March 14
TRINIDAD:
Study: Most of T & T go for the death penalty
The findings of a 2011 study by Roger Hood, professor emeritus of criminology
at Oxford University, and Dr Florence Seemungal, visiting scholar, shows that
89 per cent of the population of T&T support the death penalty. But they do not
agree all murderers should be executed regardless of the circumstances and
nature of the murder. They feel a discretionary system should be used by the
judge in sentencing.
The report was submitted to the Death Penalty Project of the University of the
West Indies’ Law Faculty and given to the media at a debate on death penalty at
UWI yesterday. According to the study, only 11 per cent of the people
interviewed favoured the immediate abolition of the death penalty. However,
only 26 % who wanted the death penalty were in favour of the current law, which
makes the death penalty mandatory for all murders, whatever the circumstances.
Overall, a large majority favoured a discretionary death penalty, that is, one
imposed by a judge after considering the individual circumstances of the
offence and the offender, the report said. The interviewees recognised not all
who commit murder deserve to die or either wanted to reserve it for the most
gruesome murders, the report added.
Former Attorney General advocates death penalty
It said what was surprising was 36 percent of those who supported the mandatory
death penalty and 54 percent of those in favour of a discretionary system felt
more executions of murderers were the least likely policy to reduce violent
crimes that led to death. The researchers concluded that the findings of the
survey, taken in conjunction with two previous studies, strongly supported the
abolition of the mandatory death penalty and its replacement by a discretionary
system.
Professor Arif Bulkan of the Law Faculty, a member of the Rights Advocacy
Project, was a presenter at yesterday’s debate. He said three-quarters of those
interviewed did not support the mandatory death penalty after it was explained
to them. Recalling the findings of the 2006 and 2009 studies, he said there was
an analysis of murders over a five-year period from 2002.
The studies revealed if you killed someone in T&T, the likelihood of being
executed was under five per cent, Bulkan said. He said gang-related killings
and murders committed in the course of another crime rose substantially from 40
per cent to 63.7 per cent.
(source: Trinidad Guardian)
INDIA:
Rape convict gets death penalty within record time in Bhopal
A court awarded death sentence to an elderly person in a minor rape and murder
case within 9 days, in Bhopal on Thursday. Police completed the investigation
within 25 days and trial was over within 9 working days, leading to conviction
in the heinous case. The judge found Nand Kishore, 52, guilty of raping and
brutally murdering a girl in the city as well as for trying to destroy
evidence.
(source: ANI)
MALAWI:
Malawi politicians in ‘coup plot’ charged with treason
12 Malawian politicians who were arrested for plotting to oust President Joyce
Banda were formally charged with treason Wednesday, which could carry the death
penalty.
The men appeared at Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court amid tight security following
rioting over their arrest.
Their lawyer Kalekeni Kaphale said the case would be transferred to the High
Court on Thursday for bail hearing, as the “Magistrate’s Court has no
jurisdiction over treason cases”.
The plot is alleged to have taken place amid the chaos following president
Bingu wa Mutharika’s death on April 5 last year, before Banda, then his deputy,
was installed as president after backroom dealings.
Among the arrested is Mutharika’s brother Peter, a former foreign minister whom
the deceased president had groomed to succeed him.
Goodall Gondwe, current minister of economic planning, is the only member of
Banda’s cabinet arrested.
Gondwe, Peter Mutharika and Bright Msaka, the chief secretary to the
government, face additional charges of inciting mutiny, conspiracy to commit a
felony and giving false evidence to a commission of inquiry into the death of
the late president.
Last week an inquest ruled that Mutharika died of a heart attack on the way to
hospital after collapsing at State House.
(source: CapitalFM News)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Arabia: Seven men executed in act of sheer brutality
At a glance:
•Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of execution in the world.
•At least 24 individuals have been executed in 2013.
•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 crimes, including drug offences,
apostasy, sorcery and witchcraft.
The execution of seven men in Saudi Arabia after allegedly being forced to
“confess” to charges of armed robbery is nothing but an act of sheer brutality,
Amnesty International said today.
The men were shot by a firing squad this morning in the city of Abha, in the
south of the country.
“We are outraged by the execution of seven men in Saudi Arabia this morning. We
oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, but this case has been
particularly shocking,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa
Director at Amnesty International.
The seven men were arrested in 2005 and 2006 on charges of armed robbery.
All of them reported that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated while
held in custody and forced to “confess” to the alleged crime. They also claimed
their relatives were threatened with torture if they withdrew their
“confessions”.
“It is a bloody day when a government executes seven people on the grounds of
‘confessions’ obtained under torture, submitted at a trial where they had no
legal representation or recourse to appeal,” said Luther.
Two of the men are believed to have been juveniles at the time of the alleged
crime: Ali bin Muhammad bin Hazam al-Shihri and Sa’id bin Nasser bin Muhammad
al-Shahrani.
In a trial only lasting several hours, all men were denied legal representation
and refused the opportunity to appeal. Saudi Arabian authorities postponed the
executions after an international outcry.
“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)
ALGERIA:
Ex-Algeria police chief sentenced to death: reports Facebook
An Algeria court sentenced a former police commissioner to death on Wednesday
for murdering a woman colleague and concealing the evidence of his crime, media
reports said.
Abdelkrim Boutrik, formerly police chief in Adrar more than 1,500 kilometres
(930 miles) from Algiers, cut the throat of 32-year-old police officer Cherifa
Hadj Brahim in a remote desert area in July 2010 and hid the evidence.
The APS news agency said that after first denying any involvement in the
killing, Boutrik was confronted by witness testimony and scientific evidence
including on "his relations" with the victim.
El-Watan daily said in its online edition that Boutrik was also implicated in a
vast network of alcohol trafficking, and that the murdered policewoman had
"irrefutable evidence" of his involvement.
The death sentence was welcomed by relatives of the victim who attended the
hearing in a court in Bechar in southwest Algeria.
"This killer deserves to be put to death at once. He killed an adorable girl
who was loved by everyone in Adrar," said one woman outside the courthouse.
Although the death penalty is still o the statute books, Algeria has not
carried out a execution since 1993.
(source: Global Post)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Death penalty commuted to 5-year prison term
A youth who beat up a man in his 50s till he succumbed to his injuries, and was
handed down a death penalty on the charge of premeditated murder, has had his
sentence commuted to five years in jail.
The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal quashed the verdict issued by the emirate’s
criminal court sentencing the youth to death, and decided in its ruling to
re-describe the charge as ‘beating that led to death’, and reduced the capital
punishment to a five-year imprisonment. It also made it mandatory on him to pay
the blood money (diya) to the heirs of the deceased. His brother, who was with
him when the incident occurred, was acquitted of the crime by the lower court
and the Court of Appeals upheld the decision.
According to court records, the police were informed that a brawl had taken
place among three persons after their two cars crashed on the main street.
The prime suspect and his brother were present at the site of the accident. The
former was suffering from severe pain, which prompted the police to summon an
ambulance. Before the arrival of the ambulance, the victim showed up walking
with blood traces in his face. He told the patrol-manned personnel that the
prime suspect and his brother had crashed into his motor vehicle for not giving
way to them to move ahead while on the road saying they then beat him up with
sticks
The ambulance rushed both the suspect and the victim to a hospital, where the
suspect was attended to first as he was groaning in pain. It appeared that he
became paralysed on the right side of his body. The victim however remained for
90 minutes in the emergency room where he collapsed, fell on the floor and died
instantly.
A forensic medicine report stated that the victim was suffering from internal
injuries in the brain, liver and ribs, which led to his death. Accordingly, the
Public Prosecution referred the two brothers to the criminal Court accusing
them of premeditated murder. The court handed down the prime suspect the death
penalty, and ordered his brother to walk free.
The prime suspect contested the verdict arguing that he had not intended to
kill the victim, but only quarreled with him: “When the victim beat me up
severely, I responded by beating him with a stick,” he said. In his plea, the
suspect said the blow the victim inflicted on him was severe and resulted in
him becoming paralysed on one side. He added that the ambulance was sent to
take him to the hospital and not the victim, as his condition was worse.
The court of appeal considered the defence of the suspect and regarded the case
as ‘beating that led to death’, and reduced the death penalty to five years
imprisonment
(source: Khaleej Times)
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