March 24
INDIA:
Activists cite Sanjay Dutt case to save Rajiv Gandhi killers
Rights activists have renewed their campaign to save the three Rajiv Gandhi
case convicts, Perarivalan, Santhan and Murugan in the backdrop of the
nationwide appeal to remit actor Sanjay Dutt’s five-year jail term upheld by
the Supreme Court in the 1993 Mumbai blast case.
Defenders of Rajiv killers’ clemency argue that law should be fair to all and
not prejudiced based on class. “If they seek remission for an actor guilty of
possessing AK-57 and who had links with terrorists, why cannot they pardon
Perarivalan who is facing the gallows for buying a 9 volt battery in the Rajiv
case?” wondered HMK state organizing secretary T Kannan.
“If Sanjay, who had spent just 18 months in prison and was busy acting in films
had reformed over years, what about Perarivalan who had secured gold medal in
exams, and teaches fellow prisoners during the last 20 years in prison?” argued
Kannan criticizing the Tamil cine fraternity for not seeking Arivu’s clemency
while shouting from the rooftops for Dutt’s release.
“Dutt hails from the upper echelons of society. People have reservations in
even associating him with the crime. Even after he was proven guilty, they
claim that he would not have done it. The same elite people who make noise for
Dutt don’t speak for people like Perarivalan who belong to the lower strata
and who has reformed,” Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam general secretary K
Rajendran told DC.
“When they consider remission for Sanjay Dutt in a blast case involving over
250 deaths, why not apply the principle for Perarivalan, Santhan and Murugan
who are guilty of only murdering one person?” asked Kannan, appealing to move
the Governor and get the death penalty for Rajiv case convicts commuted to life
term.
(source: Deccan Chronicle)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan 'Blasphemy' Girl Facing Prison; Mother Death Sentence
Pakistani authorities have reopened a trial against a mentally challenged
Christian girl on charges of "blasphemy" while a Christian mother faces a
possible death sentence for allegedly making "derogatory remarks" about Islam's
prophet Mohammed, lawyers told BosNewsLife Saturday, March 23.
"A police investigator asked the Supreme Court in Islamabad to reopen the case"
against Rimsha Masih, 14, "saying he was pressured by the government to drop
charges against her after an international outcry," said the Legal Evangelical
Association Development (LEAD) group.
Rimsha was jailed August 17 in a prison near Islamabad after allegedly burning
pages with verses of the Koran, viewed as holy book by Muslims. Her detention
at Adiala Jail triggered international protests because of her age and a
medical report confirming that she was mentally handicapped.
Amid mounting pressure, Rimsha was flown to safety on September 8 and
eventually acquitted on the charges, though she remains in hiding. On the
outskirts of Islamabad families are afraid to return to their Christian
community in the city's Mehrabadi district because the girl lived there.
Besides Rimsha, who may face life imprisonment, a court is also considering a
death sentence against 47-year-old Martha Bibi after years of legal wrangling,
BosNewsLife learned.
COURT APPEARANCE
Bibi, who is married and has 7 children, will face a court in the city of
Lahore on March 27, said her lawyer Mushtaq Gill.
"She was detained in January 2007 in her village of Kot Nanak Sigh for
allegedly making "derogatory remarks" about Prophet Mohammed in an argument
with a Muslim woman," explained Gill, who is also director of the LEAD advocacy
group.
Bibi has always strongly denied the charges.
The blasphemy case was registered at a nearby police station where she "was
arrested and put behind the bars after being beaten and tortured by Muslims,"
the lawyer said.
Though he managed to get her released on bail of 100,000 Pakistani Rupee
($1,000) 3 months later, she remained concerned about her future, he said.
MEDICAL PROBLEMS
"The 6 years of waiting on a possible death sentence has made her sick," Gill
explained. "I just met her as we prepared for the trial at the Lahore High
Court and she was very tense," he added.
Gill said the latest legal challenges are part of efforts by authorities to
defend the controversial blasphemy laws in the country.
If she is sentenced to death, she will be the 2nd woman in Pakistan facing
execution for blasphemy, he said. Asia Bibi, who is not related, has been
awaiting her appeal against the death penalty for several years behind bars.
The latest blasphemy trials against Christians come shortly after as many as
180 Christian-owned homes, shops and two churches were burned down by an angry
Muslim mob in the city of Lahore this month.
Gill said his group is trying to free Christian Sawan Masih, 26, whose alleged
"derogatory remarks" about Islam's prophet triggered the M March 8-9 riots in
Lahore's Joseph Colony.
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
There has been growing international pressure on Pakistan to overturn the
blasphemy legislation amid concerns they are misused against minorities,
including Christians, or to settle personal disputes.
52 of the accused and their supporters have been murdered in the last two
decades, according to rights activists. Even in police custody blasphemy
suspects are not safe.
In December last year, an angry mob reportedly broke into a police station in
Sindh province and beat a blasphemy suspect to death. He had been accused of
burning pages of the Koran.
Earlier in Ahmedpur East in July 2012, a man accused of throwing pages of the
Koran on the street was dragged by crowds from a police cell and killed, after
being pulled through the streets behind a motorbike.
2 politicians, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, and
Christian federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti, were assassinated in 2011 for
criticizing the country's blasphemy law.
(source: BosNewsLife)
MALAYSIA:
Aussie facing death could walk free
An Australian man facing the death penalty in Malaysia for alleged drug
trafficking could walk free on Monday when a judge is expected to rule on
whether the case should proceed.
Dominic Bird was arrested in a police sting in Kuala Lumpur on March 1 last
year for allegedly attempting to supply 167 grams of methamphetamine to an
undercover police officer.
The 33-year-old, from Perth, faces a mandatory death penalty if convicted.
In a submission presented to the court last week, prosecutor Ahmad Akram said
the evidence against Bird was "overwhelming".
But Bird's lawyers are hopeful of an acquittal after allegations of corruption
and questions over the credibility of an undercover police officer involved in
his arrest were raised in court.
The prosecution's star witness, Inspector Luther Nurjib, has admitted in court
to taking money from another drug dealer, who is also an informant in the Bird
case.
Insp Nurjib has also admitted to supplying a sample of drugs to his informant
that was allegedly obtained from Bird.
Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Haji Kamardin will rule on Monday whether the
case should proceed to a full trial.
(source: ninemsn.com)
SINGAPORE:
Call for guidelines on capital offence cases
A former senior district judge has called for guidelines on how judges should
use their discretion to decide if a capital offender should hang or get a life
term.
At issue is whether such discretion will lead to inconsistency in sentencing,
said Dr S. Chandra Mohan, now a Singapore Manage-ment University law don.
He raised these points in an article titled The Death Penalty and the
Desirability of Judicial Discretion, in the current issue of the Law
Society???s Law Gazette.
His comments about granting judges complete discretion to impose death or life
sentences for certain murder offences come at a time when the new provisions
passed by Parliament last year could be tested in a murder case for the 1st
time.
The sentence of death row inmate Kamrul Hasan Abdul Kudus, convicted of killing
a 25-year-old maid, is set to be reviewed by the Court of Appeal in light of
the new provisions. A pre-trial conference is due next month.
It is understood that the apex court could use the case to indicate how the new
discretion is to be used by the courts in general.
Under the new laws, the mandatory death penalty is retained for intentional
murder. But for three other forms of murder, the judge can impose a life term
and caning.
"The real question that will plague our judges is how is consistency in
sentencing murder cases to be maintained? What type of murders ... qualify more
readily for the death penalty?" Dr Mohan wrote.
(source: The Star)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Man acquitted of murder, escapes death penalty
The Appellate Court on Sunday canceled the ruling of the Court of First
Instance to execute a 50-year-old Arab driver, on the charge of murdering a
woman 11 years ago and acquitted him for lack of evidence and inconsistencies
in the case.
The prosecution reportedly based its accusations on his confession and
fingerprints.
Concerning the inconsistencies, the suspect confessed that he killed the victim
at 8pm while the forensic report proved that she had been killed at 1.30pm.
The court cited that a woman witness said that she was with the victim on the
morning of the accident with an Asian national and left the place, leaving both
of them there at the time the forensic report proved the victim had been
killed.
The court refuted the arrest of the suspect because it was done in Sharjah
without a permit from the Public Prosecution, and he was not caught red-handed
and was far from the prosecution’s jurisdiction.
The prosecution previously cited that the suspect watched the victim’s house
for three days, sneaked into the house when he found that she was alone,
strangled her to death and attempted to rob her safe but could not and fled to
Ajman.
(source: Gulf Today)
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