Aug. 29
POLAND:
Poland completely abolishes death penalty
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has signed a bill on the ratification of
regulations abolishing death penalty in all circumstances.
Before the bill Poland was one of the few Council of Europe members in which
death penalty is allowed in times of war.
The president also signed a bill on the ratification of the Second Optional
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty is a side
agreement to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
(source: Xinhua News)
INDIA:
Supreme Court can award fixed jail term while commuting death sentence; Plea
against 30-year sentence without remission misconceived, says Bench
The Supreme Court is competent and has the jurisdiction to fix a particular
number of years with or without remission when it commutes the death sentence
to life term while upholding the conviction of the accused under Section 302 of
the Indian Penal Code, a Bench has ruled.
It rejected a writ petition filed by Gurvail Singh alias Gala for converting
his sentence from 30 years in jail without remission to life imprisonment. He
also sought a declaration that this court was not competent to fix a particular
number of years (with or without remission) when it commuted the death
sentence. The petitioner, along with the co-accused, was charged with killing 4
persons on the intervening night of August 20-21, 2000 and the trial court in
Punjab awarded the death penalty and this was confirmed by the Punjab and
Haryana High Court.
However, the Supreme Court commuted it to life imprisonment with a direction
that the petitioner serve 30 years in jail without remission.
Rejecting Gala's argument, the Bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and S.A. Bodbea
said the issue raised in this petition was elaborately dealt with by a 3-judge
Bench in Swamy Shraddananda case, in which it was held that life imprisonment
could not be equivalent to imprisonment for 14 or 20 years, rather it always
meant the whole natural life.
"This court has always clarified that the punishment so awarded would be
subject to any order passed in exercise of the clemency powers of the President
or the Governor, as the case may be. Pardon, reprieve and remissions are
granted in exercise of prerogative power. The power to grant pardons and to
commute sentences is coupled with a duty to exercise the same fairly and
reasonably. Thus, such orders do not interfere with the sovereign power of the
state."
The Bench said: "This court issued orders to deprive a convict of the benefit
of remissions only in cases where the death sentence has been commuted to life
imprisonment and it does not apply in all cases wherein the person has been
sentenced to life imprisonment."
(source: The Hindu)
AFGHANISTAN:
Afghan interior ministry demand death penalty to arrested suicide bombers
The interior affairs ministry of Afghanistan for the the first demanded death
penalty for the dozens of suicide bombers, who were arrested by Afghan security
forces before they manage to carry out attacks.
The interior affairs ministry officials of Afghanistan said hundreds of
militants and suicide bombers have been arrested across the country, who were
looking to carry out attacks on main roads, bridges and other public
institutions.
The demand by the interior ministry from the judiciary institutions comes amid
growing efforts by president Hamid Karzai to pave the way for peace talks
between the militant groups and the Afghan government in a bid to end the
decade-old violence in the country.
Sediq Sediqi, spokesman for interior ministry of Afghanistan on Wednesday urged
the judiciary institutions to show no mercy to the detained suicide bombers and
called on the judiciary institutions to hang the detained bombers.
Mr. Sediqi further added that Afghan national security forces have given
sacrifices to detain those bombers, and they should be sentenced to death as
they are not caring for the lives of the ordinary Afghans and acting on
foreingers instructions.
His comments were followed by a coordinated suicide attack attempt on the
ministry of energy and water of Afghanistan, which was successfully thwarted by
Afghan security forces.
He said Afghan security forces detained seven militants including 2 suicide
bombers who were looking to carry out attacks in capital Kabul, and Afghan
security forces seized 2 tons of explosives from the detained militants.
(source: Khaama Press)
INDONESIA:
Lindsay Sandiford loses final appeal against drug trafficking death sentence in
Bali; Lindsay Sandiford, a British grandmother sentenced to death for drug
trafficking in Indonesia, now faces a firing squad after her final appeal was
rejected by the country's highest court.
Lindsay Sandiford's only hope now is for clemency from the country's president,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has pardoned four drug dealers on death row since
he came to power in 2004.
However, he has also made it clear that he routinely turns down most "almost
all" such requests on behalf of foreign nationals, saying that Indonesians do
not get such leniency.
Sandiford, 57, was arrested in May last year after cocaine valued at around 2.4
million pounds (1.6 million pounds) was found during a routine check of her
suitcase as she arrived on a flight into the holiday island of Bali. She had
come in from Bangkok in Thailand, and was accused by police of being at the
centre of a drug ring involving three other Britons.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel at the supreme court in Jakarta unanimously
rejected her appeal. It backed an earlier decision, taken by the Denpasar
district court in Bali, which sentenced her to death, and a separate ruling by
the island's high court, which rejected her 1st appeal.
"The decision is unanimous," said the panel's chief judge, Artidjo Alkostar,
adding that there was "no dissenting opinion".
Sandiford now has the option of a judicial review into her case, but that would
require fresh evidence to be brought before it would be granted. In the absence
of that, her next and possibly final legal step will be to seek a pardon from
the presidential office.
5 foreigners have been executed in Indonesia since 1998, all for drug crimes.
While there have been no executions since 2008, when ten people were put to
death, Mr Yudhoyono, a retired army general, has made it clear that he does not
like to interfere in his country's justice system.
In a televised speech in 2011, he said: "'I often receive requests from many
countries, be they directly or indirectly communicated, be they written or not
written.
"My answer is that law is supreme above everything else. I turn down almost all
requests of pardon and acquittal from the death sentence. It is for the sake of
justice. Our fellow countrymen get death sentence for heavy crimes."
Convicts given the death penalty for drugs offences in Indonesia generally face
a long wait in jail before being taken to a remote, undisclosed location at
night and executed by firing squad.
Sandiford, from Redcar in Teesside, insists that she was set up and was forced
by a gang to smuggle drugs to protect her children.
Her alleged accomplice, Julian Ponder, 43, from Brighton, was jailed for 6
years after being cleared of smuggling but convicted of possessing cocaine. His
partner, Rachel Dougall, 38, from Brighton, received a 1-year jail sentence,
while Paul Beales, a long-time Bali resident, was sentenced to 4 years in jail
for possession of hashish.
A British grandmother facing the firing squad for smuggling drugs into Bali
could be sent home if the Government agrees to extradite a tycoon wanted over a
900?million pounds banking scandal.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Sandiford's life could be spared as
part of an unofficial prisoner swap between Britain and Indonesia. The deal
involved a request that Britain extradite multi-millionaire Rafat Ali Rizvi, a
52-year-old British national sentenced in his absence to 15 years in 2010 for
allegedly stealing funds from Indonesia's collapsed Bank Century.
In exchange, Sandiford would be allowed to return to the UK to serve out a jail
sentence, along with a 2nd Briton on death row, Gareth Cashmore.
Britain has previously raised concerns about Sandiford's treatment in the
island's notorious Kerobokan jail, alleging in papers submitted to Denpasar
district court that officials threatened her with a gun and deprived her of
sleep.
(source: The Telegraph)
*********************
I love Bali: Compassion for death row Bali 9
Please let the 2 Bali 9 condemned to death alive. Here is why, from the ancient
Sanskrit Ramayana.
I don't like drugs. I don't like the idea of people taking them or selling them
to other people, and certainly not smuggling them into the country or out of
the country.
But I like even less the idea of killing people, for any reason, but especially
when they have not killed other person.
So, I am writing in the hope that somebody in authority will read this and
rethink the death penalty for 2 of the Bali 9, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew
Chan.
You have already heard all the obvious reasons, such as how wrong it is to take
a life in order to show that taking lives is wrong.
But I have a novel idea. I am thinking back to what I loved about the ancient
Indian tradition that I spent so many years studying, reading about, and
teaching to others.
I loved the fact (I think it is a fact) that no language has so many words for
compassion as does Sanskrit: krpa, karuna, karunya, daya, anukrosa, karpanya,
mardika and many more.
But it is not just words. The 3 main religions of ancient India - Hinduism,
Buddhism and Jainism, are all in agreement that at the very heart of all
spirituality are 2 simple words: Ahimsa and Karuna.
These were Gandhi's favorite words as well: Do no harm, or as little harm as
possible. Live without inflicting suffering on other beings. And show
compassion to all creatures, even those who have wronged you, or your country.
The ancient Sanskrit texts take this very seriously. One of the most famous
episodes in the great Indian epic, the Ramayana, which is so beautifully
rendered in Bali in paintings, dances, music and sculpture, is about how Rama
decided he could show compassion to his worst enemy, that he could forgive him.
Here is the story, courtesy of my friend Professor Robert Goldman from the
University of California at Berkeley, who has translated the entire Ramayana in
seven volumes for Princeton University Press (I was initially part of the team,
but psychoanalysis called and I left).
This is from the 6th volume of the Ramayana, Book 2, Verse 14-20: Rama has
offered to pardon Vibhishana, the brother of the very persona of evil, Ravana,
himself.
"For the sake of compassion, one ought never slay a poor wretch who has come
for refuge, begging for protection with his hands cupped in reverence, even
should he be one's enemy.
Even at the cost of his own life, a magnanimous person should save an enemy who
has come for refuge from his enemies, whether he be abject or arrogant.
Moreover, if a man who has come seeking refuge should die for want of
protection while the person who could have saved him merely looks on, then the
former would depart from this world taking with him the latter's good works."
Would it not greatly enhance the reputation of Bali, already considered one of
the most gentle places on earth, if the judiciary there, or the great President
of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (whose very name implies kindness), were
to forgive these 2 young men who have shown themselves to be model prisoners,
and who clearly have atoned for their sinful behavior and turned to a new way
of life, much as did Ravana's brother?
This compassionate gesture would resonate around the world, and bring even more
glory to this beautiful island. The same would be true for the grandmother who
shows true contrition.
I wish it with all my heart and with me are thousands of others who feel the
same way.
(source: Commentary; Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson; The Jakarta Post)
SINGAPORE:
Indian national Gopinathan escapes gallows, gets life term in Singapore
Indian national Gopinathan Nair Remadevi Bijukumar was today re-sentenced to
life imprisonment under Singapore's amended penal code that saved him from a
mandatory death penalty for the murder of a prostitute.
Justice Choo Han Teck also sentenced Gopinathan to 18 strokes of the cane for
the murder. Gopinathan, a 37-year-old former shipyard worker, was found guilty
of murdering Filipino prostitute Roselyn Reyes Pascua in her rented room on
Bencoolen Street in Singapore's Central business district in March 2010.
The penal code, amended in November last year, gives judges sentencing
discretion in some murder cases. Previously, the death penalty was mandatory in
all murder cases.
The Court of Appeal had sent back Gopinathan's case to the High Court for
re-sentencing, Channel News Asia reported.
Gopinathan claimed he had stabbed the woman after she attacked him and refused
to return money he had paid her for sexual services.
She was found dead in the room. Deputy Public Prosecutor Adrian Loo had asked
the court to impose 24 strokes of the cane on Gopinathan, citing the amount of
violence inflicted and the extensive injuries suffered by Pascua.
Loo pointed out that Gopinathan had knifed her in the heart, neck, abdomen and
vagina. He said there was absence of any evidence that Gopinathan was suffering
from any abnormality of the mind.
But Gopinathan's lawyers Shashi Nathan, Raphael Louis and Tania Chin asked for
between 12 and 15 strokes of the cane.
They said there was no planning or pre-meditation involved in the incident, and
pointed out that there was an element of provocation.
Gopinathan, who appeared expressionless throughout the hearing, exchanged a few
words with his lawyers before being led away.
The amended penal code and Misuse of Drugs Act came into effect this year,
removing the mandatory death penalty for certain types of homicide and drug
trafficking offences in a move to "temper justice with mercy".
Gopinathan is the 3rd person on death row for murder to be re-sentenced to life
imprisonment, according to the report.
(source: indiatvnew.com)
CHINA:
Woman gouged out child's eyes for cash
A Chinese assailant is facing calls to be given the death penalty after gouging
out the eyes of a 6-year-old boy in an attack blamed on blackmarket organ
harvesting.
The attack - the 3rd major incident involving a small child in the past month -
has angered the Chinese public.
The attacker, believed to be a woman, drugged the boy before gouging his eyes
out and leaving him unconscious in Shanxi province. The boy's eyes were found
nearby but the corneas had been shaved off, leading police to believe the
attack was carried out by an organ thief.
A large reward (rare in China) has been offered for her arrest.
The boy's uncle told state media his nephew's life was ruined.
"His memory of the world from now will remain as it was when he was just 6
years old," he said.
The attack has prompted an outburst in online forums and calls in China for the
woman to receive the death penalty.
"Is the criminal a human being? She is a woman too. Where has her instinct of
being a mother gone," a user wrote on the Twitter-like Weibo service.
"The woman must be caught and sentenced to death at once. I cannot comprehend
the pain this child is suffering, my eyes are full of tears."
A growing black market for human organs has emerged in the past few years with
the number of patients requiring transplants outstripping donations.
Lawyer Liu Weiguo said attacks against children were increasing in China.
"People have encountered all kind of injustices like inequality, the major
income gap that exist. In many cases they take out their anger on each other
and their victims," he told The Australian.
A baby girl was thrown to the ground by a drunk policeman last week, while last
month a 2-year-old girl was killed when a man hurled her headfirst into
concrete after an argument with her mother over parking.
(source: The Australian)
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