April 4
SOMALIA:
Somaliland Court Commutes Death Penalty Sentences
The High Court of Somaliland's Armed Forces has commuted the sentences of 22
civilians convicted in May of attacking a military camp, 17 of whom had been
sentenced to death, Somalia's Qaran News reported Tuesday (April 2nd).
The 17 civilians who faced death by firing squad will serve 20-year jail terms,
and 5 minors originally sentenced to life in prison will be jailed for a
minimum of 15 years.
The prisoners were convicted of attacking a military base in Hargeisa's Sodanta
area last year in a dispute over the use of land between the community and the
military. The shootout left 3 soldiers and 4 attackers dead.
(source: All Africa News)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Muslims will not stand Sheikh Nimr execution: Senior cleric
A senior Iranian cleric has condemned a Saudi Arabian prosecutor's demand of
the death penalty for prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, jailed over his
support for political prisoners in the kingdom.
"They (Saudi authorities) have arrested a number of senior Shia [figures] and
even a prosecutor has demanded execution for one of them who is a renowned
scholar called Sheikh al-Nimr," Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said on
Wednesday.
"Muslims will not keep silent on the demand for the execution of Sheikh Nimr,"
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi added, highlighting the support of Saudi Shia clergy
for the people's battle against widespread oppression and discrimination in the
kingdom.
The Saudi cleric was attacked, injured and arrested by Saudi security forces en
route to his house in the Qatif region of Eastern province on July 8, 2012,
after he had called for the release of jailed protesters and all the prisoners
of conscience.
Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi censured Riyadh's recent move to detain a
number of people on charges of links to Iran, describing it as a ploy to ease
the mounting pressure on the despotic rule of Al Saud regime and to stop the
sweeping wave of Islamic awakening in the region.
"The Saudi regime...has started such a show and said it has found a new spy
cell to divert the public opinion and blame all problems on Shias and trigger a
communal conflict," he stated.
The senior Shia cleric also denounced the Saudi authorities' misbehavior toward
Iranian pilgrims, saying the holy sites in the Arab country belong to all
Muslims, and are not "private property" in possession of the ruling Al Saud
family.
He proposed that the affairs of the holiest Muslim sites in Saudi Arabia should
be monitored by a committee mandated by the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation.
(source: Press TV)
KUWAIT:
Kuwait to hang 5 more inmates at Central Prison; 49 inmates on death row, 44
still awaiting Court of Cassation decision
Kuwait's Central Prison is getting ready to execute five more people within
days, a report in Kuwait City said.
"Instructions have been given to the Central Prison to prepare for the hanging
of 5 inmates sentenced to death," sources told local Arabic daily Al Jareeda.
The sources that the newspaper did not specify the nationalities of the
detainees to be executed.
Kuwait on Monday carried out 3 executions following a hiatus since May 2007.
A Saudi, a Pakistani and a Kuwait resident without a nationality (bidoon) were
hanged inside the Central Prison for murder, in the presence of officials.
Journalists were also allowed to witness the executions.
The sources said 49 inmates were on the death row, but added that 44 were still
awaiting the decision of the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the
country that could oversee their cases, Al Jareeda reported on Thursday.
Execution rulings have to be endorsed by the Emir before they are carried out.
Kuwaitis have seemingly brushed aside a statement by Amnesty International
slamming their country for the executions and claiming that they marked "a real
setback in a region where many countries show a shocking disregard for the
right to life."
(source: Gulf News)
*************************
EU Calls For Moratorium On Death Penalty In Kuwait
European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton has called upon Kuwait to
return to its previous policy by declaring a moratorium on death penalty as a
1st step towards joining the wide community of states that have abolished it.
Ashton made the call in the wake of Kuwait executing 3 men on Monday, after a
gap of 6 years during which no execution had taken place in that Gulf State.
The 3 men -- a Pakistani, 1 Saudi national and 1 Bidun ('without' in Arabic),
one of the stateless minority in Kuwait -- were executed on being convicted of
murder. A news report had suggested that the executions would be shown live on
TV but Amnesty said that does not appear to have happened.
More than 44 people are currently reported to be on death row in Kuwait. 4
countries- Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen -account for 99 % of all
executions in the region.
More than 2/3 of the countries in the world have abolished death penalty in law
or practice.
"I recognize the serious nature of the crime involved and express my sincere
sympathy to the families of the victims. However, the EU is opposed to capital
punishment in all cases and without exception, and has consistently called for
its universal abolition," Ashton said in the statement.
(source: RTT News)
INDIA:
India's anti-rape law goes into force
A new anti-rape bill that delivers life in prison and the death penalty for
those convicted of rape has gone into affect on Tuesday and has women hopeful
that it will give the police more teeth in tracking and arresting perpetrators
of violent crimes against women.
"I am very pleased that we have this new law, but the question will be how is
it to be implemented," Delhi-based social worker and women's rights advocate
Sunitra told Bikyanews.com. "If the police use it to do more investigations
into reported crimes then it is good for the country, but we all fear it is
more lip service."
President Pranab Mukherjee approved Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill-2013 on
Tuesday, brought against the backdrop of the countrywide outrage over the Delhi
gang-rape case and others in recent months, and it will now be called the
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, an official release said on Wednesday.
The law, passed by Lok Sabha on March 19 and by Rajya Sabha on March 21, has
replaced an ordinance promulgated on February 3.
It amends various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal
Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offenses Act.
With an aim of providing a strong deterrent against crimes like rapes, the new
law states that an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a
term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life,
meaning imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life and with a
fine.
It has provisions for handing out death sentence to offenders who may have been
convicted earlier for such crimes.
The law, for the 1st time, defines stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable
offenses if repeated for a 2nd time. Perpetrators of acid attack will attract a
10-year jail.
It also defines acid attack as a crime besides granting a victim the right to
self-defense. It also has provisions for imposing a minimum 10-year jail term
for perpetrators of such acts.
The law has fixed age for consensual sex at 18 years. Pranab Mukherjee has
given his assent to the Anti-rape Bill, providing enhanced punishment for rape,
making stalking and voyeurism criminal offenses.
"The President of India has accorded his assent to the Bill on April 2
(Tuesday) and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013,"
said a statement by the union home ministry on Wednesday.
The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha March 19, and by the Rajya Sabha March 21.
The Bill incorporates suggestions of the Justice JS Verma Committee, formed
after the brutal Delhi gang-rape of Dec 16 last year, to make anti-rape laws
stronger.
It provides for rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years, extendable to
life imprisonment, to those convicted for the offense of gang-rape, and also
defines and prescribes punishment for stalking, voyeurism and sexual
harassment.
(source: Bikya News)
*****************************
President rejects 5 mercy petitions, commutes death sentence to life term for 2
Using the power under Article 72 of the Constitution to remit or commute
sentences in certain cases, President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday upheld the
execution in 5 cases out of 7 people who have been convicted for heinous crimes
and commuted death sentence to life term for 2 others. It was not however clear
about the details of individual cases, said sources.
Now with this revelation, there is no other mercy petition pending before the
President. Sources said the home ministry has recommended for rejection of
mercy appeals in 5 cases and left 2 cases open for commutation of death
sentence to life imprisonment with a stipulation that the life term indicates
being in jail for rest of the life and not just 20 years or 14 years in prison.
Neither the officials from the home ministry nor the President House were ready
to reply about the details of individual cases. All through the year only some
of the cases of the death penalty reached the President's desk.
During former President Prathiba Patil's tenure between 2007 and 2012, she
commuted 35 death penalty convicts to life imprisonment. Patil however rejected
mercy appeal in 3 cases including 5 convicts.
Cases reported to have been disposed included the longest pending case of a
convict from Uttar Pradesh, Gurmeet Singh who was convicted for assassinating
13 members of a family on August 17, 1986. Another one was Dharampal from
Haryana who was convicted after he was found guilty for killing 5 family
members of the victim whom he raped in 1993.
Another one convict was the daughter of a former Haryana MLA Sonia and her
husband Sanjeev, who killed 8 people from their family in Hisar in 2001. While
Jafar Ali was convicted for killing his wife and 5 daughters in 2002, Sunder
Singh was convicted for rape and murder in June 1989.
(source: TruthDive)
************************
Dharampal to be hanged in Ambala jail: DGP
Dharampal, a rape convict who murdered 5 members of the victim's family while
out on parole in 1993, will he hanged in Ambala prison, Haryana jail
authorities said today after the President rejected his mercy petition.
"We have the requisite arrangements needed to carry out the execution," Haryana
DGP (Prisons) Sharad Kumar told PTI over phone following rejection of mercy
petition of Dharampal which had been pending for 14 years.
The DGP said the hanging will be carried out in Ambala jail, where the last
execution had taken place in 1989, but no date has been fixed. "This is for the
government to decide," he said.
Dharampal was charged with raping a girl in Sonepat in 1991 and was given a
10-year jail sentence in 1993. Shortly after being granted parole in 1993, he
bludgeoned to death the girl's parents, a sister and 2 brothers while they were
sleeping at their home.
While Haryana has 19 jails, only the ones in Ambala and Hisar have the
requisite facilities for hanging.
Dharampal and his brother Nirmal were awarded death penalty for the murders in
1997. The sentence was upheld by the High Court a year later.
However, in 1999, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Nirmal to
life imprisonment.
(source: Press Trust of India)
BANGLADESH:
Mollah Verdict; SC hears govt appeal for 2nd day
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah was passively involved in the
killing of Pallab, a student of Mirpur Bangla College, during the Liberation
War in 1971, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman told the Supreme Court
yesterday.
Quoting from a war crimes trial verdict, he said some notorious people
including Akter Gunda, Hakka Gunda, Hasib Hasmi and Abbas Chairman dragged
Pallab from Nawabpur to Mirpur Shah Ali Mazar on April 5, 1971 on Quader
Mollah's orders.
The gang took Pallab to an eidgah ground and hanged him in a tree and killed
him as per Mollah's instructions, added MK Rahman.
The additional attorney general was placing arguments before the apex court on
the second day of the hearing on the government's appeal filed on March 3. The
appeal was filed seeking death penalty for Mollah for committing crimes against
humanity during the Liberation War.
The International Crime Tribunal-2 on February 5 handed down lifetime
imprisonment to Mollah for his wartime offences.
After concluding yesterday's proceedings, the Appellate Division fixed today
for further hearing on the appeal.
At one stage of the proceedings, Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain asked the
state counsels to speed up the hearing as there is time limit for the court to
dispose of the appeal within 60 days from the date of its filing.
On March 4, Mollah filed the appeal with the SC seeking acquittal on the
charges of the case.
The convicted Jamaat leader yesterday filed 2 separate petitions with the
Supreme Court, urging that its 2 judges abstain voluntarily from the
proceedings for separate reasons.
The judges are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and Justice AHM Shamsuddin
Choudhury.
He said Justice Sinha had indirectly interfered in a tribunal by reportedly
assuring its former head Justice Md Nizamul Huq of elevating him to the
Appellate Division.
Mollah added Nizamul Huq reportedly told Ahmed Ziauddin, an expatriate
Bangladeshi legal expert, during "Skype conversations" that Justice Sinha
assured him [Nizamul] of elevation after delivery of his verdicts against 3 war
crimes accused.
"This amounts to an unlawful interference in the proceedings pending before the
tribunal. In doing so, he has disqualified himself from sitting as a judge in
any appeal from any judgment of the tribunal," Mollah said in the petition.
The Jamaat leader in another petition said Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury had
attended some meetings in London in 2010 and 2011 to support his (Mollah's)
trial as a war criminal, and therefore, the judge might be biased in dealing
with the case.
The Appellate Division bench of 6 judges including Justice Sinha and Justice
Shamsuddin is now dealing with the appeals in the war crimes case against
Mollah.
(source: The Daily Star)
NIGERIA:
Akunyili supports death penalty as punishment for corruption
Former Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili has
expressed support for capital punishment for corrupt practices in order to
transform the country.
Akunyili said this while speaking as a guest lecturer at the 7th lecture of the
College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Bells University of Technology, Otta,
Ogun State, where she presented a paper titled 'National Transformation: The
Challenge of our Time'.
She said that the desired change in the country was being prevented by social
vices such as corruption, insecurity, poor leadership among others.
She said, "In China, it is death penalty for corruption. I believe if we are
really serious about fighting corruption, there is the need to insert harsher
clauses to make corruption less attractive, just like they do in China.
"Once, 1, 2, 3, 4 corrupt people are executed for corruption, some others who
have such tendency will definitely fall in line."
Akunyili said that government refusing to punish corruption was as good as it
promoting corruption.
"We just have to find a way to decisively fight corruption before it completely
ruins this beautiful country," she added.
Akunyili, who made her name as former Director-General of the National Agency
for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) also suggested that the
Nigerian government emulate the British and American governments by introducing
a social security scheme for unemployed youths.
She noted that these governments paid a stipend to their unemployed so that
their middle class and rich would be secured.
She added, "It is common sense that the rich will remain unsafe in the midst of
a hungry and angry majority. Government in the Western world understands that
the negative energy vibrating from such people is enough to create discomfort."
She suggested that the government could start with a scheme for the physically
challenged and aged, such as the social security scheme for the aged introduced
by the Ekiti State Government, which she commended.
"To me, being a good leader means being a principled leader, and being
principled simply means being a man or woman of your words, being guarded by
the right moral compass, doing the right thing anytime, anywhere and even in
the face of threats of any type. It is simply leadership by example," she
stated.
She added that when a leader compromised his position by sharing filthy lucre
with his or her subordinates, he or she has lost the right leadership authority
and incapable of instilling any discipline in the work force.
She said, "When I was in NAFDAC, if I had allowed officers in the ports or the
registration desks and other sensitive areas to make returns to me, we would
not have been able to record any success in sanitising the food and drug
sector."
Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Isaac Adeyemi, said the institution
invited Akunyili because of her pedigree and contributions to the nation's
development.
(source: The Daily Post)
******************
Lawyers reject death penalty for oil thieves
Death sentence as a penalty for illegal oil bunkering will be too harsh and
unrealistic, say lawyers.
Some lawyers, who spoke with The Guardian Wednesday on the recent suggestion by
the Senate President, David Mark, that oil thieves and pipeline vandals be
liable to death penalty, said such vices are the least of Nigeria's challenges.
Mark, while inaugurating the Senate Joint Committee on the Petroleum Industry
Bill (PIB) on March 27, suggested that the death penalty would serve as
deterrent to other oil thieves.
A Lagos-based lawyer and social critic, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said death
penalty in any part of the world can never be a deterrence to criminal
activities.
He noted that in Nigeria, offences like murder, armed robbery, coup, or mutiny
carry death penalty, but till date, armed robbery is on the increase.
"Abating oil theft is not a matter for sentences and convictions. Those
involved in illegal oil bunkering are mostly beyond the law in Nigeria because
they are highly placed", Adegboruwa said.
According to him, empty legislations will not curb incidence of illegal oil
bunkering, unless there is the will power by the government to clamp down on
the powerful oil thieves.
He said the remedy to a crime of such nature would be to strengthen existing
institutions, such as the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
(NIMASA) and the Nigerian Navy, to monitor and regulate bunkering.
"It is common knowledge that most of these big oil thieves utilise the proceeds
of their illegal acts to even fund campaigns and elections of some political
big-wigs. So, the fight should begin from empowering the requisite
institutions, which will in turn put up resistance to the activities of these
dubious Nigerians. Their duties must, however, be carried out without
interference," he declared.
Also, a constitutional lawyer, Mr. Mike Agbamuche, expressed belief that
spelling out death penalty for oil theft is akin to making mountain out of a
molehill.
He said that at present, the country is faced with serious and bizzare
challenges that require urgent attention. He expressed regret that no realistic
move has been made to tackle such situations.
"Death penalty should not be freely dispensed in a country where error, leading
to miscarriage of justice, is so common placed. What moral justification can
there be for executing oil thieves, when none of the terrorists, corrupt bank
and public officials has even been incarcerated in custody for a reasonable
time?
"These are people who constitute more havoc to the country's economy, and yet
they walk on the streets free men. To my mind, the suggestion of a death
penalty for oil theft is most annoying and unreasonable", Agbamuche said.
He stressed that government should be focused on tackling intricate problems in
the country, one of which is the present state of insecurity bedeviling the
nation.
(source: The Nigerian Guardian)
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