March 5
CHINA:
Death row gatekeepers
Chinese history was made in Kunming, Yunnan Province on Friday, when Naw Kham,
the notorious Myanmar drug lord from the Golden Triangle, was executed along
with 3 of his accomplices. A flurry of media reports have followed the case
given its significance as the first time China has hunted down criminals
overseas in such a fashion.
Fewer, however, have noted that this was among the first high-profile
executions to have gone through the newly-established death penalty review
department under the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP). An official from
this department told the Global Times on Monday that they had indeed had a role
in the review.
The drug lord and the 3 other convicts were executed by lethal injection after
their executions were approved on February 22 by the Supreme People's Court
(SPC), the central judicial body that has a final say on all death sentences in
the country.
"This case, which has attracted worldwide attention from the very beginning,
has been meticulously handled since the criminals were found to have planned
and colluded with Thai soldiers in man slaughtering 13 Chinese sailors on the
Mekong River in October 2011," the official said.
Experts remain divided, however, as to whether or not the supervision by the
new department will result in genuine oversight or merely an added rubber-stamp
process.
The last line of defense
The SPP's right to supervise the SPC's review of the death penalty was written
into the new edition of the Criminal Procedure Law that took effect this year.
The new department was set up late last year.
The SPP can offer advice to the supreme court during reviews of death penalty
sentences. Meanwhile, the court is required to report the results of review to
the procuratorate. This is the 1st time the SPP has been involved in such cases
since the SPC in 2007 took on the responsibility for reviewing death sentences
after 27 years.
"Our responsibilities have been further extended to analyzing the results of
reviews from the SPC, offering guidance to the provincial prosecutor's office
on reviewing the death sentences handed out during the second trial and
stipulating requirements for the process," the official said.
"In contrast to the situation when there was barely any supervision from the
SPP when the SPC reviewed cases, this is a great step forward," Chen Weidong,
director of the Center for Procedural System and Judicial Reform at the Renmin
University of China, told the Global Times.
The law generally lays down the procedures for death sentence reviews, but when
it comes to actually implementing them, it is the SPC that decides how they
should be followed, said Liu Renwen, director of the criminal law research
center under the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(CASS).
There has been no official figure on how many prisoners were executed during
the past few years; however, authorities say that the number has been dropping
drastically.
The country removed 13 offences from the list of 68 that were punishable by
death in 2011, including tax fraud, the smuggling of cultural relics or
precious metals and grave robbery.
Final piece of the system?
Positive implications of the new mechanism include improvements to the
death-penalty system and curbs on judicial corruption, according to some
experts.
"The country has been sticking to the rule of handing down death sentences in a
small number and in a cautious way, the SPC's review process offers an
implementation framework and the SPP's supervisory role further provides
another safety net," Wang Minyuan, a researcher with the Institute of Law
affiliated with the CASS, told the Global Times.
"It is crucial we polish up the review process so as to make it complement the
country's objective of slashing the number of executions and avoiding to the
maximum extent cases of wrongful sentencing," Wang said.
The SPC said earlier that over 90 % of those sentenced to death received
face-to-face arraignment procedures during the review process; however, this
was sometimes done using telecommunications technology in a bid to ensure the
impartiality and standardization of sentencing.
"It is not enough to only count on the court to completely improve the review
procedures of death sentences in China," said Liu, adding that defense lawyers
and prosecutors would also need to contribute.
"The new department's supervision has solid and reliable mechanisms as its
basis, as it is placed on the same level as those key SPP departments," Chen
said, adding that this helps the judicial organ view suspects as innocent until
proven guilty.
Doubts over effectiveness
Wang pointed out that the law still requires judicial clarification. "As
stipulated in the law, the SPC is required to report the results of reviews to
the SPP, but does this 'report' apply to all the cases under review or only to
those where the SPP has offered advice?"
An official surnamed Cao from the Sichuan Provincial People's Procuratorate
said that after the prosecutor's office hands over the case file to the court
for trial, there is no way the case would be returned. "Only reporting whether
it's approved or rejected is little more than a rubber stamp," he said.
"How can we offer advice if they give us nothing related to the case but the
result of the review?" Cao argued, wondering whether the change would merely be
an empty procedure or an in-depth review that requires staff to talk to the
defendants.
He told the Global Times that based on the current Criminal Procedure Law, it
would be "pretty hard for the SPP to adjust to their new position."
"For the supreme procuratorate, the establishment of this office marks the
finishing of an intact judicial procedure, but in terms of supervision over the
review, they might be afflicted by inefficiency and delays," Cao added, but
made sure to point out that new interpretations will "put it on track."
In terms of getting the public involved, however, the new department does not
come with regulations aimed at transparency.
Wu Hongyao, a criminal law professor from the China University of Political
Science and Law, told the Legal Daily that the SPC should review death penalty
cases in open court, and offer a platform for the defendant's lawyer and
prosecutors to air their suggestions, thus promoting transparency. "By opening
these reviews to the public, the justifications for the process will be
strengthened, as well as the public's acceptance of it," he said.
(source: The Global Times)
TRINIDAD:
Senior Counsel on hanging issue: Laws needed to get around Privy Council ruling
Senior Counsel Israel Khan has urged Government to expedite legislation to
circumvent the Privy Council's Pratt and Morgan judgment which makes hanging
difficult to implement. "In the absence of such legislation, it would be
difficult to resume hangings," Khan said in an interview yesterday. He said in
the Pratt and Morgan matter, the Privy Council said if a person was convicted
of murder they must be executed within five years of their conviction.
As the law currently stood, he added, that judgment could frustrate the process
toward hangings. Khan said: "Government should therefore categorise murder into
1st degree - for heinous, deliberate vicious slayings - 2nd and 3rd degree and
retain the death penalty for 1st-degree murder. This could expedite the system.
Not every murder case deserves the execution penalty.
"The Opposition also needs to look at this seriously in T&T's interest since
they may be government some day and may need the help of the Opposition of that
time." PNM MP Colm Imbert said Government's recent statements about the death
penalty meant the administration was "desperate."
He added: "This issue was dormant for more than a year. In the bill on this
they had proposed to have stages for murder penalties and involving the death
penalty. "We told them it would make it easier for the Privy Council to strike
down the death penalty rather than harder and we told them to go back and fix
it."
Last Sunday Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said the Government had written to
the Opposition on its recommendations. Asked about that, Imbert said yesterday
the Opposition had told the Government what to do in the debate on that bill.
Another Senior Counsel, Douglas Mendes, said nothing currently prevented
hangings, though the law as it stood was in violation of T&T???s international
obligations.
He said the Pratt and Morgan judgment was in force when the Dole Chadee gang
was hanged in 1999. Mendes said, however, evidence was yet to be presented that
the death penalty was indeed a crime deterrent. While Guyana and Jamaica have
moved to get rid of the mandatory death penalty, he said, declaring it
unconstitutional, and towards having judges determined the final penalty in
sentences, T&T still has the death penalty, contrary to its international
obligations.
Former AG speaks
Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, during whose administration
the Chadee gang was hanged, added: "Government's anti-crime measures are a
panic reaction and public relations gimmick to hide its inability to deal with
crime. "The facts will show there have not been recent convictions for murders
in which you can consider the question of hanging. Most of the convictions for
murder are cases where the Pratt and Morgan judgment deadline have already
passed.
"To have hangings you must detect the problems and prosecute people for murder.
The scandal is Government has not done anything to increase detection rates.
"So Government is not really trying to introduce hangings. If they were, soon
after entering office they would have had machinery implemented to expedite the
process of appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the UN
Human Rights Commission, of the few convictions of murders they have.
"We did this with the Chadee cases and we beat the deadline in that situation."
Maharaj added: "Crime has gotten worse than ever. Criminal elements sense
Government's apparent weakness and the crime problem is a manifestation of
their confidence that they can commit crime and would not be caught, prosecuted
or punished.
(source: Trinidad Guardian)
INDIA:
India Re-Assures Portugal on Abu Salem Case
India today assured Portugal that it would remain compliant with the
expectations of Portuguese system and judiciary on the issue of gangster Abu
Salem.
The assurance comes amidst Portugal raising objection to the charges invoked by
the police against Salem, who was extradited in 2005 for his alleged role in
the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, that entail death penalty.
"I think the judiciary in Portugal has raised some issue. The judiciary here in
our country, will take care of them," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid
said in a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo de
Sacadura Cabral Portas.
"We already have petitions in the Supreme Court. We would like, obviously, to
remain compliant with the entire Portugese system including judiciary. I have
reassured the Minister," he added after his meeting with Portas during which
they discussed numerous issues inlcuding anti-terror and economic cooperation.
While getting Salem extradited, India had given an executive assurance to
Portugal that it would not slap any charge which would have death penalty and
would not keep him behind bars for more than 25 years, key requirements in
extradition proceedings in Europe.
Later, Delhi and Mumbai Police slapped charges which entail death penalty
against Salem, an accused in several criminal cases, leaving the government and
the CBI red-faced.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), after seeking legal opinion, had
recently filed an application before the Supreme Court for withdrawal of
additional charges slapped under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime
against Salem.
The Portugal Supreme Court had last year upheld a lower court order cancelling
the extradition of Salem for violation of deportation rules by Indian
authorities on the grounds that new charges were slapped against him which
attracted death penalty.
The Portuguese Foreign Minister said the answers given by India on its
questions about Salem are "reasonable".
Khurshid also conveyed India's "deep appreciation for the positive support"
extended by Portugal on the extradition of Salem.
The Minister said both India and Portugal are resolutely opposed to terrorism.
"We share common views on this global menace. We reiterated our commitment to
continue our cooperation in the fight against terrorism," Khurshid said.
Meanwhile, economic cooperation was the key area of focus during the talks
between the 2 Ministers.
"We expressed satisfaction on the fact that bilateral trade in 2012 has been
restored to pre-global economic crisis levels of 2008-09.
"We also acknowledged that our bilateral trade has considerable potential for
growth and that the partnership is currently below potential," Khurshid said.
Portas said India has made "impressive" transformation and its economy was one
of the "well prepared" ones in the 21st century.
The Minister said he wanted to "boost" and "energise" trade relations with
India.
"We can do much much better and we will do.... I am waiting to have Portugual's
very very good wine and olive oil" in India, he said.
Asked by a Portuguese reporter if India would follow the way China has started
investing in Portugal, Khurshid said India was "conscious" of Chinese strength
as well as its own.
"And there would be for the world, a menu to choose from. A menu which is
strong and will have the Indian style of cooperation...."
Terming terrorism as "international cancer", Portas said fighting the menace is
very relevant and common purpose of the international community.
"It (terrorism) is a threat to peace and security. Obviously, accomplishment of
constitutional duties and rules of judicial system are relevant and we had a
good discussion," he said.
(source: Outlook India)
VIETNAM:
Chinese man sentenced to death for trafficking 11kg of narcotics
To get $40,000 for a delivery fee, a Chinese man transported nearly 11kg of
drug from Cambodia to Vietnam and then to China.
On February 28, the Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People's Court of Appeal rejected
an appeal for penalty mitigation, sentencing defendant Zhang Zhi Hua, 52,
Chinese national, to death penalty on charges of "illegal transportation of
narcotics."
According to the indictment, at 7.30pm on February 1, 2012, at the Moc Bai
joint control station in Tay Ninh province, the police checked the taxi number
plates 51LD -9184.
Through inspection, the police detected passengers Zhang Zhi Hua carrying 2
bags containing 20 yellow nylon bags. Inside these bags were 120,000 tablets in
pink and yellow colors, which were suspected as synthetic drugs.
According to the assessment results, these tablets are narcotics, with a total
weight of 10.9 kg.
Zhang Zhi Hua confessed that in November 2011, a Chinese man named Vy, who
lived in Cambodia, rented Hua to traffic drugs from Cambodia to China, but Hua
refused because the delivery fee was too low.
After that, another Chinese man named Trinh, who is Vy's friend and lived in
Guangdong, China, called Hua, asking him to carry 120,000 tablets of drug from
Cambodia to Vietnam and then to China with the delivery cost of $40,000. Hua
agreed.
According to plan, Hua would receive the drugs from a Thai couple in Cambodia
then going through the Moc Bai border gate, getting a taxi to Saigon and then
to Hanoi and going through Quang Ninh to China.
However, the defendant was arrested at the Vietnam-Cambodia border.
(source: Vietnamnet)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Halt Planned Executions; Group of 7 Includes Child Offenders
King Abdullah and Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al
Saud should immediately intervene to halt the executions of 7 young men
scheduled for March 5, 2013. The 7 include at least 2 child offenders,
sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under 18.
All 7 men were between 16 and 20 when authorities arrested them in 2006 for
allegedly committing a robbery in 2005. Saudi Arabia is 1 of only 3 countries
worldwide known to have executed people in the past 2 years for crimes
committed when they were children. There is strong evidence suggesting that the
trials of all 7 men violated basic principles of the right to a fair trial.
"It will be outrageous if the Saudi authorities go ahead with these
executions," said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights
Watch. "It is high time for the Saudis to stop executing child offenders and
start observing their obligations under international human rights law."
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which Saudi Arabia ratified in
1996, prohibits the death penalty or life sentences without parole for offenses
committed under age 18.
The 7 young men have been under sentence of death since August 2009, when the
General Court in Abha, in the south-western part of the country, convicted them
of a robbery committed in 2005. The Sabq news agency reported that the 7 men
allege that they were denied legal assistance or the opportunity to defend
themselves during their trial.
Human rights activists monitoring the case told Human Rights Watch that the
seven also allege that security force interrogators at the Criminal
Investigation Department in Abha beat them, denied them food, water, and sleep,
and forced them to stand for extended periods during their detention to force
them to sign confessions.
A statement reportedly released by the seven men and distributed online by
rights activists also says that their interrogators threatened the 7 men with
violence against them and their family members if they denied the accuracy of
the signed statements in court. According to the statement, the interrogators
were also present during the trial to intimidate them into supporting the
confessions. The trial court is not known to have investigated these
allegations. 1 of the 7 men, Sarhan al-Mashayekh, faces execution by
crucifixion as ringleader of the group, while the 6 others are to face a firing
squad. Their names are Saeed al-Omari, Ali al-Shebri, Nasser al-Qahtani, Saeed
al-Shahrawi, Abdulaziz al-Amri, and Ali al-Qahtani.
Saudi Arabia has no criminal code. Consequently, judges have wide discretion to
impose sentences based on their personal interpretation of Sharia law and
without taking into account previous rulings by other judges, so that people
convicted of similar crimes may receive significantly different sentences. This
wide discretion also allows Saudi judges to treat children as adults in
criminal cases, and courts have imposed death sentences on children as young as
13.
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an
inherently irreversible, inhumane punishment.
"By continuing its liberal use of the death penalty, Saudi Arabia is making
headlines for all the wrong reasons," Goldstein said. "The planned execution of
seven men, including juveniles, based on flimsy evidence and without due
representation encapsulates all that is wrong with the Saudi justice system."
(source: Human Rights Watch)
**********************
5 reasons why Saudi Arabia must urgently abolish the death penalty
Plans to execute, next week, 7 men convicted after being allegedly tortured
into "confessing" to an armed robbery and then crucify the body of 1 of them
confirm Saudi Arabia???s fundamentally flawed approach to law and order,
Amnesty International said today.
The men, including 2 who may have been juveniles at the time of the alleged
crime, were convicted in 2009 after a short trial that used "confessions"
allegedly extracted under torture as evidence against them. The men were not
allowed legal representation and were denied the right to appeal the sentence.
"Saudi Arabia's legal system is fundamentally flawed. The fact that someone can
be executed after, it seems, being tortured to 'confess' to a crime and as a
result of a trial where no defence was allowed is, simply, illegal," said
Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Director for the Middle East and North
Africa.
"The execution of these men must be immediately stopped. They should be granted
a new trial and the torture allegations must be investigated."
Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of execution in the world.
At least 17 individuals have been executed in 2013 - 8 for drug-related
offences and 8 foreign nationals, including Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan
domestic worker, who was only 17 at the time of her alleged crime.
At least 82 people were executed in 2011, as were a similar number in 2012 -
more than triple the figure of at least 27 in 2010.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of crimes, including
drug offences, apostasy, sorcery and witchcraft.
Those who are executed are usually beheaded, often in public. The dead body is
in some cases "crucified", whereby the upper body, along with the separated
head if beheaded, are tied to a pole in a public square to act as a deterrent.
1. The death penalty risks killing innocent people
Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards for
fair trial, which means that innocent people can be sentenced to death.
Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by lawyers, and in many
cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They
may be convicted solely on the basis of "confessions" obtained under duress or
deception.
2. The death penalty is not an effective deterrent
Nowhere has it been shown that the death penalty is a better deterrent to crime
than imprisonment. In fact, in countries where the death penalty has been
abolished, crime rates have often fallen. The average murder rate in the USA
for states that use the death penalty is higher than for those that do not. In
2006, 30 years after Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes,
the murder rate had fallen by over 1/3.
3. It does not contribute to a safer and more secure society
There is no scientific proof to show it offers a solution to the problem of
crime. Instead, crime may be reduced through having better trained and equipped
police officers and an effective system for the administration of justice,
among other things.
4. It generates more anguish and perpetuates the cycle of violence
Victims of the original crime, and those executed for them, are not the only
ones who suffer. The families of death row inmates share the psychological
torment of knowing that an execution may happen at any time and are caused
great pain when the execution does eventually take place. Executions brutalize
those involved in the process. Combating crime should not create more misery
through more violence. Society should affirm life, not end it.
5. The death penalty is a violation of human rights, whether or not the public
supports it
History is littered with human rights violations that were supported by the
majority but in modern times are looked upon with horror. Slavery, racial
segregation and lynching all had widespread support in the societies where they
occurred but constituted gross violations of the victims' human rights.
The death penalty is a violation of a fundamental human right - the right to
life - and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, whatever
form it takes.
(source: Amnesty International)
**************************
Saudi Arabia delays execution of 7 men
Saudi Arabia has postponed the execution of 7 men convicted of armed robbery
committed when most of them were juveniles while the royal court looks into a
request for a retrial, relatives and family friends said on Tuesday.
The 7 were sentenced to death in 2009 for robbing a jewelry store in the
southern province of Asir in 2006, but Amnesty International quoted the men as
saying they were tortured into confessions.
"They have since said they were severely beaten, denied food and water,
deprived of sleep, forced to remain standing for 24 hours and then forced to
sign 'confessions'," the London-based rights group said in a statement.
A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry was not immediately able to
comment on the case. The Riyadh government has repeatedly denied that the
kingdom practices torture.
Family friends and a relative also said that the men were juveniles at the time
of the robbery and had been coerced into confessing to other unsolved crimes
they had nothing to do with.
"The investigation was marred by many violations that distorted the trial,"
Mohammad al-Rabhan, a family friend of some of those sentenced to death told
Reuters by telephone.
"We are not saying that they are not guilty. We are saying that the punishment
for the crimes does not deserve the death penalty," he added.
Dheeb al-Qahtani, a brother of one of those sentenced to death, confirmed that
Asir Governor Prince Faisal bin Khaled had ordered the stay of execution.
"We hope that the Abu Miteb (King Abdullah) would order their release," he said
by telephone from Rawdat Khureem, where he said some 200 relatives and tribal
leaders were gathered to press the king for the retrial.
Amnesty has said that King Abdullah had ratified their death sentences in
February. Rabhan said family and friends of the victims hope the royal court
would order a new investigation into the case soon.
The kingdom, which follows a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has been
criticized in the West for its high number of executions, inconsistencies in
the application of the law, and its use of public beheading to carry out death
sentences.
The last time the kingdom executed so many people at once was in October 2011,
when eight Bangladeshi men were put to death for an armed robbery in which a
guard was killed.
DISMAY
The 7 are from Asir, one of the least developed parts of the kingdom that is
the world's top oil exporter.
Relatives and friends said that a total of 30 people were tried for a series of
crimes, including a string of robberies or jewelry stores in the area. 7 were
sentenced to death, while the rest were given prison sentences or acquitted.
Saudi Arabia has executed 17 people so far this year, said Amnesty, compared to
82 in 2011 and a similar number last year.
Capital crimes resulting in the death sentence last year included murder, armed
robbery, drug smuggling, sorcery and witchcraft.
In January, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed dismay at
the beheading in Saudi Arabia of a Sri Lankan maid convicted of murdering a
baby.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a 2006 report
that it was "deeply alarmed" at the imposition of capital punishment by Saudi
judges for crimes committed before the age of 18.
In an interview carried by the Saudi Gazette last week, King Abdullah's son
Prince Miteb said the monarch "does not like to see anybody in this situation
(of being condemned to death)".
However, Miteb added that Abdullah views sharia as being "above everybody" and
holds judges in high esteem.
In recent years the king, who turns 90 this year, has pushed for reform of
Saudi Arabia's judiciary to make sentencing more standardized and improve
training for judges, changes that have been fiercely contested by some
conservative clerics.
He has also encouraged the families of murder victims to accept blood money
instead of insisting on execution.
(source: Reuters)
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