Feb. 21
INDIA:
Delhi HC blast case: Court to consider NIA's plea for Malik's handwriting
sample
A Delhi court on Thursday fixed February 27 for considering a plea by National
Investigation Agency for handwriting sample of Wasim Akram Malik, facing trial
in September 2011 Delhi High Court blast case.
During an in-chamber hearing, the NIA told the court that it needs Malik's
handwriting sample as it has recovered some documents from the possession of
co-accused Shakir Hussain Sheikh alias Chota Hafiz, who was killed in an
encounter with security forces on December 20 last year in Kishtwar in Jammu
and Kashmir, sources said.
The sources said that the agency told District Judge (DJ) I S Mehta that it
needs to ascertain whether the recovered documents contain handwriting of Malik
or not.
The court heard the arguments and listed the matter for February 27. NIA had
earlier said that Sheikh, who was named as accused in the charge sheet and was
absconding, was killed in an encounter and the court had abated proceedings
against him.
Meanwhile, the court also listed for hearing on the same day the matter related
to framing of additional charge of waging war against India against Malik for
his alleged role in the September 7, 2011 terror attack at the high court's
reception in which 15 people were killed and 79 were injured.
The trial judge had earlier declined the NIA's plea to prosecute Malik under
the stringent charge which entails maximum punishment of death penalty, but the
High Court had ruled otherwise.
The Delhi High Court had passed an order on December 3 last year ordering the
trial court to frame charges of waging war against the country against Malik
who is presently in jail under judicial custody.
The trial court had on October 1 last year framed charges, including that of
murder, against Malik under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosive Substance Act for his alleged
role in the terror attack.
The trial judge, however, had declined the NIA's plea to prosecute Malik under
waging war against India saying that merely because an e-mail referring to the
release of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, who was subsequently
hanged on February 9 this year, was sent by the accused after the blast, it
does not mean that an offence against the state was committed.
The court had framed charges against Malik for offences punishable under
sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 440 (mischief committed after preparation
made for causing death or hurt), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance),
302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (causing hurt) and 325 (voluntarily
causing grievous hurt) of the IPC.
While deciding to frame charges against Malik earlier, the trial court had
referred to co-accused-turned-approver Amir Abbas Dev's statement to the
magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
Dev was also arrested by the NIA for his alleged role in the case but had later
turned approver and was granted pardon by the judge.
The NIA had filed charge sheet against 6 persons, including Malik, Dev and a
minor, besides 3 others -- Amir Kamal, Junaid Akram Malik and Shakir Hussain
Sheikh, who are suspected members of banned terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
and are evading arrest. The minor's case is being adjudicated separately.
(source: Zee News)
************************
Minors raped and murdered in Maharashtra, NCP seeks death sentence for accused
NCP on Thursday demanded death sentence for the rapists of 3 minor sisters in
Maharashtra as it pushed for expeditious passage of the bill on crime against
women.
"It is unacceptable. All of us have to hang our heads in shame...is there
anything short of capital punishment which should be given to them," Heavy
Industries Minister and NCP leader Praful Patel told reporters outside
Parliament House.
Patel was referring to the rape-cum-murder of 3 minor sisters in Bhandara
district of Maharashtra a couple of days ago.
Responding to questions on differences among political parties on certain
provisions of the ordinance which seeks to enhance punishment for crime against
women, Patel said strong laws were required to deal with the problem.
"It has to be with consensus...after what has happened in Delhi, the nation has
awakened to this new reality," he said.
When asked about reservations being expressed by political parties on
provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated earlier this
month, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said views of various quarters
would be incorporated when a fresh bill replaces the ordinance.
"I can't understand why people try to confuse issues. Ordinance is an
ordinance. It has to be replaced by a bill in Parliament...it (the bill) will
perhaps have additionalities that public minded persons, activists, political
parties believe need to be included," he said, adding modifications to the
existing provisions can also be made.
(source: Jagran Post)
IRAN----execution
4 Public Hanging in Arak in less than a week
A 23-year-old man was hanged in public on Wednesday 20th February in the city
of Arak.
The execution comes after 3 other prisoners were hanged in the Central Prison
of Arak during this week.
The Iranian regime has also passed the death sentence on 6 more prisoners in
Iranshahr, Sistan and Balouchestan Provinces.
These men were all transferred to solitary confinements on February 17th prior
to the executions being carried out.
9 other prisoners being held at Dizel Abad, in Kermanshah, were also sentenced
to death on February 17th.
The name of the prisoners has been announced as: Mohsen Jalalvand, Ibrahim
Kavoosi, Masoud Yar Ahmadi, Khosro Jalilian, Farhad Mosafer, Mohammad Rahimi,
Omid Chaghavand, Reza Almasi and Kianoosh Hatami.
The increase on the public hangings and repression of the political prisoners
is a known tactic of the Iranian regime to intimidate the public. Especially
since the infightings of different rivals has recently reached to a stage of no
return and with the upcoming "presidential elections", the unpopular Mullahs
fear similar uprisings that took place in 1988.
On Tuesday one of regime's spokesmen, Mehman Parast revealed this fear and
said: "We are in a full-time war situation. Our opponent has started a
full-time war operation against us. The main scene is the presidential
elections coming up next year. All the pressures are going to rise then". He
added: "They are hoping to repeat the 2009 uprising conspiracy again and
carryout some measures."
(source: National Council of Resistance of Iran - Foreign Affairs Committee)
JAPAN----executions
3 more executions - ADPAN fears more may follow
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) condemns the executions of Masahiro
Kanagawa, 29, Kaoru Kobayashi, 44, and Keiki Kano, 62, carried out in Japan on
Thursday 21 February.
The executions are the 1st to take place in Japan since Prime Minister Abe's
Liberal Democrat Party came to power in December 2012.
Masahiro Kanagawa, 29, was hanged at Tokyo Detention Centre, along with Kaoru
Kobayashi, 44, at Osaka Detention Centre and Keiki Kano, 62, at Nagoya
Detention Centre. It is believed that both Kobayashi and Kano were in the
process of preparing to apply for retrials.
Justice Minister Tanigaki, who took office in December 2012, has publicly
expressed his support for the death penalty. During Abe's last term as Prime
Minister 10 people were hanged in less than a year.
ADPAN fears that today's executions raise the genuine fear that use of the
death penalty in Japan may accelerate under the current administration. This
would be in spite of calls from multiple UN bodies for Japan to work towards
abolition. In October last year, during the Second Review of Japan's human
rights situation by the UN Human Rights Council, as many as 24 countries made
recommendations related to reviewing the use of the death penalty. Japan stands
out as one of the few industrialised countries to still use the death penalty.
It is estimated that 134 people are on death row in Japan. 19 offences
carry the death penalty, although in practice it is only imposed for
murder. Executions are by hanging and are typically carried out in secret. No
advance notice is given to their families and lawyers. The death row inmates
themselves are only notified on the morning they are hanged living under
constant fear of execution.
ADPAN is also concerned that Japan relies heavily on the daiyo kangoku system,
which allows the police to detain and interrogate a suspect for up to 23 days
with very limited access to legal counsel and puts suspects at risk of torture
and ill-treatment.
ADPAN opposes the death penalty in all cases, and calls upon the Japanese
government to place a moratorium on all executions, to commute all death
sentences and to work toward abolition of the death penalty for all crimes.
ADPAN member CPR issued a statement condemning the executions:
http://www.cpr.jca.apc.org/archive/statement#1160
(source: ADPAN)
*******************************
Japan executes 3 death-row inmates; Hangings are the 1st use of capital
punishment since conservative government came to power last year.
Japan has hanged a child killer and 2 other convicted murderers, its 1st
executions since a conservative government swept to power in landslide
elections last December.
Kaoru Kobayashi, 44, killed a 7-year-old girl and sent a photograph of the dead
body to her mother in 2004, while Masahiro Kanagawa, 29, killed 1 person and
injured 7 others in a knife attack outside a suburban Tokyo shopping mall in
2008. He also murdered another man in a separate incident the same year.
The 3rd man executed was Keiki Muto, 62, who strangled a bar owner for money in
2002.
"I ordered the executions after giving careful consideration to the matter,"
justice minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told a press briefing in Tokyo. "These were
extremely cruel cases in which victims were deprived of their precious lives
for very selfish reasons."
Kobayashi admitted that he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered the
7-year-old, whose body was found in a gutter in western Japan.
The executions were Japan's 1st since 2 death-row inmates were hanged last
September under a centre-left Democratic Party of Japan government.
'Cruel system'
The number of death-row inmates in Japan now stands at 134.
Japan did not execute any condemned inmates in 2011, the 1st full year in
nearly two decades without an execution, amid muted debate on the rights and
wrongs of a policy that enjoys wide public support.
But Tokyo resumed its use of capital punishment last March, with a government
minister signing death warrants for 3 multiple murderers.
Apart from the US, Japan is the only major industrialised democracy to carry
out the death penalty, a practice that has led to repeated protests from
European governments and human rights groups.
International advocacy groups say the system is cruel because death row inmates
can wait for their executions for many years in solitary confinement, and are
only told of their impending death a few hours ahead of execution.
On Thursday, Amnesty International's branch in Japan "strongly condemned" the
latest executions.
"The Japanese government cannot be excused from abiding by international human
rights standards by citing how the public are feeling," the group said in a
statement.
(source: Al Jazeera)
*********************************
Son wants killer dad to atone, not hang
Hiroto Oyama frequently dreams about his mother floating on the surface of
water and his father standing on the gallows.
"I wake up by my own shouting voice," the 24-year-old Oyama said.
His father, Kiyotaka Oyama, 51, was convicted of killing his wife (Hiroto
Oyama's mother) and his own foster father, and is now waiting to be hanged at
the Hiroshima Detention House after his death sentence was finalized in June
2011.
Rather than hoping for his execution, Hiroto Oyama said he wants his father to
live and atone for what he did.
"I want people to know there are death sentences that victims' relatives do not
necessarily hope for," he said.
In October 1998, Kiyotaka Oyama hit his foster father, Tsutomu Oyama, 66, on
the head with a dumbbell in a parking lot in the city of Hiroshima, making it
look like an accident, and obtained Y70 million in insurance money after the
victim died in January 1999.
He then drowned his wife, Hiromi Oyama, 38, in the bathtub of their Hiroshima
home in March 2000 and gained Y3 million in insurance money.
Kiyotaka Oyama told the boy that she died after she accidentally fell into the
sea.
But then Hiroto Oyama, in only his 2nd year in junior high, saw his father
handcuffed by police in front of him.
He later saw his father's photograph on TV with a headline saying "serial
murder for insurance money."
"I was betrayed by my father, who I had trusted," he said.
Afterward he became self-destructive, began smoking and drinking, and
repeatedly engaged in criminal acts, including shoplifting and extortion.
He dropped out of high school only 3 days after entering and sometimes spent
nights on a bench or in a public lavatory in a park.
It was at a home for juvenile offenders that he received a letter from his
father, in which he apologized for what he had done and what consequently
happened to his son. The father also wrote, "Hang in there."
Hiroto Oyama tore up the letter and flushed it down the toilet. He could not
help feeling outrage. "It was you that made me who I am today. I will never
forgive you," he remembers thinking.
Now he feels jealous and sad when he sees a family: "Why don't I have that - a
normal life with my own family?"
After leaving the juvenile home, he took a huge dose of cold medicine and lost
consciousness.
He survived, and the deep hatred for his father faded when he learned that the
Hiroshima District Court sentenced him to death in April 2005.
Hiroto Oyama decided to visit his father at the detention house to learn
firsthand why he had destroyed their family.
About 3 1/2 years had passed since he had last seen his father, when he was
placed under arrest. The father was much thinner and had sunken cheeks.
Hiroto Oyama was unable to express his anger as his father continued to cry,
saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The son only nodded, tears streaming down his
face.
Since then, he has visited his father more than 200 times and exchanged several
hundred letters. He asked his father little by little what had driven him to
commit the crimes.
He said he can't forgive his father for killing his mother, but he also knows
that his mother will never come back even if his father is hanged.
"If that's the case, I'd rather he continue to live and atone for the rest of
his life," he said.
With the intention of helping his father escape the death penalty, Oyama
appeared before the Hiroshima High Court.
"As a victim of a crime, I understand that many victims feel the urge to kill
the criminal offenders who took the lives of their loved ones," he said.
"I'm not saying that I am against capital punishment, but (as the son of a
condemned prisoner) I can never feel easy as I am scared every morning that
today might become the day my father will be executed.
"I want people to know that there are as many emotions toward punishment as
there are victims, and there is no single answer," he said.
(source: Japan Times)
*************************************
Japan hangs 3 in 1st executions under 'merciless' Abe government
The execution of 3 death row inmates is an ominous and regressive move by
Japan's new Liberal Democratic government, Amnesty International said on
Thursday.
The executions are the 1st since the administration took office in December and
raises fears that the pace of executions may increase during Prime Minister
Abe's term.
Masahiro Kanagawa, 29, was hanged at Tokyo Detention Centre on Thursday, along
with Kaoru Kobayashi, 44, at Osaka Detention Centre and Keiki Kano, 62, at
Nagoya Detention Centre. Kobayashi and Kano were executed despite both being in
the process of preparing to apply for retrials.
"These executions, carried out under a shroud of secrecy, are a callous act of
premeditated killing," said, Roseann Rife, Head of East Asia at Amnesty
International.
"The authorities appeared alarmingly merciless in their willingness to execute
during Shinzo Abe's previous stint as Prime Minister. The fear is that this
marks the beginning of a new wave of cold-blooded killing by the State. It
raises serious questions whether such executions are carried out purely for
political expediency."
10 people were hanged in less than a year during Shinzo Abe's previous time as
Prime Minister between September 2006 and September 2007 - the highest rate
under any Liberal Democratic Party rule. With current Justice Minister Sadakazu
Tanigaki publicly expressing his support for the death penalty the concern is
this may be surpassed.
"Rather than sign more death warrants we urge Justice Minister Sadakazu
Tanigaki to step back and consider the facts. Over two thirds of countries in
the world no longer use capital punishment, disproving claims it is necessary.
Japan is among an isolated minority on this issue and we urge the Minister to
take steps to initiate a public debate on the future use of the death penalty,
said Rife."
The number of death row inmates, at 134, is at one of the highest levels in
Japan in over half a century. Prisoners are typically given a few hours' notice
before execution, but some may be given no warning at all. Their families are
typically notified about the execution only after it has taken place.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception
regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender or
the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The death penalty
violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment.
(source: Amnesty International)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistani man accuses ambassador to U.S. of blasphemy
Pakistani police registered an accusation from a businessman on Thursday that
the country's ambassador to the United States had committed blasphemy, a crime
that carries the death penalty, in connection with a 2010 TV talk show.
The accusation against Ambassador Sherry Rehman is the latest in a string of
controversial blasphemy cases in Pakistan, a largely Muslim nation whose name
translates as Land of the Pure.
According to Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found to have uttered words
derogatory to the Prophet Muhammad can be put to death. Those who are accused
are sometimes lynched by mobs even before they reach court.
Rehman has already faced death threats from militants after calling for reforms
to the country's anti-blasphemy law, according to court documents. 2
politicians who suggested reforming the law were assassinated.
The case against Rehman was brought by businessman Muhammad Faheem Gill, 31,
who said that the comments Rehman made about the law on the Pakistani talk show
in 2010 were blasphemous.
"I've been trying to get this case registered for the last 3 years, ever since
I saw that TV show," Gill told Reuters. "I've even gone to the highest court.
I'm glad that action will finally be taken now."
Gill went to the Supreme Court with his complaint after police refused to
register it. The court ordered police in the central Pakistani city of Multan
to investigate.
Blasphemy accusations are on the rise, according to a report released by the
Islamabad-based think tank, Center for Security Studies. At least 52 people
accused of blasphemy have been killed since 1990.
The charge is difficult to defend since blasphemy is not defined and courts
often hesitate to hear evidence, fearful that reproducing it will also be
blasphemy.
Recent cases have included a teacher who made a mistake setting homework, a man
who threw away a business card belonging to a man name Mohammed, and a
Pakistani Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, who was accused of burning pages of
Muslim holy texts last year.
The teenager was cleared by a court after it emerged that she may have been
framed by a cleric trying to evict Christians from his area. She and her family
are now in hiding.
Rehman, a prominent member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, was appointed
as ambassador to the United States in November 2011.
(source: Reuters)
SAUDI ARABIA----execution
Chadian executed for drug crimes
The Ministry of Interior said Abdulkarim Ibrahim Mousa Abkar, a Chadian
national, was executed on Tuesday in Makkah after being found guilty of dealing
in cocaine for the 2nd time.
The death penalty was issued by the General Court and approved by the Court of
Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' government is determined to combat all
classes of drugs and impose the firmest punishments on perpetrators for the
severe damage drug-taking can have on society, the ministry's statement said.
(source: MENAFN - Arab News)
NIGERIA:
Kidnappers Demand N200m Ransom For 6 Foreigners
Gunmen, who abducted 6 foreigners off the Bayelsa coastline, on Wednesday
demanded for a ransom of N200 million for their freedom.
A Russian, 3 Ukrainians and 2 Indian sailors were abducted on Sunday when their
vessel was attacked off the coastline.
The Police Public Relations Officer of Bayelsa Command, Mr Fidelis Odunna,
confirmed the development in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) in Yenagoa.
Odunna said that the Police Anti Kidnapping Squad was already trailing the
suspects to secure the victims' freedom.
"We have already dispatched our men to track down the kidnappers.
"Contact has been established with them and they are asking for N200 million,"
he said.
NAN recalls that Gov. Seriake Dickson recently signed into Law a bill
prescribing death penalty for Kidnapping in Bayelsa.
(source: Leadership)
**********************
Senate Okays Death Penalty for Terrorists
The Senate, Wednesday, descended heavily on terrorism perpetrators as it
recommended a capital punishment for those found guilty of the act.
Considering a report on "a Bill for an Act to amend the Terrorism (prevention)
Act, 2012," brought forward by its Conference Committee during plenary, the
Senate in a unanimous resolution, held that there was no alternative to
punishing terrorism offenders than death.
All the senators who contributed to the issue, did not spare persons or
corporate bodies linked to any terrorism acts in the country as they said
people knowingly in or outside Nigeria directly or indirectly and who
"willingly assist, facilitate, organise or direct the activities of persons or
organisations engaged in acts of terrorism are liable on conviction to maximum
of life imprisonment."
The Terrorism (prevention) Act 2011 (amendment) Bill, 2012 was passed by the
Senate on October 17, 2012 and in the House of Representatives on October 11,
2012 but after the development, some differences were noticed in the two
versions of the Bill, prompting it to be re-submitted where the Conference
Committee was constituted comprising both chambers on October, 2012 to
reconcile the areas of differences, which appeared in 6 clauses of the Bill.
New amendments to Section 17 of the Terrorism Act, gave a clear distinction
between "an act of terrorism" and "an act of conspiracy."
For the latter, an imprisonment for a term of not less than 20 years is
prescribed.
A new provision (section 1A) dealing with national co-ordinating bodies in
counter terrorism designates specific institutions and vest specific powers and
functions.
In line with the new amendments, the Office of the National Security Adviser ,
ONSA, shall be the co-coordinating body for all security and enforcement
agencies including the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, under the
Terrorism Act.
The new version of the bill stipulates that the AGF is to ensure conformity of
Nigeria's counter-terrorism laws and policies with international standards and
United Nations conventions on Terrorism as well as maintain international
co-operation required for preventing and combating international acts of
terrorism.
The Conference Committee added a new section (30) under clause 14 dealing with
detention of conveyance. Accordingly, any person who without reasonable excuse,
fails to comply with the requirement of a detention order or intentionally
obstructs or hinders any person acting in accordance to detention order shall
on conviction be liable to a fine of N5,000,000 or imprisonment for not less
than 5 years.
Amendments of Section 26-29 of the prior Terrorist Act produced a new Section
28 which allows relevant law enforcement or security officials to detain
suspected terrorist for a period not exceeding 48 hours arrest without having
access to any person, a medical officer.
Anti-terrorism act, gives law enforcers greater powers to detain and prosecute
suspects and gave judges more guidance on handing down punishments.
Also, the bill gives the police and security forces powers to seal off a
property or vehicle without a search warrant.
(source: All Africa News)
BANGLADESH:
Justice; Do not kill Bangladesh's war criminals: AI
Recent mass protests have called for the death penalty for perpetrators of war
crimes. Amnesty International South Asia Researcher Abbas Faiz voices concern
over new laws making it easier to sentence criminals to death.
DW: Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Dhaka to demand
the death penalty for those convicted for war crimes, genocide, and crimes
against humanity in the war crimes tribunal. Considering that one million
people are said to have been murdered in 1971 at the end of the war for
independence, can you understand peoples' demand to have those responsible for
war crimes hanged?
Abbas Faiz: I would like to make things clear: We consider the people who are
in protesting in Shahbag Square, they have the right to freedom of assembly and
freedom of speech and we will always, as with any other gathering, defend their
right to do that. However, we do not support the message that they are giving.
And that is the message of death penalty. We are completely opposed to the
death penalty and we cannot accept that.
Parliament recently passed an amendment to the law governing the proceedings of
the war crimes tribunal. It allows appeals against any sentence, including
inadequate sentence or acquittal. What does Amnesty International (AI) think
about this initiative?
On the face of it, there is no problem with that. But we need to look at the
context in which this is being done. If they are going to use this opportunity
to call for a death sentence, AI has always been against the death penalty. We
are not against the trial of people who have been accused of serious human
rights violations in 1971. But we are against the death penalty and we believe
that the government must not call for it and we hope that they will appreciate
that there is a problem with the death penalty because it is irreversible. In
many cases, new evidence comes to light after several years, and if someone has
already been executed, they do not get the chance to receive justice. At the
same time, AI considers the death penalty a violation of the most basic human
right of every human being in the world.
Human rights organizations have criticized the procedures of the war crimes
tribunal. What are the main aspects they criticize?
There are 2 aspects to the trials. One is the legislations under which this
trial is taking place, and the other one is the conduct of the trial. With
regard to the legislation, we have a legal analysis and we believe that some
aspects do not conform to the internationally accepted fair trial standard. For
example, there is a constitutional ban on the right of the defense to challenge
the jurisdiction of the trial. They should be able to do that, but because of
this constitutional ban, they are unable to. With regard to practice, we are
still studying the details and the evidence put forward both by the defense and
by the prosecution to find out whether or not the conduct of the trial has been
fair or unfair.
What happens if people inside Bangladesh criticize the tribunal or its
procedures? Can they express their views freely?
Exactly that is the one of the issues that we are planning to raise with the
government of Bangladesh. When we talk about freedom of speech, opinion or
expression, it should cover every single person. It mustn't just be for people
who are supporters for a particular party or supporters of the government. We
believe that everyone has the right to express their rights freely and openly.
However within this [movemebt] we have come to notice that the people who are
gathering in the Shahbag Square calling for retrial and those calling for death
penalty, all seem to be under attack. Some members of those groups have been
attacked. One person has already been killed - hacked to death. There are
rumors or other attacks. At the same time, journalists who have criticized the
conduct of the trial and the legitimacy of it also seem to be under attack. So
really it is for the government of Bangladesh to ensure that no one is
subjected to any harassment or to any attack for expressing their opinions. And
that is what we have been telling the government of Bangladesh.
Thousands of people have demanded the death penalty for perpetrators of war
crimes The movement of the protesters is anti-fundamentalist and stands for the
reconciliation with the past and for democracy which is a remarkable civil
society initiative. How can this mass movement reach its aims without having to
demand the death penalty?
I think it is very possible for the mass movement to bring Bangladesh to a
better future. The people are expressing their views, their feelings. They are
really trying to talk about their past. And let's not forget that the people
who have been responsible for those mass killings in 1971 have been enjoying
impunity. I am not saying that any particular person who is now on trial is one
of those people, but that chapter in the history of Bangladesh has got to come
to a close, and this movement has the capacity to close it. But we believe that
the initial stages of this movement, their go for the death penalty, is not
going to lead to the future that this movement itself is looking to bring to
the country.
I think the movement should call for justice - justice for the more than one
million who were murdered during the 1971 war of independence in Bangladesh;
justice for tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of women who were
subjected to gender-based violence during this period; justice for millions of
people who actually had to escape the country in search of safety over the
borders of India. All of these victims and the survivors, they deserve justice,
and it is the responsibility of the government to bring them to justice. But
that justice has to respect certain principles. The trials should be fair. And
as an independent human rights organization, AI will also defend the rights of
the accused. We are not just defending the rights of the survivors and the
victims, but also the human rights of the accused.
How does AI recommend the government ensure a fair and transparent tribunal
that will bring justice while at the same time respecting human rights?
We have been asking the government of Bangladesh that these trials should take
place in a certain way: first of all there should be no torture. Fortunately,
there haven't been any serious allegations of torture up to now. That area has
been taken care of. The 2nd issue is that the trials should be fair, based on
internationally established standards. And thirdly, we have been calling upon
the government of Bangladesh to ensure that the death penalty is not used. But
unfortunately, new changes to the law mean that the prosecution can call for
the death penalty more easily.
(source: Amnesty International)
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