Jan. 29
INDONESIA:
4th Briton jailed in Bali over cocaine
A British man arrested in connection with a drugs trafficking ring on the
Indonesian resort island of Bali was Tuesday sentenced to 6 years in jail for
possession of cocaine.
Julian Ponder, 43, is among 4 Britons arrested on drugs charges last year
including Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother who was sentenced to death last week
for her part in what authorities said was a "huge international syndicate".
Presiding judge Gunawan Tri Budiono told Bali's Denpasar court that Ponder was
guilty of possessing 23.04 grams (0.8 ounces) of cocaine with a street value of
$6,000, found in the bedroom of his luxury Bali villa.
"The defendant has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing a
crime of drug possession," he said, adding that in addition to the jail term
Ponder was fined 1.0 billion rupiah ($103,000).
The sentence was lighter than the seven years' jail recommended by prosecutors.
Judges are not obliged to follow the guideline and Sandiford was sentenced to
death despite a recommendation of a 15-year jail term.
Ponder was arrested after receiving a package from Sandiford in a police sting
mounted after she was caught with 5 kilos (11 pounds) of cocaine hidden in her
suitcase on a flight from Bangkok to Bali in May.
He was initially also accused of trafficking over the $2.4 million drugs haul,
but earlier this month prosecutors dropped the more serious charge.
Defence lawyer Arie Budiman Soenardi told reporters after the trial that he
would advise Ponder not to appeal against the sentence on the possession charge
which under Indonesian law is punishable by life imprisonment.
"(The sentence) is quite light, not far from what the prosecutors had asked, so
we will soon advise our client to accept it," he said.
Another judge on the 3-man panel, Anak Agung Anom Wirakanta, admonished Ponder
for contravening the government's anti-narcotics efforts, but noted that he had
"confessed to his crime and apologised to Indonesians".
Ponder, dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and black jeans, appeared tense
during the trial but visibly relaxed after the verdict was read out, his
shoulders dropping in relief.
He refused to comment on the court's decision but only said: "I've got to
consult my lawyer, thank you" to the reporters who swarmed around him.
Ponder, from Brighton in England, was the last of the 4 Britons arrested in
connection with the drugs haul to face a verdict and sentence.
Rachel Dougall, with whom Ponder had a 6-year-old daughter, was sentenced to 1
year in jail for failing to report Ponder's crime and Paul Beales received 4
years for possession of 3.6 grams of hashish.
Like Ponder, both were cleared of drug trafficking.
However Sandiford, 56, was sentenced last Tuesday to death by firing squad. The
authorities said she was at the centre of the drugs ring but she argued that
she was coerced and faced threats that her children would be harmed.
Sandiford is appealing against the sentence. British rights group Reprieve said
Sunday that she is also suing the British government for allegedly failing to
support her appeal against the death penalty.
Indonesia enforces stiff penalties for drug trafficking, but death penalty
sentences are commonly commuted to long jail sentences.
According to prison authorities there are 36 foreigners and 56 Indonesians on
death row in Indonesia.
Sandiford is the 2nd Briton to be sentenced to death on drugs charges in
Indonesia in recent months, after Gareth Cashmore was found guilty in the
capital Jakarta last October.
Narcotics officials say drug syndicates now prefer to use Western drug mules
who can better blend in with the millions of arrivals at Bali's international
airport and evade police detection.
The last execution of a foreigner was in June 2008, when 2 Nigerian drug
traffickers were shot.
(source: Agence france-Presse)
VIETNAM:
22 Tried for 'Subversion'; The group is one of the largest accused of plotting
to overthrow the Vietnamese government in years.
Activists convicted of plotting to 'overthrow' the government listen to their
verdicts at a court in Vinh, Nghe An province on Jan. 9, 2013.
A court in central Vietnam on Monday began proceedings against nearly 2 dozen
members of an obscure environmental group for trying to "overthrow" the
country's communist leadership, according to family members and one of the
group's lawyers.
The 22 members of the Hoi Dong Cong Luat Cong An Bia Son organization appeared
before the court in Phu Yen province at the start of a 5-day trial which
involved one of the largest numbers of defendants charged with subversion
against the 1-party communist state in recent history.
The group, whose name translates as the Council for the Laws and Public Affairs
of Bia Son (a provincial mountain), face the death penalty if convicted,
although Vietnam has never executed a prisoner convicted of carrying out
political crimes against the state.
Little is known about the group, which is led by 65-year-old Phan Van Thu,
beyond what has been written by Vietnamese authorities, who consider the group
a terrorist organization.
When he was arrested about a year ago, Vietnamese state media accused Thu of
setting up two companies and investing in an eco-tourism park as a cover for
recruiting supporters.
The state-run Vietnamese News Agency said the group had been run
"non-violently" by Thu, who is also known as Tran Cong, between 2003 and his
arrest in February last year. Membership numbers around 300 and is spread
throughout several central and southern cities and provinces.
The group sought to "wear down people's trust in the party and state leadership
and create suspicion and concern about the current regime," the agency
reported, adding that the group received funding from overseas Vietnamese.
Thu's wife Vo Thi Thuy told RFA's Vietnamese Service said the group's members
were "religious" and strove to protect the environment.
"Everybody knows that we are a religious people. There is nothing to hide,"
Thuy said recently.
"Secondly, we are doing this for the local ecology - to make our country
beautiful and to provide a good place for people to vacation or for anybody who
are looking for a peaceful place for their spirit," she said.
"That is the goal of Bia Son???s people. They are seniors and young people with
diseases. They came to [Thu] to find a solution for their lives."
Another family member, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the defendants
were being charged under Article 79 of Vietnam's penal code, which forbids
"carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration" or
establishing or joining organizations with the intent to do so.
Rights groups say the law has been used in the past as a pretext to repress and
silence peaceful democratic voices.
Family members said that they did not hire any lawyers to represent members of
the group because they believe that the defendants had acted on behalf of
justice and did not intend to overthrow the government.
Recent crackdown
Vietnamese authorities have jailed dozens of political dissidents since
launching a crackdown on freedom of expression at the end of 2009.
Earlier this month, a court convicted 14 activists, including Catholics,
students, and bloggers, of "carrying out activities with intent to overthrow
the people's administration" for their involvement with the banned overseas
opposition group Viet Tan. Nearly all of them were ordered jailed for between 3
and 13 years in prison.
In the case over the Hoi Dong Cong Luat Cong An Bia Son organization, 6 lawyers
were assigned to the defendants in accordance with Vietnamese law.
"We met with them several times at the prison," lead lawyer Nguyen Huong Que
told RFA's Vietnamese Service on Sunday.
"I saw them last week. They admitted that they were aware of what they were
doing from the beginning."
"They worked for the organization free. For example, [defendant] Nguyen Ky Lac
worked for this organization for 8 years without any wages. He even asked his
family to contribute to the organization," he said.
"In general, they admitted their goals and their activities. At the court, we
will have questions and answers to make things clear."
Family members of the accused said authorities allowed them access to the
hearing.
"[At the trial] this morning, they called everybody's names. The family members
were arranged to sit in one place. Each defendant had four policemen escorting
them," the mother of 1 defendant - Nguyen Thai Binh - told RFA's Vietnamese
Service.
"They [the defendants] were accused of committing reactionary crimes. They are
all very old and ill," she said.
Authorities allowed anyone with an invitation into the courtroom to observe the
proceedings, said another person in attendance that spoke to RFA, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"They did not block anybody - Family members went in after the defendants were
brought out," the observer said.
"The trial room was very small so some people had to sit outside. They did
arrange chairs for people to sit and set up loudspeakers outside, so everybody
could attend the trial," they said.
"The defendants were nice people. They did not put up any resistance. They
looked calm but ill, and had to limp. They answered questions naturally,
according to instructions."
(source: Radio Free Asia)
SAUDI ARABIA----execution
Saudi Arabia beheads drug trafficker; Execution brings to 7 the number of
people beheaded in Saudi Arabia so far this year
Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its nationals on Tuesday after he was convicted of
drug trafficking, the Interior Ministry announced in a statement.
Musaed Al Ruweili was arrested as he tried to smuggle "a large number of
narcotic pills into the kingdom," said the statement, cited by the official SPA
news agency.
He was beheaded by the sword in the northern Al Jawf province.
The execution brings to 7 the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia so far
this year.
In 2012, the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom beheaded 76 people, according to
an AFP tally based on official figures. The US-based Human Rights Watch put the
number at 69.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable
by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law.
(source: Gulf News)
INDIA:
Protesters in New Delhi demand death penalty for 6 men accused of last month's
fatal gang rape
Scores of protesters gathered near India's Parliament on Tuesday demanding the
death penalty for 6 men accused of the fatal gang rape of a young woman in New
Delhi last month.
The protesters carried placards saying: "Give us Justice, Hang the Rapists,"
and shouted slogans before conducting a mock hanging of the men who are facing
trial in a special court in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, India's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition to move the
trial out of New Delhi.
The petition, filed by a Delhi-based lawyer, argued that the men would not get
a fair trial because of the charged atmosphere in New Delhi following the
outcry over the rape and subsequent death of the woman.
The court declared the petition void because the lawyer who filed it was no
longer representing 1 of the defendants.
Also Tuesday, the victim's family said it would appeal against a ruling by a
juvenile court that 1 of the accused would be tried as a juvenile since he was
under 18 when the attack took place.
The juvenile court's determination means the teenager he will face a maximum
term of 3 years in a reform facility. If tried as an adult, he could face the
death penalty if convicted.
The victim's father, who cannot be identified until the end of the trial
because of a gag order, said a bone test should be conducted on the teenager to
determine his age.
Meanwhile, the specially appointed fast-track court was separately hearing
arguments in the trial of the men charged with attacking the woman and a male
friend on a moving bus.
Details of the proceedings were not available because of the gag order against
revealing what happens inside the courtroom.
Police say the 23-year-old victim and her friend boarded the bus on Dec. 16
after seeing an evening movie. But the bus turned out to be off-duty and was
being driven by a group of friends who, police say, attacked the couple and
then took turns raping the woman. They also penetrated her repeatedly with a
metal bar, causing massive internal injuries. The 2 were eventually dumped on
the roadside. The woman died 2 weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
The brutal attack set off nation-wide protests and sparked a national debate
about the treatment of women across the country and the inability of law
enforcement to protect them.
Since the gang rape, sexual violence has become front-page news nearly every
day across the country, with demands that the government do more to protect
women and prosecute those that attack them. A government-appointed panel last
week announced a wide range of measures on ensuring women safety.
(source: Associated Press)
***************************
Delhi HC acquits 3 on death row for burning woman
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday acquitted a man, his son and daughter, all
sentenced to death by a Sessions court last year for burning alive his
daughter-in-law to corner her property.
A bench of justices Gita Mittal and JR Midha acquitted East Delhi resident
Gulbeg Ali, his son Zulfikar Ali and daughter Kumari Mubin Fatima all of whom
faced death penalty for setting ablaze victim Shama Parveen in October 2009 in
their house.
They were acquitted on the ground that there were discrepancies in the
statements associated with the dying declaration of the victim.
The counsel for the trio, Sumeet Verma, said that the high court agreed with
his submission that there was contradiction in the statements made by the
Investigating Officer, the Sub Divisional Magistrate and that of the victim's
husband.
He had also argued before the court that there was no certificate of the doctor
that the victim was fit for recording of her statement.
Additional Public Prosecutor in the case, Ritu Gauba, had argued that in such
cases, as per the Supreme Court judgements there is no need for a doctor's
fitness certificate if the SDM has satisfied himself about the same.
According to the prosecution, the trio were also accused of ill-treating the
victim as they did not like her and had on many occasions asked her husband to
leave her and remarry as per their wishes.
They were sentenced to death in March 2012 based upon victim's dying
declaration in which she had accused them of setting her ablaze.
Gauba said the high court took note of the absence of doctor's certificate that
the victim was fit to record her statement before the magistrate. She said the
prosecution would go in appeal against the verdict.
As per the prosecution, the victim was set ablaze by her in-laws during the wee
hours of October 22, 2009 and she was rushed to the hospital with 97 burns.
According to the police they had received a call from the woman that the
accused persons were fighting with her and her husband was out for work, but
when they reached her residence the cops found her engulfed in flames.
The prosecution also said that the following day, her statement was recorded by
the SDM. She had died a few hours later.
She had told the magistrate that her father-in-law had caught hold of her while
her brother-in-law tied her up and her sister-in-law poured kerosene on her and
set her on fire.
(source: Zee News)
IRAN:
50 prisoners to be executed in next 6 weeks in Shahrekord
The Iranian regime's henchmen in city of Shahrekord in central Iran are
planning to execute some 50 prisoners before the Iranian News Year in March,
According to the reports received from Iran.
The Iranian regime has been putting up gallows in prisons and cities across the
country in recent weeks and carrying out inhuman punishment of amputation of
prisoners' fingers in front of the frightened eyes of the people.
In a 5 day period (January 22-26, 2013) 7 people have been hanged and 2
prisoners' hands have been amputated. Some of these crimes have been carried
out in public.
(source: National Council of Resistance of Iran - Foreign Affairs Committee)
************************
Ashton calls on Iran not to carry out the death sentence against 5 Ahwazi Arab
activists
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy and Vice President of the Commission, Catherine Ashton today expressed
her deep concern over the Iranian High Court's decision to uphold the death
sentences against 5 Ahwazi Arab activists.
As the High Representative Ashton stated: "It was with great concern that I
learned that an Iranian High Court has upheld the death sentences against
Ahwazi Arab activists Mohammad Ali Amouri, Hashem Sha'bani Amouri, Hadi
Rashidi, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and his brother Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka." And
added: "I am concerned by reports that these men did not receive fair trials,
and were forced to confess."
She also urged the Iranian authorities to take into consideration their
obligations under international law, in particular regarding the protection of
the civil and political rights of members of ethnic minorities. Finally, she
called on Iran to stop all pending executions and put an end to the application
of the death penalty.
(source: New Europe)
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