Feb. 10
INDIA:
No rubber stamp, Pranab acts fast on mercy please
Barely 6 months after he moved into Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Pranab
Mukherjee has rejected the two most talked about mercy petitions in recent
times, resulting in the hanging of terror convicts in both cases.
The rejection of mercy petitions filed by Mumbai terror convict Ajmal Amir
Kasab and Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru by Mukherjee within a gap of
10 weeks is a marked departure from the style of functioning of his
predecessors.
Former President Pratibha Patil had left 16 mercy petitions of convicts on
death row pending for her successor.
Within 6 months, 2 of them have been rejected, a death sentence has been
commuted into life imprisonment and 13 others have been sent back to the
ministry of home affairs, seeking fresh opinion in the petitions.
During her 5-year tenure, Patil rejected 3 mercy petitions and commuted death
sentences into life imprisonment in 12 cases.
She wanted to go slow and had reportedly told the government that as the 1st
woman President, she could not act hastily and send convicts to the gallows in
the 23 cases which she had "inherited".
Mukherjee, however, entered the Rashtrapati Bhavan with no such baggage.
In fact, history repeated itself when he rejected Kasab's mercy petition in
November 2012. Mukherjee was the external affairs minister when the 26/11
Mumbai terror attack took place in 2008, and he had played a pivotal role in
building international pressure on Pakistan.
Kasab, a Pakistani militant and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist group,
was hanged on November 21, 2012.
While there is a raging global debate over the abolition of death penalty,
Mukherjee has shown, on earlier occasions too, that he does not shy away from
this provision.
As finance minister, he had recommended retention of death penalty in the
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, but had agreed to
make it optional instead of mandatory punishment.
(source: Hindustan Times)
********************************
Bhullar afraid of possible hanging, refuses to take food
Notorious terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar seems to be afraid of possible
hanging after Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's execution on Saturday
morning. Bhullar, who is undergoing treatment at Institute of Human Behaviour
and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) Shahdara, didn't take breakfast on Saturday
morning.
Bhullar don't watch television. After getting the information about Afzal
Guru's hanging, Bhullar got frightened.
Hospital sources said that Bhullar took light lunch on Saturday. He refused to
take dinner saying that he is unwell, sources said. But he was found totally
fit in the routine medical check-up conducted by the doctors.
After the Afzal Guru's hanging, the hospital administration has tightened the
security of Bhullar who has been undergoing treatment for the last 1 1/2 years
at IHBAS Shahdara. He has been suffering from depression with psychosis.
A TADA court on August 25, 2001, awarded Bhullar death penalty for his role in
the September 10, 1993, bomb blast in Delhi. The then Youth Congress president
Maninderjit Singh Bitta escaped death with serious injuries, while 9 security
personnel were killed in the incident. In 2002, the SC had upheld the death
penalty for Bhullar.
(source: Jagran Post)
************************
CPI(ML) liberation, AFDR condemns Afzal Guru hanging
The hanging of Afzal Guru though is being welcomed, ultra left party
CPI(ML)Liberation and leftist organization association for democratic rights
(AFDR) has highly denounced the act. Both the organizations have termed the
hanging as travesty of justice and democracy.
CPI(ML)Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the way how in
an extremely secretive manner without even informing his family Afzal was
hanged is questionable and it will be recognised by every justice-loving person
as a case of justice being hanged to appease the communal fascist forces".
(source: India Times)
***************************
Amnesty condemns Afzal Guru's execution, calls it a disturbing and regressive
trend
Global human rights group Amnesty International on Saturday said the hanging of
Mohammad Afzal Guru, convicted of conspiracy to attack Indian Parliament,
indicates a "disturbing and regressive trend" towards executions shrouded in
secrecy. "We condemn the execution in the strongest possible terms. This very
regrettably puts India in opposition to the global trend towards moving away
from death penalty", said Shashikumar Velath, Programmes Director at Amnesty
International India.
He alleged "serious questions have been raised about the fairness of Afzal Guru
s trial. He did not receive legal representation of his choice or a lawyer with
adequate experience at the trial stage. These concerns were not addressed.
Before Ajmal Kasab s execution in November, Indian authorities used to make
information about the rejection of mercy petitions and dates of execution
available to the public prior to any executions. The new practice of carrying
out executions in secret is highly disturbing."
Guru was sentenced to death in December 2002 after being convicted of
conspiracy to attack the Parliament of India, waging war against India and
murder in December 2001.
(source: IBN Live)
********************
Indian Kashmiris chafe under curfew after hanging
Residents of India's Kashmir valley complained on Sunday about the 2nd day of
curfew imposed following the hanging of a local separatist which has sparked a
fresh debate on capital punishment.
Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri Muslim convicted of helping plot the 2001
attack on the Indian parliament which left 10 people dead, was executed
Saturday in New Delhi's Tihar jail.
Fearing a backlash over his death, Indian authorities imposed a tight curfew on
Saturday in major populated areas of Kashmir, shut down Internet services and
blocked local newspapers in a bid to prevent demonstrations.
At least 4 people were injured on Saturday during protests, including 2 who
received bullet injuries when government forces fired on a crowd in a village
40 kilometres (25 miles) from the biggest city of Srinagar.
Abdul Hafeez, a resident of Srinagar, said his two-month-old granddaughter
needed milk, but they were unable to go shopping because of the strict orders
restricting people to their homes which have been imposed indefinitely.
"We have seen so much violence in the past. We just hope that things return to
normal as quickly as possible," he told AFP.
Guru was convicted of waging war against India and conspiring with the Islamist
militants who attacked the parliament -- an event that brought nuclear-armed
India and Pakistan to the brink of another conflict.
The 1-time fruit merchant and a medical college dropout always insisted he was
innocent and claimed he was denied a proper legal defence, while protesters in
Kashmir have often accused the police of framing him.
The world' biggest democracy uses capital punishment for the "rarest of rare"
crimes.
It had not carried out an execution since 2004 until the hanging in November
last year of Mohammed Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of 2008 terror attacks
in Mumbai.
The 2 executions -- both approved under new President Pranab Mukherjee --
raised concerns among human rights activists who had hoped India was phasing
out the practice following its informal 8-year moratorium.
"India should end this distressing use of executions as a way to satisfy some
public opinion," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights
Watch.
Amnesty International was also quick to condemn Guru's hanging as a "disturbing
and regressive trend" towards executions in India.
A section of the Indian press speculated on who could be the next to face the
gallows, while respect left-of-centre newspaper The Hindu slammed the
execution.
"Guru was walked to the gallows... at the end of the macabre rite governments
enact from time to time to propitiate that most angry of gods, a vengeful
public," it said.
"There is no principle underpinning the death penalty in India today except
vengeance. And vengeance is no principle at all," the daily wrote.
In Kashmir, where a bloody separatist conflict has claimed an estimated 100,000
lives over the last 20 years, some feared that the execution could feed local
anti-India feeling and spur more violence.
Police also prevented local newspapers from publishing on Sunday and seized
copies of 4 dailies who managed to go to press in defiance of the restrictions.
"Police seized our newspaper from the press without any prior information to
our management," Haji Hayat, editor-in-chief of the English language newspaper
Kashmir Reader, told AFP.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
*****************************
Supreme Court firm on death penalty for terror acts, rape-murder cases
Hanging in quick succession of 2 condemned prisoners - terrorist Ajmal Kasab
for 26/11 and Mohd Afzal for 2001 terror attack on Parliament - has turned
focus on death sentence, which the Supreme Court appeared increasingly wary of
imposing in the recent years.
In several gruesome murders, including Swami Shradhananda case to a recent
judgment in a Punjab case where four members of a family were wiped out over
property dispute, the Supreme Court has commuted the death penalty concurrently
imposed by the trial court and the High Court to life imprisonment.
The court had commuted death sentence of Shradhananda, but ordered the
authorities to confine him to prison for rest of his life for murder of his
wife Shakereh Namazi, who was granddaughter of Sir Mirza Ismail, a former Diwan
of the erstwhile Mysore State. In the Punjab case, the SC awarded imprisonment
for 30 years.
A closer look at the judgments in the last decade and half revealed that the
court had been less inclined to award death penalty in heinous offences if it
was committed at the spur of the moment because of civil disputes or political
rivalry.
However, it had been quite firm in imposing capital punishment when the case
revealed mindless killing aimed at striking terror in the heart of ordinary
citizens and also intended to weaken the fabric of the nation to endanger the
country's security. The judgments in the 26/11 attack and Parliament attack
cases were a testimony to it.
It also had also shown no leniency, with few aberrations, to those convicted in
rape-murder cases, especially involving minors and mentally challenged.
In the past couple of attempts were made in the Supreme Court through petitions
to seek abolition of the death penalty on the ground that it did not match with
the civilized concept of deterrent punishment for a crime. Petitioners had
appealed that punitive jurisprudence must lean more towards reforming an
offender than condemning him.
But, the apex court had upheld the constitutional validity of Section 302 of
the Indian Penal Code providing for death penalty and said it would be awarded
in "rarest of rare" cases as long as the punishment remained in the statute
books.
However, there had been a clamour for reconsideration of the award of death
penalty in rarest of rare category of heinous crimes, a classification which
were evolved and strengthened in the Bachan Singh case and Machi Singh case
judgments of the apex court more then 2 decades ago.
Recently, the Supreme Court had developed a doubt: whether the classification
of a case under the rarest of rare category for award of death penalty to a
offender in a heinous offence was an impartial appreciation of the evidence on
the nature of the crime and the aggravating and mitigating circumstances
against and for the accused or it was merely Judge-centric.
This doubt of the SC was clarified by the court itself in a judgment delivered
on February 7. It said: "Courts award death sentence because situation demands,
due to constitutional compulsion, reflected by the will of the people."
After examining a case from the heinousness aspect, the courts scrutinize
evidence to ascertain the nature of the criminal and then apply the "rarest of
rare case" test to arrive at the conclusion whether award of capital punishment
was warranted, it said.
The court said "rarest of rare case" test depended on the perception of society
and was not "judge-centric", whether society would approve the award of death
sentence to those convicted in certain types of crimes.
"While applying this test, the court has to look into a variety of factors like
society's abhorrence, extreme indignation and antipathy to certain types of
crimes like rape and murder of minor girls, especially intellectually
challenged minor girls, minor girls with physical disability, old and infirm
women with those disabilities etc (examples are illustrative and not
exhaustive)," it had said.
(source: The Times of India)
***********************
Secret Hanging a Major Step Back; Join International Trend Towards Abolishing
Death Penalty
The hanging in New Delhi of Mohammad Afzal Guru makes it more urgent for India
to reinstate its previous informal moratorium on executions as a step towards
abolishing the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. Azfal Guru,
executed on February 9, 2013, was convicted for his role in the attack on the
Indian parliament in 2001.
In November 2012, India ended its 8-year unofficial moratorium on executions
when it hanged Ajmal Kasab, convicted for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
"Questions need to be asked why the Indian government executed Afzal Guru now,"
said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. "No one argues that those who
engage in serious crimes shouldn't be punished, but the death penalty is brutal
and irreversible, and there is no convincing evidence to suggest it serves as a
deterrent."
Under Indian law, the death penalty is supposed to be carried out only in the
"rarest of rare" cases.
Afzal Guru was convicted for providing logistical support to those involved in
the attack on the Parliament building in New Delhi on December 13, 2001, in
which 5 heavily-armed gunmen entered the complex and opened fire
indiscriminately, killing 9, including 6 security personnel, 2 parliament
guards, and a gardener. All 5 attackers, later identified as Pakistani
nationals, were killed. No member of parliament was hurt.
4 people, including Afzal Guru, were charged with conspiring in the attack and
waging war. In December 2002, 3 people, Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Shaukat
Hussain Guru, and Afzal Guru, were sentenced to death. The 4th, Afsan Guru, was
acquitted. Geelani was acquitted on appeal. In August 2005 the Supreme Court
commuted Shaukat Hussain's sentence to 10 years in prison but confirmed the
death sentence of Afzal Guru. An appeal for clemency was filed for Afzal Guru
but was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 3.
Many Indian activists and lawyers have claimed that Azfal Guru did not receive
proper legal representation. He did not have a lawyer from the time of his
arrest until he confessed in police custody. Azfal Guru claimed that he had
been tortured into making his confession, which he later retracted. Several
Indian activists and senior lawyers have said that he did not have effective
assistance of counsel.
The Indian government has defended the conviction, saying that Azfal Guru was
able to appeal his conviction and that his claims were rejected by higher
courts. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an
inherently irreversible, inhumane punishment. In July 2012, 14 retired Supreme
Court and High Court judges asked the president to commute the death sentences
of 13 inmates they said had been erroneously upheld by the Supreme Court over
the past 9 years. This followed the court's admission that some of these death
sentences were rendered per incuriam (out of error or ignorance). In November
2012 the Supreme Court ruled that the "rarest of rare" standard for capital
punishment had not been applied uniformly over the years and the norms on the
death penalty needed "a fresh look."
"India should end this distressing use of executions as a way to satisfy some
public opinion," said Ganguly. "It should instead join the nations that have
chosen to abolish capital punishment."
(source: Human Rights Watch)
PAKISTAN:
Confirmed: Shahrukh Jatoi is 19
The birth and academic certificates of Shahrukh Jatoi, the prime suspect in the
Shahzeb Khan murder case, have spelled his doom. The alleged killer is indeed
an adult as he was born on November 27, 1993, according to the documents, Geo
News reported.
On February 7, an anti-terrorism court had directed the principal of Aitchison
College, Lahore to provide information about Jatoi to determine his age that
can literally be a matter of life and death for him. If the court accepts Jatoi
as an adult, he will likely get the death penalty but if he is declared a
minor, he will be spared death as juvenile offenders cannot be hanged.
On Saturday, the case investigating officer submitted the birth and academic
certificates of the alleged killer to the medical board, as experts went
through the physical examination reports and x-rays to determine the actual age
of Jatoi.
The decision has been sealed and would be submitted in the court on Monday,
said the Sindh Services Hospital medical superintendent, Muhammad Taufiq, the
convener of the medical board.
It was established that Jatoi was at least 18 years old as he had a complete
set of 32 teeth, including the 4 wisdom teeth, sources told The News. Earlier
reports suggesting Jatoi was an adult as he had a complete dental structure
have been brushed aside by board members.
The matter became contentious after a police surgeon had declared the suspect a
minor. The court, however, rejected the report and ordered forming a medical
board.
The panel consisted 3 radiologists, 2 forensic experts and a senior dental
surgeon, who was later added on the recommendation of the board members.
The medical team members are dentist Prof Dr Shakir Ali, forensic medicine
professor Dr Farhat Hussain Mirza, radiologists Prof Dr Atique Ahmed Khan and
Dr Tariq Mehmood, Prof Dr Saba Sohail, Dr Mazhar Ahmed Siddiqui and Dr Hamid
Padhyar.
Shahrukh Jatoi, Nawab Siraj Talpur, his brother Nawab Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam
Murtaza Lashari have been booked for allegedly killing 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan
in Defence on December 25.
Jatoi fled the country but was later brought back from Dubai after the Supreme
Court took suo moto notice of the murder, which sparked nationwide protests by
the civil society groups.
(source: The International News)
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh protest demands death penalty for war crimes leader----A massive
demonstration in Bangladesh continues to grow as crowds demand the death
penalty for political leader, Abdul Kader, convicted of war crimes
Thouands more people have joined a 5-day demonstration in Bangladesh, demanding
convicted war criminal, Abdul Quader Mollah, face the death penalty.
In the city of Dhaka, there has been an extraordinary outpouring of feeling
since Mollah was given life on Tuesday for crimes including torture, murder and
rape during the 1971 independence war, the BBC reported.
The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Dhaka said people from all walks of life,
including doctors, professors and sports personalities, were taking part in
what is the biggest demonstration in recent years.
"We will not return home unless we get justice, complete justice," Shakil
Ahmed, a college student, told the Associated Press news agency.
"I did not see 1971, but those who killed our people and helped Pakistani
troops in their effort to halt the creation of Bangladesh should be hanged."
The protest began Tuesday when an International Crimes Tribunal sentenced
Mollah, 64, assistant secretary general for the Jamaat-e-Islami party, to life
in prison, CNN reported.
Thousands began holding vigils in Dhaka calling for the death penalty for party
leaders on trial for the mass killings.
Meanwhile Mollah's supporters called for his immediate release and clashed with
police earlier in the week.
Paramilitary troopers have been called in to maintain law and order in the
region.
Mollah was found guilty of 5 of 6 charges, including murder, but was defiant as
the verdict was read.
He stood up and declared he was innocent and began to curse the judges and the
government, media reported.
Mollah, who was the chief of the students' wing of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971, is
the 1st Jamaat-e-Islami leader convicted in a war-crimes case by the tribunal.
Official estimates say more than 3 million people were killed in the 1971 war,
the BBC reported.
(source: Global Post)
NIGERIA:
Only Death Penalty Can Stop Corruption In Nigeria - Varsity Don
The Pioneer director of United Nations African Institute for Prevention of
Crime, Professor Femi Odekunle, at the weekend, proffered death penalty as
punishment for corrupt public officers in the country.
Speaking at the official presentation of the 2013 brochure for energy sector
programmes by Global Training Consulting, a United Kingdom based Institute,
Adekunle, who teaches Criminology at the University of Abuja, said it is only
such extreme measures that could help reduce the menace of corruption and
embezzlement of public fund in the system.
In his presentation titled, "Transformation Agenda, Corruption and National
Security", Adekunle expressed worries that over 90 % of the nation's financial
resources are 'cornered and consumed' by less than 10 % of the country's
population.
"The political class, the public sector hierarchy and their companions and
collaborators in the private sector consume the 90 %.
For instance, N1.26 trillion (22 %) of the proposed N4.9 trillion 2013 budget
is going for the salaries and allowances of about 1,000 top political and
public office holders, he said.
Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
supported the call for death penalty for corrupt politicians and public office
holders by drawing instances from countries such as China and Malaysia, where
death penalty has worked as deterrent against corruption practices.
He said: "Corruption will come down drastically when those entrusted with
public funds are constantly reminded of the penalties they have to face if
found guilty of corrupt charges. Death penalty will put fear in them."
Director, GTC Energy, Mr. Idy Ekong, said the brochure would assist in the
transformation of the country's energy sector and position it to face the
challenges of the 21st century.
"We can boldly say that we understand the energy sector. That is why we have
tailored our experience and expertise to deliver real-world solutions focused
on achieving significant business growth," Ekong said.
(source: Nigeria Guardian News)
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