Aug. 20
INDIA:
Sikh political prisoner Prof. Bhullar, 2 Others face imminent execution in
India; Amnesty India issues Urgent Action Appeal
According to a statement sent to Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) by Amnesty India's
media officer: [o]n 14 August, India's Supreme Court upheld its rejection of
Devender Pal Singh Bhullar's commutation plea. He is now at risk of imminent
execution. The mercy petitions of 2 other men were also rejected by the
President in August, and reports suggest they could be executed on 22 August.
Devender Pal Singh Bhullar was sentenced to death in August 2001 for his
involvement in a bomb attack in New Delhi in 1993 that killed nine people. He
was arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act
(TADA), a law that contained provisions incompatible with international fair
trial standards, and had no access to a lawyer during his initial detention and
trial. He was found guilty on the basis of a "confession" to the police which
he later retracted, claiming it was made under police pressure. In March 2002,
the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence, though one of the three judges had
found him not guilty, saying there was no evidence to convict him.
The President rejected Devender Pal Singh Bhullar's mercy petition in May 2011,
eight years after the request was filed. This decision was challenged before
the Supreme Court, including on grounds of an inordinate delay in the
consideration of his mercy petition. The Supreme Court rejected his plea on 12
April, in a judgement that ignored claims he had been subjected to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. A review petition of this
judgment was dismissed on 14 August 2013. Devender Pal Singh Bhullar has been
receiving treatment at a psychiatric facility, and a medical board has
reportedly stated that he is suffering from severe depression and shows
symptoms of psychosis and suicidal tendencies. International standards on the
use of the death penalty prohibit the use of capital punishment against people
with mental disability.
Since taking office, President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected mercy petitions of
at least 19 people. Information about the rejection of mercy petitions is not
publicly available, making it difficult to determine the status of individual
cases.
In August, the President rejected the mercy petitions of Shivu and Jadeswamy,
who were sentenced to death in July 2005 for the rape and murder of a woman in
2001. The Karnataka High Court upheld the sentence in October 2005 and the
Supreme Court upheld it in February 2007. In November 2012, the Supreme Court,
in a different case relating to the imposition of the death penalty, observed
that in Shivu and Jadeswamy's case, "the circumstances of the convicts were not
considered for reducing the death penalty" - a necessary measure courts are
required to take under Indian law before sentencing anyone to death.
Their executions have been reportedly scheduled for 22 August. On 21 August,
the Supreme Court will hear petitions from Shivu and Jadeswamy seeking
commutation of their sentence on the grounds that the 6-year delay in
consideration of their mercy petitions was inordinate.
On 22 October, a larger bench of the Supreme Court will begin hearing together
the cases of at least 17 other convicts who are seeking commutation of their
death sentences on similar grounds.
***
Amnesty India has issued an urgent action appeal calling upon the people to
raise immediate concerns against these suspected executions by wiring letters
to the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, India. Amnesty
India's appeal in this regard reads as follows:
Please write immediately in English or your own language:
- Calling on Indian authorities not to execute Devender Pal Singh Bhullar,
Shivu and Jadeswamy or any other prisoners
- Calling on Indian authorities to retry Devender Pal Singh Bhullar's case in
proceedings that meet international fair trial standards;
- Urging them to immediately halt any further executions, commute all death
sentences to terms of imprisonment, and establish an official moratorium on
executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 SEPTEMBER 2013 TO:
President of India
Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi 110001 India
Fax: +9111 2301 7290
Email: (via form)
http://www.helpline.rb.nic.in/GrievanceNew.aspx
Salutation: Dear President
Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi 110001 India
Fax: +9111 2301 9545
Email: (via form)
http://pmindia.nic.in/feedback.php?ln=english
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Home Affairs
Mr. Sushilkumar Shinde
104 North Block
Central Secretariat
New Delhi 110001 India
Fax: +9111 2309 4221
Email: [email protected]
***
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA URGENT ACTION
3 men face imminent execution in India - Additional Information
In the Indian justice system, a mercy petition is often the final opportunity
for individuals to have their death sentences commuted by the executive, after
the judicial appeals have been exhausted. In the past, some mercy petition
decisions have been challenged before the higher judiciary on grounds of undue
delay by the executive in the consideration of such petitions. However, the
decision to hear such a challenge is left to the discretion of the higher
judiciary. In April 2012, the Supreme Court, while upholding Devender Pal Singh
Bhullar's death sentence, stated that delay "cannot be invoked in cases where a
person is convicted for an offence under TADA or similar statutes". The court
decided not to commute the death sentence based on the "enormity of the crime".
Since assuming office in 2012, President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected mercy
petitions of at least 19 people - Ajmal Kasab, Saibanna, Afzal Guru,
Gnanprakasham, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah, Bilavendran, Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet
Singh, Sonia Choudhary, Sanjeev Choudhary, Jafar Ali, Dharam Pal, Praveen
Kumar, B A Umesh, Maganlal Barela, Shivu and Jadeswamy.
India has executed 2 of these individuals: Ajmal Kasab on 21 November 2012 and
Afzal Guru on 9 February 2013. These 2 executions were considered out of turn
and were not announced to the public until they had been carried out. A
government minister stated that no prior announcement was made in Ajmal Kasab's
case to avoid intervention from human rights activists. In Afzal Guru's case,
the family only received notification of the execution after it had been
carried out, and the body was not returned to them for burial. Prior to these,
the last execution in India had been that of Dhananjoy Chatterjee in August
2004.
Of the remaining cases, Santhan, Murugan, Perarivalan, Gnanaprakasam, Simon,
Madaiah and Bilavendran were originally convicted by a TADA court.
Indian authorities used to make information about the rejection of mercy
petitions and dates of execution available to the public before any executions.
However they have stopped this practice since 2012, making it difficult to know
which mercy petitions are being considered, when decisions are be made, and
whether these decisions would be public. In resolution 2005/59 the UN
Commission on Human Rights called upon all states that still maintain the death
penalty "to make available to the public information with regard to the
imposition of the death penalty and to any scheduled execution".
India's resumption of executions has set the country against regional and
global trends towards abolition of the death penalty
As of today, 140 countries are abolitionist in law or in practice. Out of 41
countries in the Asia-Pacific region, 17 have abolished the death penalty for
all crimes, 10 are abolitionist in practice and one - Fiji - uses the death
penalty only for exceptional military crimes. Over the past 10 years, 4
Asia-Pacific countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes: Bhutan and
Samoa in 2004, the Philippines in 2006 and the Cook Islands in 2007. UN bodies
and mechanisms have repeatedly called upon member states to establish a
moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, including
through the adoption of four UN General Assembly resolutions in December 2007,
2008, 2010 and 2012. India voted against all 4 resolutions
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of
the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,
regardless of the nature of the crime; guilt, innocence or other
characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out
the execution.
(source: sikhsiyasat.net)
MALAYSIA:
Karpal, The Tiger of Jelutong, on frontlines of Malaysia's death row
One of the issues that divides many nations is whether a society has the right
to take the life of a person as punishment for a crime.
Even those who may largely agree on the death penalty can still be split on how
that life should be severed. Is hanging too barbaric? What about stoning? Is
there even such a thing as a civilised way to kill someone?
So it's no surprise that The Tiger of Jelutong - otherwise known as DAP
chairman Karpal Singh - has devoted a part of his new 325-page biography, due
to be released next month, to a frontline account of what death row is like in
Malaysia.
The book is actually about his own life but a large part of his 40-year career
as a lawyer has been his political battles against the death penalty and his
equally vigorous legal battles to tear up that dreaded ticket to Death Row for
his clients.
He still has "nightmares of screaming mothers when the final goodbye takes
place", Karpal says in the book.
Malaysia has at least 860 prisoners on death row, says Amnesty International in
its 2013 annual report, quoting the Prisons Department. The government has not
disclosed how many were executed last year.
As an observer at the frontline, to Karpal, the oddity is that it can be the
prisoners who in their last moments take on the role of counsellor and consoler
to family and friends.
The family of the condemned is always allowed one last visit. Karpal is often
there at the family's request - as was the case of Australian Kevin Barlow, one
of the two first westerners to be hanged in Malaysia for drug trafficking.
Often the families are hoping Karpal can pull off a miraculous eleventh-hour
reprieve. It hasn't happened yet. At this last visit, the family tries to
console the prisoner. But it can also be the prisoner who tries their best to
console the family - all through a glass or metal grilled barrier.
Karpal told of how one condemned man lit a cigarette for his father. The son's
hand was shaking uncontrollably.
The lawyer said the worst part of these final visits is when the prison guards
announce to the visitors that it is time to leave.
"I do not offer my clients any advice on the intensely personal subject of how
they should face their inevitable deaths," Karpal said.
He added that the condemned only came to terms with their mortality when they
were introduced to the hangman, whose first duty is to record the weight and
height of the prisoner.
Journalist Tim Donoghue who wrote "Karpal Singh - Tiger of Jelutong", also
interviewed hangman Yusof Bakar for his perspective.
The hangman has a workaday view of the whole thing. If there is soul-searching
or doubts, it does not come through in the narrative.
Yusof said he wanted the prisoners as calm and cooperative as possible when he
arrived at their cell door early in the morning.
He told the author that anyway most of the men he hanged asked him to go about
his work as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
In Yusof's experience, the men and women to be hanged at dawn did not sleep
during the final night of their lives.
The hangman and his assistant always arrive outside the prisoner's cell 5
minutes before the scheduled time of execution.
The prisoner's hands are handcuffed behind his back and a loose-fitting hood is
placed over his head. In an ideal world, the prisoner cooperates by walking
calmly to the large single trapdoor capable of dropping 3 people at the same
time.
Once the prisoner is positioned on the trap door, it is the hangman's job to
pull the noose tight under the prisoner's left jawbone. When the trapdoor
opens, the end comes, not always that neatly.
(source: The Malaysian Insider)
PAKISTAN:
Halting death sentences
Though the Nawaz government claims that it has reversed its earlier
cancellation of the moratorium on death sentences, because the President wished
to discuss the matter, it is generally known that it was putting off the
cancellation of the moratorium because of the threats that the Tehrik Taliban
Pakistan had made against the Prime Minister and the Punjab Chief Minister, if
any of their terorist stalwarts were executed.
Among the men the TTP is trying to protect is the militant guilty of the 2009
attack on GHQ. Had it not been for this reprieve, a number of TTP and
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi commanders were due to be executed in Sindh and Punjab
between August 25 and August 30.
According to the law of the land, if a convict receives the death sentence,
which is duly upheld by the relevant courts, and his mercy petition is rejected
by the President (who now merely asks the heirs of murder victims to forgive
the murderer), the sentence must be upheld.
The death penalty can be opposed because of numerous excellent reasons,
including: the inherent doubt in convictions because of the flaws in a system
such as ours, the philosophical debate that no human must ever be able to send
another to his/her death, the fact that there can be no guarantee that an
innocent person is not hanged...but, thus far, it is the law of the land, a
punishment handed down by the state. A moratorium on death sentences being
carried out is neither here not there.
After announcing that the sentences would be carried out, and then backing away
from its own decision because of a terrorist threat, the government has managed
to create the impression that its decisions are taken not on principle, but at
the point of a gun. The threat, by its very nature serves witness to the nature
of the convictions on the accused in question, who are being lobbied for by
their criminal colleagues.
This is not the impression that any government worth its salt wants to give.
The government must establish the supremacy of the law by ensuring strict
compliance with the law, or else be courageous and announce a repeal of the
death penalty law. It must take the necessary precautions for the Prime
Ministed and the Punjab Chief Minister, against whom the TTP threats are made,
and not cave in to threats.
(source: Editorial, The Nation)
*************
Pervez Musharraf charged with murder of Benazir Bhutto; Pervez Musharraf,
Pakistan's former military ruler, has been charged with murder over the
assassination of Benazir Bhutto, who died in a suicide attack in December 2007.
It is the 1st time such a senior military figure has been indicted and
threatens to pitch the new government of Nawaz Sharif into conflict with the
country's powerful generals, anxious to protect one of their own.
Mr Musharraf, 69, who seized power from Mr Sharif in a military coup in 1999,
faces a string of further court cases and has lived largely under house arrest
since returning to Pakistan in March.
He was bundled into court amid tight security on Tuesday morning and appeared
only briefly to be told he was being charged with murder.
Journalists were not allowed into the court room for the 20-minute hearing.
"He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation
for murder," said Chaudhry Azhar, the public prosecutor, at the anti-terrorism
court in Rawalpindi hearing the case.
Mr Musharraf's legal team has said all along that the charges against him are
politically motivated.
"All the cases against Musharraf are fabricated. He denied all the charges,"
said Afshan Adil, one of his lawyers.
Scores of armed guards surrounded the court, not far from where Mrs Bhutto was
killed as she left a campaign rally.
There was no public claim of responsibility for her murder although Mr
Musharraf's government at the time released what it said were intercepted
conversations showing the Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban,
was responsible. He has since been killed in a US drone strike.
A United Nations investigation concluded that Mrs Bhutto's death could have
been prevented with better security.
In the weeks running up to her death, Mrs Bhutto claimed her life was in danger
and asked for better protection.
The indictment follows lingering speculation about the possibility of a
behind-the-scenes deal that could allow Mr Musharraf to leave Pakistan without
facing the courts and embarrassing the military.
For now, Mr Musharraf remains under house arrest at his Mediterranean-style
villa outside Islamabad pondering whether he made the right decision to return
earlier this year to contest elections - elections from which he was barred by
the court.
One of his former advisers said: "It is a mystery to us why he ever returned.
Maybe it was arrogance, hubris, and he thought the country still loved him. Or
maybe he was just homesick."
The new government, led by Mr Sharif, has said he should stand trial for
treason for subverting the constitution and has appointed a committee to
investigate him.
The offence carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.
(source: The Telegraph)
********************
Death row: 'Hanging' by a thread
Convict Behram Khan is thanking his stars. 40-year-old Khan was to be sent to
the gallows and be titled the 1st prisoner to be hanged in the Karachi Central
Jail in 5 years. However, a stay ordered by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has
moved him from the death cell back to his condemned ward.
But will Khan's luck last long?
Human rights activists and lawyers against capital punishment believe that the
previous government's moratorium against execution should remain.
Activist Anis Haroon believes the Nawaz Sharif government should halt death
penalty for good since executions have not proven to be effective deterrents to
stop crimes from taking place. "Executions do not take place in civilised
societies. Those who believe that executions bring down the crime rate are
mistaken," said the former caretaker provincial minister of human rights.
A better approach, in Haroon's opinion, is that the criminal justice system and
law-enforcement agencies be strengthened to fight crime. She believes that
capital punishment should be abolished but a parallel system should be put in
place to deal with hardened criminals.
Welcoming the temporary stay ordered by the premier, Sara Belal of the Justice
Project Pakistan, a human rights law firm, said that they do not support death
penalty as poor and innocent people are the ones who mostly get charged.
However, the moratorium is not enough in the opinion of activist and lawyer Zia
Awan. "The current stay on death penalty is half-hearted. What the previous
government should have done and now the present government should do is change
the law which deals with death sentence." Awan also calls for a debate in
parliament regarding executions.
Waiting for death
Behram Khan's brother Noor Muhammad demands a permanent solution to get rid of
the agonising situation that prisoners and their families go through after
every few months.
"This game of warrants and stay orders being issued (one after another) need to
stop," he says. "After the stay comes, we're jubilant but only for a few days,
as the black warrants are issued soon and we are in tears again," he explains.
This has happened twice to him already.
Noor Muhammad requests for Khan's death sentence to be converted into life
imprisonment, as his brother has already spent 9 years in the jail.
Khan and another inmate, Shafqat Hussain, were to be hanged on Wednesday and
Thursday, respectively in the Karachi Central Jail. However, the prime minister
halted the executions for an indefinite period, stating that the president was
out of country and when he returns, a meeting would be held between the two to
discuss the situation.
Like Khan's family, jail officials also want the issue of executions to be
sorted out for the 24 condemned prisoners at the Karachi jail. Jailer Shahab is
worried about the mental health of death row prisoners who - as they are caught
in the middle - fret about their uncertain future.
"Condemned prisoners can hurt themselves and are prone to violence as the
execution date draws nearer," he says.
Dealing with terrorists
Human rights activist Ansar Burney said that many death-row prisoners are those
who have been languishing in jail for several years. "I've no sympathy for
militants, but terrorists should be kept in jail and the cause of their
activities should be investigated to find out why they committed the crime," he
explains.
"In a country where witnesses can be bought for Rs15,000, FIRs are tampered
with and justice is sold, can we be sure that the prisoners being portrayed as
terrorists are real ones?" he said, adding that terrorists should not be given
death sentences because of unfair trials.
Anis Haroon concurred and said that people killing in the name of religion
should be dealt with strongly but should not be given death sentence.
(source: The Express Tribune)
*****************
LHC rejects convict's appeal against death sentence; Attacks on Musharraf, GHQ
A divisional bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) Monday rejected an intra-court
appeal of a terrorist against his death sentence awarded by an anti-terrorism
court (ATC) for carrying attacks on former President General (Retd) Pervez
Musharraf and General Headquarter (GHQ).
The 2 members DB of LHC comprising Justice Ibad-ur-Rehman Lodhi and Justice
Mazhar Iqbal dismissed the appeal, remarking that punishment could not be
dismissed on basis of news published in media regarding suspension of death
sentences. It is pertinent to mention here that ATC had awarded death
punishment to Aqeel Ahmed in 2009.
Zaki Ullah Qureshi Advocate filed a petition on behalf of his client Aqeel
Ahmed, who was convicted of planning and launching brazen attacks on GHQ and
former President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, for temporarily deferral of
his death penalty. The counsel apprised the court that the federal government
has been mulling over ending the death penalty. Therefore, the court was
requested to suspend the death punishment of his client for some time.
However, the divisional bench dismissed the appeal, saying that punishment
could not be dismissed on basis of news published in media regarding suspension
of death sentence.
The bench observed that it has not been informed formally about any such
development by the government and that is why it cannot suspend the punishment.
The terrorists launched a brazen attack on GHQ on October 10, 2009 and held off
army commandos for hours.
The security forces killed 9 terrorists while managed to nab 1 terrorist alive
who later identified as Aqeel Ahmed alias Dr Usman. According to the
prosecution, the accomplices knew about Aqeel???s plans and had helped him
carry out the attack.
In 2009, the Field General Court Martial convicted seven accused for the 2009
GHQ attack, including 2 army personnel and 5 civilians.
The court sentenced Sepoy Dr Usman to death, while other personnel Imran Siddiq
was given life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 200,000 and Rs 100,000 had been
imposed on them respectively.
The convicted civilians include Khaliqur Rehman, Muhammad Usman, Wajid Ali,
Muhammad Adnan and Tahir Shafiq. The 1st 3 have been sentenced to life
imprisonment, while the other 2 have been given jail terms of 10 and 7 years
respectively.
The civilians have been convicted for assisting the attackers, helping them
find their targets and inciting servicemen to wage war against the army. He was
also convicted in planning and carrying out attack on former President General
(Retd) Pervez Musharraf.
(source: The Nation)
**********************
Pakistan: The AHRC welcomes the stay on executions
The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the postponement of the scheduled
executions of condemned prisoners in Pakistan which were to take place from
August 20, 2013.
A temporary stay on the hangings was announced on Sunday, August 18 in response
to protests from outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari and various international
human rights organizations. This stay is set to last until Zardari returns to
Pakistan and can discuss the matter with incumbent Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Relative to this meeting, the Pakistani Taliban threatened retaliation should
any of their members be executed.
In an alleged effort to curb crime and terrorism, the newly elected government
of Pakistan Muslim League-N reiterated their refusal to renew the moratorium.
They are especially concerned about the crime-ridden urban centers such as
Karachi and conflict areas along the Northern border with Afghanistan. It seems
that regional terrorism is merely a way for the Pakistani government to
maintain control over domestic politics and policies. Control over killing
people, be they convicts or innocent persons, demonstrates their hold on
terrorism but which in reality they have little power to control and too often
to condone.
Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the courageous decision of President
Asif Ali Zardari in taking the bold step in refusing to allow the schedule
executions to go through.
President Asif Ali Zardari's decision provides Pakistan with yet another
opportunity to show concern in taking up the question of abuse of Human Rights
in the country. Furthermore, the AHRC hopes that the Government of Pakistan
will give serious thought to 2 vital questions. These questions are; lifting
the moratorium on death penalties and due consideration for the international
and domestic protests from Human Rights Organizations and Activists.
Since independence, Pakistan has increasingly incorporated Shariah law
(fundamentalist Islamic law) into its common law system. It has increased the
scope of crimes for which one can be put to death, including blasphemy against
Islam. Would it not be better for the country as a whole, that Pakistan's new
government focus on the rampant impunity afforded Islamic terrorists?
In its interventions the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported on 'the
saga of the prisoners waiting in death row'. The number of death row inmates
increased from 5447 in 2005 to 8300 today, prison capacity has not been
increased to hold them, leaving them to subsist in inhuman and inadequate
living conditions.
The Pakistani government has high hopes to put a stop to criminal activity,
especially acts of terrorism. Many of the actors in this situation come from
believers of a radical sect of Islam that promotes the idea that by being a
suicide bomber, one can reach salvation. So, the mere threat of a death penalty
would not be a deterrent for radical followers of such a devout, if mis-guided
faith.
It is vital that the international community and the United Nations work
together to put pressure on the Pakistani government to formally abolish the
death penalty. Questions have emerged concerning the legitimacy of the judicial
system that has been handing out these death sentences.
AHRC would like to place on record its concern about the Government of
Pakistan's refusal to sign and ratify the two optional protocols to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR.) AHRC would also
recommend to the Government of Pakistan to strictly abide by international
standards on the death penalty.
In summation, the AHRC urges the Pakistani government to:
Protect Pakistani citizens' right to life by re-implementing the moratorium on
all pending death penalty cases in both civilian and military courts.
Formally abolish the death penalty for all crimes under the Pakistan Penal Code
(PPC).
Respect the rights of prisoners by correcting the overcrowding and poor
conditions within the prison system.
Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights regarding capital punishment.
(source: Human Rights Asia)
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