama, Sheik Hasim Ali, Mohammad
Farooq Ali, Sahabjada Syed Zia Ul Hassan, Mohammad Siddique, Syed Khalid Pasha,
Syed Sabihul Hassan, Abdul Habeeb, Shamshuzama, Syed Zahed Ul Hassan, Sheik
Fardeen Valli, and Syed Abdul Khadar Jilani were acquitted.
However, their appeal as well reference with regard to death penalty and life
imprisonment in relation to church blasts at J J Nagar, Hubli and Wadi is still
pending before the high court.
(source: The Times of India)
**********************************
AI's plea to president: 'Commute death sentence of Guru, others to lifers'
Amnesty International (AI) has appealed president Pranab Mukherjee to commute
all death sentences including that of Afzal Guru to terms of imprisonment.
In an open letter to the president, AI has demanded immediate halting of plans
to carry out further executions, and establish an official moratorium on
executions as the 1st step to abolishing the death penalty;
"Wherever mercy petitions have been rejected, respect the practice of promptly
informing the individual, his/ her lawyers, his/ her family, of the decision,
reasons for the decision, and proposed date of execution, as well as the
public, of any scheduled execution," AI has requested Mukherjee.
Referring to Guru's case, AI letter said, "On December 10 ,2012, the Indian
minister of home affairs told reporters that he will review the petitions
before him after the end of the winter session of Parliament. One of these
petitions concerns Mohammad Afzal Guru who was sentenced to death for his
involvement in the 2001 Parliament attack. Mohammad Afzal Guru was tried by a
special court under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Amnesty International has
found that these trials did not conform with India's obligations under
international human rights law."
AI said India recently resumed executions after 8 years. "Ajmal Kasab was
executed on November 21 of this year. He had committed grave and serious
offences, and Amnesty International has consistently expressed its sympathies
and condolence to the victims of his actions and their families. However, by
executing him, the Indian state has violated the internationally recognised
right to life and has signalled a step away from the regional and global trends
towards abolition of the death penalty," the AI letter said.
Amnesty International said it is concerned about the manner in which Indian
authorities carried out Ajmal Kasab's execution. A notification by the Indian
ministry of home affairs, published on the same day, stated that president had
rejected his petition for mercy on November 5.
"According to reports, Ajmal Kasab himself was only informed of this rejection
on November 12 . It is unclear whether he was aware of the possibility of
seeking a review of your decision. Information about the rejection of the
petition for mercy and the date of execution was not made available to the
public until after the execution had been carried out. Authorities in India
have made public claims that this lack of public announcement and secrecy
surrounding the execution were to avoid intervention by human rights activists.
This practice is in contrast to how previous executions have been carried out
in India over the past 15 years. Information regarding the executions of
Dhananjoy Chatterjee (2004), and Shankar (1995), for example, was accessible to
the public in advance of the execution," the AI letter to president said.
AI believes transparency on the use of the death penalty is among the
fundamental safeguards of due process that prevent the arbitrary deprivation of
life. "Making information public with regard to legislation providing for the
death penalty as well as its implementation allows for an assessment of whether
fair trial and other international standards are being respected. In resolution
2005/59, adopted on 20 April 2005, the UN Commission on Human Rights called
upon all states that still maintain the death penalty "to make available to the
public information with regard to the imposition of the death penalty and to
any scheduled execution," the letter added.
(source: Kashmir Times)
GAMBIA:
Case to Abolish Death Penalty Falls On Toothless Court
The court of justice for the West African economic community is expected to
hear a civil society case calling for the abolition of the death penalty in the
Gambia this December, 4 months after the execution of nine prisoners shocked
the world.
Civil Society Associations Gambia (CSAG), a consortium of pro-democracy
movements, laid the case with the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice, which has jurisdiction to rule on human
rights breeches. The court is open to all persons in ECOWAS, of which the
Gambia is a member.
The case is an attempt to save the lives of the country's remaining 38 death
row prisoners who include former defence and intelligence chiefs, former top
army officers and a business tycoon.
But human rights experts in the Gambia are concerned about the court's ability
to hold this tiny West African nation to any ruling it makes. While the court's
decision is legally binding to member states, the Gambia has openly ignored
previous rulings.
"The kind of solidarity we are seeing in the sub-region is a cause for
comfort," Banka Manneh, chairman of the CSAG, told IPS. "The case was scheduled
for Oct. 31, but the sitting ended up not taking place. But it is already put
on the calendar (for December) and the proceedings should start soon."
Prominent Gambian human rights lawyer Ousainou Darboe told IPS: "I believe that
it's now time for the government to take steps to abolish the death penalty and
to retroactively amend the current law so that all those on death row have
their sentences commuted to prison terms."
The civil society coalition also asked the ECOWAS court to order the Gambian
government to hand over the bodies of the nine executed prisoners to their
families "so that they can give them a decent burial and organise religious
ceremonies which are necessary in such circumstances and are in accordance with
local customs."
The activists also requested a total of one million dollars be paid in
compensation to the families of those executed.
Amadou Bah, a family member of one of the executed prisoners, told IPS that his
family had not been officially informed of the application filed on their
behalf. But he said he was thrilled by it. "Everyone has been talking ever
since the execution, but no one wants to take action. The activists who sued
the government have done a good job and they will have our support and
prayers."
47 prisoners had been on death row in crowded Gambian prisons prior to the Aug.
23 executions. Until then no one had been executed for nearly 30 years. This
prompted the global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, to classify
the country as abolitionist in practice. But it was stripped of this status
after the nine prisoners, eight men and one woman, were secretly executed.
President Yahya Jammeh's administration justified its actions, saying that the
execution was necessary to curb the rising crime rate. "And if I have to sign
10,000 death warrants to save the lives of 1.6 million Gambians, I will do it
with pleasure," Jammeh said following the executions.
Later, the Gambian government caved to mounting local and international
pressure and declared a moratorium on the death penalty. But many refuse to
take the country's controversial president at his word.
Local newspapers report that the remaining 38 prisoners are living in constant
fear of immediate execution.
The family members of those who remain on death row have been unable to access
the prisons where their loved ones are held, and are not allowed to communicate
with them. Amnesty International quoted the unnamed wife of one death row
prisoner as saying: "We don't know what's happening - who is dead and who is
alive. And we don't know who will be next."
Families of some of the remaining death row inmates are not convinced by
Jammeh's claim that executions will be halted. They are, however, somewhat
relieved that the government is being challenged legally.
"When the president announced that he had stopped the executions, we were not
convinced that he meant what he said. I was never convinced because, I'm
afraid, he is not all that good at keeping promises," a father of one death row
inmate told IPS on condition of anonymity.
The 64-year-old man, whose son was convicted on charges of treason, was
cautious in his hope that the sub-regional bloc would save his son's life as
the Gambia has a reputation for losing cases and not honouring the Abuja-based
court's decisions.
Over the past six years the court has handed down two judgments against the
Gambian government - in the torture case of Musa Saidykhan and the unlawful
detention case of Ebrima Manneh, both Gambian journalists.
The government had been found guilty of illegal detention and was ordered to
release Manneh, who had been arrested by police in 2006 and was never seen
again, and to pay 100,000 dollars in compensation to him. He has not
reappeared, however, and there are suspicions that he is dead.
Saidykhan brought a lawsuit against the Gambian government to the court after
he was arrested and tortured by Gambian security agents in 2006 and accused of
involvement in an alleged coup attempt. He was awarded 200,000 dollars in
damages, but Gambia has not paid him compensation.
However, the ECOWAS court seems to be running out of patience with countries
that do not comply with its rulings.
"The non-implementation of the court's decisions is a violation of member
states' obligation under the ECOWAS treaty," Justice Awa Nana Daboya, the
chairperson of the court, warned in July, calling for the sub-regional bloc to
impose financial sanctions on non-complaint member states.
The bloc is facing increasing calls to take action against countries that
disrespect its court. Darboe said it was time the Gambian government respected
the court's decisions.
"It is illegitimate for the Gambian government to accept to be bound by some
decisions of ECOWAS and refuse to respect the decision of the court. Lately, I
have been seeing a government-sponsored advert on the state broadcaster,
advertising for VAT (value added tax) and relating it to an ECOWAS protocol. If
we can implement VAT, why not respect and obey the court, which the Gambia has
effectively participated in establishing?
"The next thing the ECOWAS heads of state should do is to take some punitive
actions against states that decide to disregard the decision of the court. The
court is not there for decoration, it is there for a purpose," Darboe said.
CSAG chairman Banka Manneh said he hoped the Gambian government would honour a
ruling against it.
"We hope that the government will comply this time around since this is a
matter of life and death for so many. I use the word 'hope' since Jammeh has
absolutely no respect for the rule of law and the Gambia's international
obligations," he said.
The CSAG accused the country of being in violation of international human
rights instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
Also known as the Banjul Charter, it was drafted here in 1979 and calls for,
among other things, respect for the right to life. The charter, which
established the Organisation of African Unity, was ratified by all member
states, including the Gambia.
(source: All Africa News)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
