Feb. 23
SOUTH AFRICA:
Youth 'want death penalty reinstated'
The majority of young South Africans want the death penalty to be reinstated,
consumer insights company Pondering Panda said on Friday.
"It was found that more than 3 in 4 young South Africans think the death
penalty should be reinstated as the highest form of punishment for criminals,"
spokesperson Shirley Wakefield said.
Altogether 6 900 young people between 18 and 34 years took part in the survey
across the country.
Wakefield said 76% thought capital punishment should be reinstated.
"80 % of all respondents also believed that having the death penalty would
deter criminals and reduce crime," she said.
"The survey also found that a similar proportion of respondents felt crime in
South Africa was becoming progressively worse."
Sense of desperation
It was conducted between 13 and 19 February and interviews were carried out
through cellphones.
Wakefield said the figures showed a sense of desperation that something needed
to be done about crime.
"The government needs to make tackling crime in SA central to its agenda if it
does not want young people to be further disillusioned about its ability to
protect them and keep them safe," she said.
The death penalty was abolished in 1995.
(source: news24.com)
GLOBAL:
Efforts to end death penalty
In December last year, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly
for a global moratorium on the death penalty. This 4th such vote in 5 years was
supported by a record 111 nations.
Yet in the first month of 2013, Saudi Arabia beheaded nine people. In recent
weeks, Yemen has sentenced a juvenile offender to death, fuelling hunger
strikes by scores of imprisoned children. Iran has reportedly begun imposing
death sentences for petty criminals accused of robbery. India recently executed
2 persons accused of participating in terrorist activities in quick succession
after a long hiatus.
Elsewhere, a court in Indonesia, where there have been no state executions
since 2008, sentenced a British grandmother to death for drug trafficking -
reportedly to gasps of disbelief in the courtroom. Zimbabwe has hired a hangman
after 7 years of searching, while Sri Lanka, which has not carried out an
execution since 1976, has reportedly recruited 2 executioners who are
undergoing special training.
In the United States, the trend is towards fewer executions and death
sentences, with more states repealing the death penalty. Nevertheless, in 2012
there were 43 executions and 77 death sentences.
Capital punishment
Such developments make for grim reading. However, we at the International
Commission against the Death Penalty - an independent body opposed to capital
punishment in all cases - remain hopeful. It is clear that the world is
becoming an increasingly lonely place for states that practice executions.
The United Nations call for a moratorium on executions is underpinned by a
global trend toward abolition that has dramatically gathered pace in recent
years. 105 countries have repealed capital punishment in their laws and others
no longer carry out executions.
According to the United Nations, over 150 countries have abolished the death
penalty in law or practice. All across humanity's diverse and sprawling
community - encompassing all major cultures, religions and regions - there is
growing understanding that this abhorrent practice has no place in modern
justice systems.
Quite simply, the death penalty does much harm and no good. It is inherently
cruel, risks execution of the innocent, and is ineffective at deterring violent
crime. States that have abolished capital punishment often have lower murder
rates than those that have yet to do so.
Much remains to be done, not least because a handful of states remain willing
to risk international outrage, controversy and isolation by persisting with
this cruel, inhuman and degrading practice. Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen - all
in the global spotlight in recent weeks - are accompanied by China, Iraq, North
Korea and the United States as the world's most prolific executioners year on
year.
As the United Nation's Human Rights Council meets in Geneva on Monday, we are
bringing together high-level government representatives to assess why and how
the death penalty should be abolished. Our guests will include foreign
ministers and senior officials from Argentina, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and
other nations. We will also hear from Kyung-wha Kang, the UN deputy high
commissioner for human rights, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.
Ultimately, experience from all over the world demonstrates that the death
penalty is not just cruel, irrevocable and a violation of the right to life. It
is a toxic and destructive punishment that damages society by endorsing
violence and by causing injustice and suffering.
As more countries conclude that the only place for capital punishment is in the
history books, the shrinking group of executing states looks set to become ever
more isolated. The challenge for their leaders is to show political courage and
foresight, and to bring their laws into the modern age by immediately
suspending use of the death penalty, as a first step toward full abolition.
(source: Deccan Herald)
*********************************
EU condemns use of death penalty
On 22 February, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton has once again asked
for a universal abolition of death penalty.
Ashton comments come a day after the execution of 3 Japanese prisoners, accused
for extremely violent crimes. Sadakazu Tanigaki, the Japanese justice minister
who ordered the executions told reporters, "these were extremely cruel cases in
which the victims had their precious lives taken away for very selfish
reasons."
However Ashton commented today, "I deplore that 3 prisoners, Masahiro Kanagawa,
Keiki Kano and Kaoru Kobayashi, were executed on 21 February in Japan. While
recognising the serious nature of the crimes involved and expressing sincere
sympathy to the bereaved family and friends of the victims, the European Union
does not believe that their loss will be mitigated by these executions."
Kanagawa, 29, was executed in Tokyo for murdering 2 people and wounding several
others in March 2008. Kobayashi, 44, was hanged in the western city of Osaka
for the kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old girl in November 2004. Last,
Kato, 62, was executed in the central city of Nagoya for the murder of a bar
owner who tried to prevent him from leaving her establishment without paying.
According to Amnesty International, over 2/3 of the countries in the world have
abolished the death penalty (data updated in May 2012). In 2010, the
overwhelming majority of all known executions took place in 5 countries: China,
Iran, North Korea, Yemen and the United States.
EU being in line with Amnesty International is opposed to the use of capital
punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and has consistently called
for its universal abolition.
Ashton stressed that the Union, "believes that the death penalty is cruel and
inhumane and that its abolition is essential to protect human dignity."
(source: New Europe)
CHINA:
Wu Ying appeals to Supreme Court to overturn death sentence for fraud; In a
case that has gained wide attention, family writes to Supreme Court, claiming
innocence
Wu Ying, the self-made billionaire convicted of defrauding investors in a 770
million yuan (HK$956 million) scheme, has appealed to the Supreme People's
Court to overturn her death sentence.
The appeal is the latest effort by Wu, 31, and her family in their fight for
justice.
"We are ordinary citizens but we want to fight for justice and fairness for
ourselves," said Wu's father, Wu Yongzheng. "We hope the government could make
amends for the mistake."
We are ordinary citizens but we want to fight for justice and fairness for
ourselves. We hope the government could make amends for the mistakeHe told the
South China Morning Post that his daughter had submitted a letter to the
Supreme Court and was awaiting a reply.
"I am not sure whether we will get a reply, but we had to try," he said.
The appeal was the latest twist to a high-profile case involving Wu Ying, once
one of the mainland's richest people.
She catapulted into the national limelight in 2009 after she was sentenced to
death by an intermediate court in Zhejiang province for illegally raising
massive funds through fraud.
Wu Ying received unprecedented support from people across the nation calling
for mercy early last year when the High Court in Zhejiang upheld the death
sentence.
Dozens of private entrepreneurs told the Post Wu Ying did not deserve to die.
Wu and her family insisted no fraud was involved in the fundraising activities
because "depositors" rushed to hand their money to her, hoping for lofty
returns.
The public uproar over the death sentence prompted Premier Wen Jiabao to step
in. Wen told the media in March last year that the Supreme Court would
carefully review the case before giving a final verdict.
Following a retrial, Wu was given a lighter punishment in May - the death
sentence was suspended for 2 years.
Under mainland laws, a suspended death penalty is usually commuted to life
imprisonment after good behaviour for 2 years.
But Wu Yongzheng maintained her daughter was innocent.
In November, the Jinhua Intermediate People's Court ruled in favour of Wu Ying
in a case that helped protect 14 properties worth about 100 million yuan.
The verdict was believed to help Wu Ying repay the money owed to depositors in
the fundraising scheme.
"We don't mean to fight against the Communist Party and the government," said
Wu Yongzheng.
"I believe in the truth, and the country, based on the rule of law, should
respect our request and give us a reply."
In Zhejiang, one of the most affluent provinces where private businesses have
flourished in the past three decades, thousands of cash-rich investors
participated in illegal "underground banking" businesses to chase higher
returns than if the money was placed with commercial banks because of low
interest rates.
(source: South China Morning Post)
LIBYA:
Death for Preaching Christ in 'Liberated' Libya
4 foreign Christians--including one who holds American-Swedish
citizenship--were arrested days ago in Libya. According to the Guardian, their
crime is arousing "suspicion of being missionaries and distributing Christian
literature, a charge that could carry the death penalty."
Apparently the 4 Christians had "contracted a local printer to produce
pamphlets explaining Christianity." Proselytizing to Muslims--that is,
preaching to them another religion--was banned even under the late Col. Muammar
Gaddafi.
Libyans--strongly supported by U.S. President Obama in the name of
"freedom"--got rid of Gaddafi but kept the distinctly anti-freedom law.
Discussing this case, Libyan security official Hussein Bin Hmeid, trying to
justify the Islamic ban on free speech, observes: "Proselytizing is forbidden
in Libya. We are a 100% Muslim country and this kind of action affects our
national security." Indeed, Muslim governments--most notably Iran's--constantly
suppress any talk of Christianity, claiming it threatens "our national
security." Such is the tribal mentality of Islam which everywhere declares: If
you're not one of us, you must be an enemy trying to subvert our way of life.
Is the flipside of this prevalent mentality also true--that if Muslims are not
one of us, they must be trying to subvert our way of life?
Nor should the arrested Christians expect much sympathy from more "moderate"
Libyans. According to Benghazi lawyer and "human rights activist" Bilal
Bettamer, Christians should not offend Muslims by trying to share their faith:
"It is disrespectful. If we had Christianity we could have dialogue, but you
can't just spread Christianity. The maximum penalty is the death penalty. It's
a dangerous thing to do."
Indeed, like "blasphemy"--whether in the guise of Muhammad cartoons or
movies--proselytizing to Muslims is one of the many forms of free speech to be
specifically banned by Islamic Sharia. According to Muslim tradition, this ban
goes back to the second "righteous" caliph, the 7th century Omar. After
conquering a group of Christians, he stipulated any number of humiliating
conditions for them to live by, including:
Not to produce a cross or [Christian] book in the markets of the Muslims...
Not to display any signs of polytheism, nor make our religion appealing, nor
call or proselytize anyone to it.
As Muslims continue turning to Islam--all to Western praise and
encouragement--expect the things of Islam to continue returning in big ways.
The Guardian report adds: "Libya, a conservative Muslim country, has no known
Christian minority, and churches, the preserve of foreign residents, have seen
few of the attacks seen in Egypt and Tunisia, where there have been church
burnings."
The Guardian reporter may have wanted to point out that, less than 2 months
ago, on Sunday, December 30, an explosion rocked a Coptic Christian church near
the western city of Misrata, in the very place where U.S. backed rebels hold a
major checkpoint. The explosion killed two people and wounded 2 others.
And even though it is true that there are few church attacks in Libya, that is
simply because there are few churches to attack in the 1st place--not because
of some Libyan "tolerance" to churches. After all, one never hears of church
attacks in Saudi Arabia. Yet that is not because Saudis are "tolerant," but
rather because they have nipped the church problem in the bud by not allowing a
single church to exist on Saudi soil. Hence, no churches for Muslim mobs to
attack, bomb or burn. Conversely, where there is a large Christian population,
such as in Nigeria, which is roughly half Christian, Muslims are bombing
churches on practically a weekly basis.
Finally, there is the rewriting of history that is foisted by Muslims
everywhere, not to mention ignorant Westerners, as exemplified in this report.
All of those quoted--including the writer--seem to think that Libya was born a
Muslim country. Hence, in the words of Libyan "human rights" activist Bilal
Bettamer, "you can't just spread Christianity."
What, then, do we do with real history? The fact is, although Libya is today
practically entirely Muslim, it certainly wasn't always so. In fact, before the
7th century Islamic invasions, Libya was predominantly Christian. The fact that
Libya's immediate neighbors to the west and east, Algeria and Egypt, were
backbones of early Christianity--giving the world giants of theology like St.
Augustine and St. Athanasius, to name but a few--certainly suggests that Libya
was mostly a Christian nation, excluding some Berber tribes.
Yet Islam came and killed and converted them all to itself. And now, to keep
them in line, it will kill any who try to proclaim a different message,
especially the message of their conquered forefathers.
(source: Assyrian International News Agency)
INDIA:
Man gets death sentence for rape and murder of minor girl
A local court today awarded death penalty to a 24-year-old man after finding
him guilty of rape and murder of a minor girl.
District and Sessions Court Judge Rudramani pronounced the death sentence on
Nanjappa (24) as prosecution proved the charge that he raped and murdered the
4-year-old girl in 2011.
After committing the heinous crime, the convict had made enquiries with the
girl's grandmother on her whereabouts to mislead police.
However, Nanjappa had confessed to the crime during interrogation, police said.
(source: Business-Standard)
*********************
Afzal Guru's secret execution raises concerns in India
For 11 years the family of a convicted terrorist waited and wondered about his
fate as he sat on death row. 2 weeks ago they found out - from television.
Mohammad Afzal Guru had been hanged in secrecy in a faraway jail in New Delhi.
A government letter informing them of the imminent hanging arrived at their
home in Indian-administered Kashmir two days after he was dead.
"No words can describe the pain. It was like a bolt from the sky. Our whole
family is still locked in that moment. We're still struggling to reconcile with
that moment," said Yasin Guru, the dead man's cousin.
India has hanged 2 men in the past 3 months, its 1st executions in 8 years. In
a departure from past practice, both were done in secrecy.
Rights activists worry the government has set a precedent that could impact the
nearly 500 people on death row in India, including four men whose mercy pleas -
their last hope of life - were rejected by India's president last week.
"The new practice of executing in secret without prior notification to
relatives is deeply worrying," said G. Ananthapadmanabhan, who heads the India
chapter of Amnesty International.
3 months earlier, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of a 2008
terror attack in Mumbai, was hanged in equal secrecy. His execution was
announced several hours later.
Many believe that the government wanted to avoid violent protests in Kashmir -
where a separatist campaign has just begun to wane - that would have erupted
had Guru's hanging been announced beforehand.
But that's no consolation to his family or relevant to human rights activists
and lawyers who see the 2 secret hangings as an assault on the values of
democratic India.
Guru was convicted in the 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14
people when 5 heavily armed gunmen entered the high-security parliament complex
and opened fire. 8 police personnel were killed before the 5 attackers were
shot and killed. A gardener also died.
Guru's wife, 13-year-old son and other family members were stunned when they
heard on television news that he had been executed, said Yasin Guru, the
cousin. Convicts facing imminent execution are normally allowed a last meeting
with their families.
"The world's biggest democracy did not even have the courtesy to inform us," he
said, adding the family was now demanding that the government hand over his
body, which has been buried in Tihar jail in New Delhi, where he was executed
February 9.
The government says it sent a letter, dated February 6, informing Guru's family
of the execution. But it was mailed February 8, 1 day before his execution and
reached his family in Sopore in Kashmir on February 11, 2 days after Guru was
hanged.
"The most distressing failure of official compassion and public decency was in
denying Afzal Guru's wife and teenage son the chance to meet him for the last
time before his execution," activist Harsh Mander wrote in the Hindustan Times
newspaper.
T.R. Andhyarujina, a former solicitor general of India, called Guru's execution
"an inhumane act" that serves as "the most callous death sentence carried out
by the government of India."
Kasab, the convict in the Mumbai terror attack, was a Pakistani. India said it
informed Pakistan about the imminent execution and asked Islamabad to inform
his family. Kasab's family did not claim his body.
There was little outcry over his execution, partly because of the deep
revulsion that his actions evoked in India. The 2 1/2 day attack by Kasab and
his comrades in November 2008 left 166 people dead and is seared in the memory
of most Indians. Because Kasab was a foreigner with no local ties, family or
support, his execution did not cause the same kind of blowback that Guru's did.
Most of that anger was evident in Kashmir which erupted into violence after the
news of Guru's hanging came out. Many Kashmiris also believe that he did not
receive a fair trial.
Even Kashmir's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, an ally of the Indian government,
said it was unacceptable that the family was not told of the execution and
allowed to say goodbye. "If we are going to inform someone by post that his
family member is going to be hanged, there is something seriously wrong with
the system," he said.
The secrecy goes against the humanitarian values the Indian state professes to
uphold, said Rebecca John, a Supreme Court lawyer. "The fact that the family
was not informed, it reflects not only a weak state, but a brutal state; a
state that does not believe in basic human rights," she said.
The use of the death penalty, on the books since 1860, has been unheard of
recently. In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that it should be given only in the
"rarest of rare" cases. The executions of Kasab and Guru were the 1st time in 8
years India had put anyone to death.
According to the government, 476 people were on death row in 2012. With most
appealing for clemency through India's slow-moving judicial system, few will
likely end up facing execution.
Rights activists point to the irrevocable nature of the death penalty and the
rise in cases where DNA evidence has overturned convictions. They fear
executions shrouded in secrecy deprive defendants of any last-minute legal
recourse.
Attention is now focused on the 4 men on death row in the southern Indian state
of Tamil Nadu whose mercy pleas were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee
last week, 9 years after they filed them.
They were convicted in 1993 of involvement in a land mine blast that killed 22
people, including several police, who were on their way to arrest a notorious
smuggler.
On Wednesday, they earned a short reprieve when the Supreme Court gave them 6
weeks to pursue a last bid for clemency.
Another case is that of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 killing of
a former chief minister of India's Punjab state. Last year, the present chief
minister, Prakash Singh Badal, took the lead in getting Rajoana's execution
postponed while he filed another appeal in the Supreme Court.
Political experts say that Guru was hanged within days of Mukherjee turning
down his clemency plea, which is unusual in India. They feel it was done with
an eye on upcoming general elections expected next year.
The quick and quiet executions will allow the government to claim it is being
tough on terror, without angering any major constituency, and perhaps winning
accolades from the majority Hindus.
"This secret hanging is a clear message to Kashmiris that Indian laws are only
meant to protect the state and its officials," said Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri
human rights activist.
(source: Dawn)
****************************
"One day I may wake up to be told of my hanging"
In the dim-lit visitors' room of Vellore Central Prison are seated 2 men
sentenced to death -- 1 an atheist, the other a spiritual seeker; 1 fearless
and confident of getting reprieve, the other longing to see his daughter and
live with his wife.
"I am Perarivalan," says the smiling 41-year-old man in a white shirt, his hair
neatly combed back. "There are several men like me in prisons across the
world," he says, holding your hand while talking about his 22-year
incarceration. "We are victims of a system that hands out disproportionate
punishment because we are linked to high-profile cases."
A couple of yards away, Murugan, 43, reaches across the big table to ruffle his
mother's hair. The old woman weeps profusely, without making a whimper. "If I
escape the noose," says Murugan, who has grown a beard and speaks of repentance
and comeuppance in the 'other world,' "I would buy a piece of land at the
foothills of a mountain where I would plant 100 flowering plants and medicinal
herbs."
The Vellore Central Jail was witness to some poignant moments on Thursday when
TOI visited the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts. After Afzal Guru's
hanging and the recent rejection of Veerappan aides' mercy petition, the
convicts have been eagerly waiting for the Supreme Court's decision on their
appeal.
"I know that one day I may wake up to be told about my hanging," says Murugan,
the MCA graduate who does the daily puja at an Amman temple in the prison.
Perarivalan, a follower of Periyar, says he keeps himself busy reading, writing
and coordinating operations of a jail school.
Shanthan, the other convict in the case is associated with the Sai Baba temple
on the premises. "The jail has space for all gods. Here, unlike outside, there
is no discrimination on religious or financial grounds," says Perarivalan. He
advocates amendments to the Prison Act, 1894 to make jails a place to transform
the inmates. Also an MCA graduate, he prepares for an MPhil in computer
networking.
Perarivalan, who is charged for his role in procuring materials for the
explosive device and visiting Sri Lanka during the conspiracy, was 20 years old
when the assassination happened. "As a teenager I had a lot of friends. My
dream was to play the Ilayaraja hit 'Ilaya nil' on the guitar," he says. "But I
never had the courage to tell a girl that I liked her."
Maintaining he is innocent, he adds, "When my sister was studying in a
polytechnic in Vellore, I used to pass by this prison. Never did I think one
day I would be inside here." He misses homemade 'chukka roti' and 'sambar' made
by his mother Arputhambal, who is now a campaigner against death penalty.
Murugan is worried about his wife Nalini's health. Her death sentence has been
commuted to life imprisonment. "We meet for 30 minutes, once a fortnight. She
suffers from serious digestion problems and is likely to undergo a surgery. She
cries a lot," says Murugan, who is charged with conspiracy.
Staring death in the face for more than 2 decades appears to have brought on
them a sense of balance between reconciliation and hope. "After death we all go
into a subtle universe where we can wash off the last drop of sin," says
Murugan. The atheist Perarivalan is more poetic about the end when he quotes
from Thirukkural: "Urangvathu polum saakkadu, urangi vizhipathu polum pirappu
(Death is but a sleep, and birth an awakening.)
(source: The Times of India)
************************
Mercy petitions, terror outfits and Church
The Supreme Court headed by Altmas Kabir has extended the stay of execution of
the 4 convicted murderers of the Veerappan gang by 6 months. The gang of 4 -
Simon, Bilvendran, Gnanaprakash and Meesekara Madaiah - have brutally killed 22
policemen including 1 police superintendent Harikrishna in 1992. One of those
killed was Shakeel, then 32 years old. Shakeel's father Abdul Kareem retired as
a DSP - was 75 at that time and took the issue to Supreme Court and got them
punished.
It is extraordinary that mainstream media is highlighting the agitations to
show mercy to these killers by Muthulakshmi, the wife of brigand Veerappan. As
usual the human rights cottage industry - is in full swing asking for mercy to
the murderers. PUCL / South India Cell for Human Rights Education and
Monitoring (SICHREM) etc. have formed a national confederation of human rights
organisations to voice support to murderers and terrorists.
But the intriguing part is the visit of three priests - Joseph Alexander from
Savaddatti in Belgaum district, Ponnusamy and Martin from Bellary and Antony
Swamy from Hitkal Dam in Belgaum district - to the murderers. They claimed that
they are relatives of the four convicts. While Joseph Alexander claimed that he
was maternal relative of Bilvendran and Simon, Anthony Swami stated that he was
a distant relative of Madaiah, and Martin is said to be a paternal relative of
Gnanaprakash. Ponnusamy was not allowed to meet the convicts as he could not
produce documents as address proof. All the priests said "they were happy and
sad to meet their relatives on death row". Not only that, a prayer meeting was
organised to coincide with the SC Judgment the next day and the decision was
stated in the beginning.
There are many questions related to this. The priests seem to have gone there
not as priests to get/offer last minute confessions / prayers but as relatives.
If the priests are really the relatives of the murderers then did they try to
preach/advice the murderers about their sins and the need to reform. Or did
they not know about their activities at all? There were also reports that
Veerappan was given Rs 30 crore as ransom to release movie star Rajkumar during
the regime of SM Krishna. This allegation was made by a very senior police
official Dinakar in his memoirs. Where are those amounts? Is it used to fund
church-related activities to secure the release of his aides? It is interesting
to note that Veerappan started as apprentice under one Xavier Gounder who was
actively involved in church/conversion activities. Is there a desperate attempt
to find the location of the hidden treasures of Veerappan and these visits are
only for that purpose?
There are many unanswered questions in the Veerappan saga including the role of
one Gopal who runs a Tamil rag called Nakkeran and who was earlier kidnapped by
Veerappan. The other mysteries are the missing Rs 30 crore and the role of
church in the brigand's operation.
Article 142 of the Indian Constitution gives the Supreme Court absolute power.
To do complete justice the court can examine a mercy petition. The scope for
reviewing a decision by the President is extremely limited since the mercy
petition to the President itself is based on a Supreme Court judgment (of
capital punishment). So it is not the merit of the matter but the delay factor
which the court will look into - but then, 6 weeks for that is an interesting
question.
This brings us to another case - that of the killers of Rajiv Gandhi, our
former Prime Minister.
A report in Times of India from February 20, 2013 says, "3 Rajiv Gandhi
assassins have opposed the execution of the death sentence awarded to them by
pointing to the 12-year lag between the Supreme Court's confirmation of the
High Court's order to send them to the gallows and the rejection of the mercy
petition by President. Behind this argument, it turns out, is a well-organised
campaign by LTTE cadres, sympathisers and human rights groups opposed to death
penalty that could well have been the reason for the delay in the first place."
Further the report suggests: "The announcement of death penalty led to the
European Union issuing a demarche to the Indian Government. Tamil and human
rights groups lobbied France, South Africa, Germany, Denmark, UK MPs, and the
Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore as well as Indian Ministers for not carrying out
the death sentence. Rashtrapati Bhavan was bombarded with clemency pleas."
We find that a significant number of the human rights groups are church-related
organisations and so the game plan is simple. Delay the executions by bringing
in pressure from the global human rights cottage industry and then use that as
a reason to question the hanging.
It is still not clear why the Archbishop of Madras, a man of god, should get
entangled in the affairs of the killers of Rajiv Gandhi unless he has
sympathies for the LTTE.
Normally reticent and mild-mannered Manmohan Singh, in an interview to Science
magazine mentioned that American NGOs are funding the protests against
Kudankulam nuclear plant. He also blamed protests against genetically-modified
crops on groups which were funded from the US and Scandinavian countries. He
said that "they are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that
our country faces."
This is a major revelation coming from the Prime Minister and unfortunately our
media which is agenda-driven has not fully comprehended the dimensions of the
issues raised by our PM. Let us understand the nature of the threat posed by
these NGOs to our republic and the need to stem the rot here and now.
May be the time has come to ask for an Indian Church delinked from Vatican and
other international centres for evangelical churches. Globally, the Church is
facing crises due to sex and money-laundering accusations and even the Pope has
retired. This may be the right time for the Church in India to snap ties and go
solo looking at only Indian interests. Also the time has come to completely
scrap the FCRA Act and ban all foreign donations which facilitate the human
rights cottage industry. Men of god should not be involved with terrorists.
Amen.
(source: Niti Central)
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