Aug. 16
CHINA:
Tibetan gets death sentence for killing wife
A Tibetan man in China's Sichuan province was sentenced to death Thursday for
killing his wife and burning the body.
The Intermediate People's Court in the Tibetan-Qiang prefecture handed down the
death penalty to Drolma Gya, 32, for homicide, and further deprived him of
political rights for life.
On March 11, Drolma Gya choked his 29-year-old wife to death in Dagcagoin town
with a scarf in their apartment, following a fierce quarrel over his drinking
problem.
He took the body outside, doused it with petrol, and set it alight at night.
According to the defendant's confession, he burned the body because he believed
an apparent self-immolation would leave him and their daughter with dignity,
and the fire would help him cover up the crime.
Drolma has said he would challenge the verdict.
(source: Newstrack India)
TRINIDAD:
DOMA - Death penalty useless without detection...how can we make anyone fearful
of hanging when we are unable to solve less than 10% of murder cases. If there
are no arrests, how can we contemplate prosecution, conviction and then
hanging?
THE Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) today issued a statement
in response the explosion of violence in Port of Spain, and Prime Minister
Kamla Persad-Bissessar's comment on Thursday that Government would be
revisiting the death penalty as a deterrent to murders.
The following is DOMA's statement -
The subject of the reintroduction of hanging and the death penalty has been
raised by successive governments over the past decade with predictably little
effect on the country's crime problem.
We understand the pressure which the government of the day must feel facing so
many horrific murders that take place in the full glare of daylight. While we
sympathize with government ministers including the Prime Minister in the face
of this pressure, we consider it unwise to allow the occasional invocation of a
new wave of hanging to be discussed as if somehow this will bring an end to the
blood in the street is that flowing so freely.
It seems obvious to us that the death penalty can have no effect unless we are
able to threaten convicted murderers with such punishment, but how can we make
anyone fearful of hanging when we are unable to solve less than 10% of murder
cases. If there are no arrests, how can we contemplate prosecution, conviction
and then hanging?
Pronouncements about the introduction of the death penalty may tragically be
interpreted as desperation at best or worse, as a lack of respect for the
common-sense of the citizens.
We feel obligated to once again bring to the attention of the national
community the issue that is receiving no attention, which is the abysmal
detection rate and the total failure to make any arrests or to provide any
convictions for the most heinous of crimes, that of taking the life of another
human being.
In our respectful view, what adds tremendous importance to this point is the
fact that apart from stimulating serious crime by allowing criminals to go free
repeatedly, we are also creating a cycle of violence by not providing any
justice to the family and friends of the victims. These families and these
friends are forced to seek their own justice in the form of revenge and this
has accelerated the multiple daily murders that are becoming so common.
So bad is the significance of this failed justice, that we know of other
jurisdictions where whole families are sometimes assassinated and/or an entire
community is attacked and the residents are forced to barricade the streets in
order to protect themselves from outsiders seeking vengeance. The possibility
of this type of state of affairs, given our low detection rates is very real in
the circumstances that exist in Trinidad & Tobago. The firebombing of houses
and apartments is evidence of the likelihood of this type of scenario becoming
a common reality in the not distant future.
Until and unless the failure to make arrests is recognized as the central cause
of this gruesome state of affairs, then we regret to prophesize that
announcements regarding the death penalty or hanging will have little or no
effect on the vicious state of affairs in our beloved Trinidad & Tobago.
Yours faithfully,
Downtown Owners & Merchants Association.
(source: Trinidad Express)
GAZA:
UN: Hamas must halt prisoner executions in Gaza
The U.N.'s top human rights official is urging the militant Islamic group Hamas
that rules Gaza to halt all executions because they are imposed without fair
trial.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement
Wednesday that under international human rights law the death penalty can be
imposed only after a fair trial, and "this is currently not possible in Gaza,
neither legally nor practically."
Pillay also says she has serious concerns about alleged ill-treatment and
torture during interrogations of people who were later sentenced to death.
The last such executions in Gaza occurred in June.
Amnesty International has said Hamas authorities soon plan to publicly execute
2 prisoners, both men in their 20s, who are among at least 40 prisoners on
death row in Gaza.
(source: Associated Press)
INDIA:
President rejects last pending mercy plea, duo to hang
President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected the mercy petition of 2 death row
convicts found guilty of raping and murdering an 18-year-old girl. With this,
Mukherjee has rejected 11 mercy petitions awarding death penalty to 17 convicts
-- the highest in the last 16 years. Shankar Dayal Sharma (1992-1997) had
rejected 14 petitions during his 5-year tenure while Mukherjee has completed 13
months in office.
Sources said there no more mercy petitions were pending with the President's
office.
The latest whose mercy pleas were rejected are Karnataka duo Shivu and
Jadeswamy who brutally raped and murdered an 18-year-old girl on October 15,
2001. The high court rejected the appeal and confirmed death penalty in
November 2005. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2007.
Home ministry in April 2013 recommended rejection of their mercy petition
following which two new mercy petitions were filed on Shivu's behalf. The
petitions were filed by the condemned prisoner's mother Chellamma and by people
and members from the Badrayyanahalli Kuratti Hosur gram panchayat.
Subsequently, the case was sent to the President in June. Mukherjee rejected
the petition on the advice of the home ministry.
Earlier, on July 22, he had acted on similar advice by the government to reject
the mercy petition of Madhya Pradesh's Maganlal who was found guilty of
murdering 5 of his daughters on June 11, 2010. Maganlal was handed death
sentence by the district court which was upheld by both the high court and the
SC. The MP governor rejected the mercy petition in 2012 which was confirmed by
the home ministry. The hanging has been stayed by the Supreme Court.
President's powers to grant pardon arise from Article 72 of the Constitution
that empowers him/her to pardon, grant reprieve or suspend, remit, commute
sentence of person convicted of any offence. The President is guided by the
home minister and the council of ministers.
Among the first mercy petitions to be disposed of by Mukherjee included Mumbai
26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab's. He was executed in November 2012 which was the
1st hanging after 2004 and marked a sharp departure in India's policy towards
death penalty.
Mukherjee has since rejected the mercy petitions of Saibanna Ningappa Natikar
on January 4, 2013 and that of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February
3. He commuted the death sentence for Atbir who was found guilty of murdering
three relatives over a property dispute on November 15, 2012.
Between February and March 2013, Mukherjee rejected the mercy petitions of
Veerappan aides Simon, Gnanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavandran who killed 22
people by blasting a land mine, mass murderers including Suresh and Ramji,
Gurmeet Singh and Jafar Ali. Rapist-murderer Dharampal was also sentenced to
death penalty by the President besides rejecting the mercy petition of Sonia
and Sanjeev. Sonia, daughter of a former Haryana MLA, and her husband Sanjeev,
drugged and killed 8 of her family in Hisar in 2001 including her parents.
These cases have now been appealed in the Supreme Court by human rights
activists.
(source: The Times of India)
PAKISTAN:
Global rights bodies demand Pak not to resume execution
Pakistan should revoke its decision to resume executions and renew its
moratorium on the death penalty, global rights groups have said.
Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said in a joint
letter to the Pakistani government today.
"After a 5-year unofficial moratorium on executions, Pakistan's new government
has said it intends to resume the heinous practice of sending people to the
gallows," said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at Human Rights Watch.
"The government should instead declare an official moratorium, commute all
existing death sentences, and then abolish the death penalty once and for all,"
he said.
The 2 bodies urged the Pakistani government to demonstrate its commitment to
international human rights obligations by halting all executions, immediately
adopting a moratorium on the death penalty, and abolishing the death penalty
permanently in domestic law.
Pakistan should also ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty,
according to the groups.
"A return to executions will derail one of democratic Pakistan's most tangible
human rights successes," said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director, International
Commission of Jurists.
"Under military rule, Pakistan endured the widespread application of the death
penalty. The new government should demonstrate its clear opposition to any use
of this ghastly punishment," he said.
Pakistan has had a moratorium on the death penalty since June 2008, with only
the execution of Muhammad Hussain in November 2012 following a court martial.
A counter-terrorism court in Sindh province has issued 'black warrants' for the
execution of two members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Attaullah alias Qasim
and Muhammad Azam alias Sharif.
The 2 men were convicted by a counter-terrorism court in July 2004 for killing
a Shia doctor and are scheduled to be executed between August 20-22 this year.
"It is absolutely essential that militants who threaten and kill people be held
accountable for their crimes. However, terrorism won't be stopped by hangings
but by rights- respecting counter-terrorism measures and fair prosecutions,"
Hasan said.
According to official figures, Pakistan has more than 7,000 prisoners on death
row, one of the largest populations of prisoners facing execution in the world.
A majority of countries in the world have abolished the practice.
On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution
by a wide margin calling for a worldwide moratorium on death penalty.
(source: Business-Standard)
******************
Resumption of the death penalty is a step backwards for Pakistan; Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's government is under the mistaken assumption that the
death penalty will solve the country's crime problems
In its 66th year, Pakistan threatens to take a step that will make it a sorrier
state -- last week Pakistani authorities announced the hanging of 4 death row
convicts beginning as early as August 20.
This will mark the end of a 5-year moratorium on death penalties ordained by
the outgoing president in 2008 -- one of the few steps taken by President Asif
Ali Zardari which was hailed by the media and human rights groups.
Amongst the condemned are 2 members of the banned outfit Lashkar-e- Jhangvi
(LeJ).
These capital punishments will be a first in 5 years and come at a stage when
most thought the primitive practice had been buried deep in the past.
The stay on executions expired at the end of June to be swiftly followed by an
announcement from the Nawaz Sharif-led government stating that it "intends to
execute all death row prisoners."
Currently, there are as many as 450 inmates in line for execution, while
Amnesty reveals an astonishing figure of 8000 -- one of the world's longest
queues to the gallows.
Clearly, the PML-N government is under the common misconception that such
dispensations will be an instant fix to heinous crimes.
Without doubt the move is poised to set Pakistan back by many decades in a
global scenario where nations are close to abolishing such a medieval thought.
Close to 150 countries have either eliminated the death penalty or have
refrained from carrying out executions.
Also, the death penalty has not served as an effective deterrent anywhere in
the world.
It is especially so in the case of a convoluted militant mind which thrives on
the idea that executions are another version of martyrdom.
(source: Daily Mail)
CANADA:
'Absolutely not accurate': REAL Women's Gwen Landolt slams CBC for misquote on
gay death penalty
The pro-family, pro-life conservative organization REAL Women of Canada is
calling a CBC report "absolutely not" accurate that quoted president Gwen
Landolt as if she tacitly approved Uganda's contemplation of the death penalty
for practicing homosexuals.
"I don't know if the CBC did this deliberately or whether it was accidental and
they misunderstood [my position]," said Landolt to LifeSiteNews.com. "My whole
life I have been utterly opposed to capital punishment and I would never make
homosexual execution the exception."
Landolt stated that REAL Women would "never support the death penalty in any
circumstance."
"I would never ever in a hundred years say the execution of people is suitable
and appropriate. Never," she said.
LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) contacted the CBC journalist who wrote the story, but
never received a response.
Last week REAL Women criticized Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, a
practicing homosexual, for imposing what it called " his own perspective on
homosexuality" in foreign countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and Russia that have
passed laws aimed at preserving the traditional family structure.
In his effort to promote tolerance in these countries, Baird has blasted such
laws as "mean-spirited", "hateful", and "intolerant".
CBC interviewed Landolt at the time, reporting: "When asked about reports that
Uganda has considered the death penalty as punishment for having homosexual
relations, Landolt said, 'It may be unwise by Western standards, but who are we
to interfere in a sovereign country?'"
Landolt told LSN that her original comment to CBC was about the newly enacted
Russian law to eliminate homosexual indoctrination of minors, which allows for
jail terms for offenders of up to 3 years.
Landolt said that she told CBC that while she didn't think Russia's move was
"necessarily a human rights violation" she did think however that it was
"unwise by Western standards" adding as an aside, "but who are we to interfere
in a sovereign country?"
CBC's report ignited a media firestorm against the conservative group. Former
allies and supporters of REAL Women publicly distanced themselves from the
organization.
National Post columnist Barbara Kay said that while REAL Women had "commanded
my intellectual respect and not infrequently my approval" she "deplore[d]
[Landolt's] stand on gay rights."
Calling Landolt's reported comment to the CBC on Uganda's proposed death
penalty a "stunning moral gaffe," Kay said that ???Landolt has compromised
years of dignified advocacy work, and worse, set at an unbridgeable distance
well-wishers and occasional collaborators such as myself."
In a press release on Tuesday however, REAL Women made it clear that it does
not now - nor has it ever - supported the death penalty for anyone, or the
persecution of anyone including homosexuals.
"REAL Women deplores the persecution of homosexuals and the jailing of
individuals because of their orientation," the organization stated.
Landold told LSN that this is not a newly minted policy. The organization
stated in a November/December 2012 issue of its newsletter REALity: "Reasonable
people would agree that homosexuals should not be tortured, jailed or killed
because of their sexual orientation."
In the article, titled Foreign Affairs, Religion and Homosexuality, REAL Women
accused Baird at that time of going beyond advocating for the basic human
rights for homosexuals to promoting "a broad spectrum of homosexual rights,
including same-sex marriage."
REAL Women said in its Wednesday press release that it "agree[s] with Mr. Baird
who states that 'someone being put to death because they are a sexual minority
is abhorrent to Canadian values'." The organization made it clear that it "does
not support" the jailing of practicing homosexuals.
But the organization stands behind its recent criticism of Baird awarding
$200,000 of Canadian taxpayers' money by way of the Department of Foreign
Affairs to special interest groups in foreign countries that promote the gay
lifestyle.
Landolt said that human rights violations in sovereign nations should be
tackled, but not by means of the Canadian government funding a "dissident
group."
"REAL Women has no objection to Canada speaking out against violations of human
rights if it is carried out appropriately, in dealing with sovereign nations
such as through diplomatic channels, the media, Parliament and the imposition
of economic sanctions which has proved to be effective in ending apartheid in
South Africa, and is working today in Iran," the organization stated.
She called funding special interest groups in sovereign countries a "dangerous
precedent."
"We [should not] stride in there with funding to deliberately change the law,"
she said, adding that the democratic process of sovereign countries who are
acting "for the betterment of their countries" merits respect.
Landolt said that REAL Women???s opposition to Baird's international gay-rights
crusade arises from witnessing the erosion of Canadian rights and freedoms in
the wake of a push for the gay agenda.
"Our concern basically was we don't want to happen in other countries what has
happened here, where people of faith and people of traditional values have been
pushed to the side and unable to speak out, whether you're in the wedding
industry or a marriage commissioner or if you have a bed and breakfast," she
said.
Landolt wondered if CBC's report was an attempt to "shut down" her
organization. "It was either accidental or deliberate, you can take your pick,"
she said. "The left wing sees this as an opportunity to shut down resistance."
REAL Women said in its press release that as a result of the media coverage, it
has "experienced an orchestrated campaign of hate and intimidation."
Landolt told the Catholic Register that REAL Women will not let hate and
intimidation silence its message. "If they think that, they don't know us," she
said. "We intend to continue to speak out for religious freedom, traditional
values, for the family and for life."
(source: Life Site News)
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