Sept. 18
LIBYA:
Trials of Gadhafi son, spy chief, could expose secrets
Moammar Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam and the late Libyan dictator's former
intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi are slated to stand trial Thursday on
murder charges related to the country's 2011 civil war and it's likely that
some of the regime's darkest secrets may finally see the light of day.
There undoubtedly are some Libyans who fear they may be implicated. There are
also foreign intelligence services and political leaders who had shady dealings
with Gadhafi's brutal dictatorship despite their governments' hostility to
Tripoli over four decades.
These were the same governments that led the charge to topple the mercurial
Gadhafi by providing air strikes to aid his enemies, and often targeted him,
his sons and their families.
Indeed, during the 8-month conflict that began in February 2011, amid the
initial upheavals of the so-called Arab Spring and its pro-democracy uprisings,
many observers were convinced NATO was trying hard to kill Gadhafi to prevent
him from being handed over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to
keep the murky dealings of their governments private.
"Imagine the stir he would have made in The Hague," observed author and
commentator David Rieff in Foreign Policy in October 2011 after Gadhafi, on the
run with his sons, was finally butchered on the streets of his hometown, Sirte,
by a howling mob.
"There, along with any number of fantasies and false accusations, he would
almost certainly have revealed the extent of his intimate relations with French
President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the details of
his government's collaboration with Western intelligence services in
counterterrorism, with the European Union in limiting migration from Libyan
shores, and the granting of major contracts to big Western oil and construction
companies."
There are fears the trials, which include 26 other regime figures, will be
little more than legalized revenge against Gadhafi's family and his henchmen.
"There may be those who served Gadhafi who have no desire to see their crimes
pushed out into the open," Lebanese political analyst Michael Young said.
"There are perhaps also many Libyans who fear that if the dark side of the
dictatorship is revealed, it may hinder reconciliation." Senussi, 62, the
Libyan leader's brother-in-law, was his most brutal enforcer. He was known as
"Gadhafi's black box" -- he knew where all the bodies were buried.
Senussi, Libyans said, was always among the Libyan leader's "ahl al-khaimah,"
the people of the tent, his inner circle. For two decades Senussi headed
Libya's feared External Security Organization.
He was convicted in absentia by a French court in 1999 of masterminding the
1989 bombing of a UTA airliner over Niger that killed 170 people.
Western intelligence services have long suspected he played a key role in the
December 1988 mid-air bombing of a New York-bound Pan Am jumbo jet over
Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people, mostly Americans, were killed.
Until Sept. 11, 2001, Lockerbie was the world's bloodiest terrorist attack.
Senussi is believed to have recruited intelligence agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,
the only suspect convicted of bombing Pan Am 103.
It's an atrocity that remains largely unexplained. There are claims Iran was
the real culprit and Gadhafi was scapegoated by the United States and Britain.
Libyan authorities have accused Senussi of other crimes, including the massacre
of more than 1,200 Islamist detainees as Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison
in 1996.
Senussi escaped Libya after rebels seized Tripoli in August 2011 and fled to
Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania. He was arrested there in March 2012 for
entering the country from Niger using a false passport.
He was extradited to Libya Sept. 5, 2012, despite being indicted in June 2011
by the ICC for crimes against humanity in Libya. He faces the death penalty if
convicted in Tripoli.
Saif al-Islam, 39, was captured by a powerful tribal militia in southern Libya
Nov. 19, 2011, and was held in the town of Zintan with his aides.
Gadhafi's 2nd son and the most politically involved, he too was a member of his
father's closest entourage and was seen as a possible successor.
Like Senussi, Saif al-Islam is also wanted by the ICC. He was at one time
considered more liberal than his father, but he reportedly led regime forces
involved in widespread atrocities during the uprising.
(source: United Press International)
MALAYSIA:
South African held for attempting to smuggle 4.9kg drugs
The Johor branch of the Royal Malaysian Customs detained a South African woman
at the Senai International Airport, here last Thursday for attempting to
smuggle in 4.9kg of methamphetamine, a kind of drug, worth almost RM1 million.
Johor Customs Deputy Director Abdullah Sidik said the 22-year-old woman, who
arrived on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight from Kuala Lumpur International
Airport (KLIA), was detained at about 11.10pm when a scan on her trolley bag
showed she was carrying a doubtful object.
"A closer check on the brown-coloured bag found 2 packages wrapped in tin foil
which were packed in a brown plastic sheet hidden on the left and right sides
of the bag.
"Further inspection revealed that the 2 packages contained crystal slabs
believed to be methamphetamine estimated to weigh 4.9kg and valued at
RM931,000," he told reporters, here today.
Abdullah said an investigation showed that the woman concerned was entering the
country for the 1st time.
She is being remanded until tomorrow under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous
Drugs Act 1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction, he
said.
(source: Malay Mail Online)
SINGAPORE:
Drug Couriers May Escape Singapore Gallows
2 convicted drug traffickers on death row in Singapore, including a Malaysian
citizen, may escape the gallows after prosecutors ruled Wednesday that they had
provided substantive assistance to police in fighting narcotics-related crime.
The decision means the men may become the 1st drug couriers in Singapore to
have their death sentences retroactively commuted, after the Southeast Asian
nation relaxed sentencing guidelines for lower-level drug trafficking in
January.
In a statement, the Attorney-General's Chambers said it would certify in court
that Yong Vui Kong - a 24-year-old Malaysian - and Subashkaran Pragasam - a
29-year-old Singaporean - had "substantively assisted the Central Narcotics
Bureau in disrupting drug trafficking activities within and outside Singapore."
If the 2 men can prove that they were merely couriers - as opposed to
ringleaders, manufacturers, distributors and sellers - Singapore courts would
have the discretion of punishing them with life sentences and at least 15
strokes of the cane, instead of the death penalty, the agency said.
Messrs. Yong and Subashkaran were in remand and couldn't be reached for
comment. Their lawyers said they would apply for their clients' death sentences
to be commuted.
Drug traffickers had typically faced a compulsory death sentence by hanging if
the drugs ferried were above specified amounts, though amended sentencing rules
now allow courts to hand down life sentences and caning penalties to convicted
drug couriers who provide "substantive assistance" to police or are proved to
have a mental disability. The revisions were implemented in part to encourage
couriers to spill information to authorities to assist in nailing higher-level
drug traffickers.
Some human-rights activists had welcomed the relaxed sentencing rule, calling
it the 1st step in tempering what they call an unnecessarily harsh
criminal-justice system. But others said the revised rule still gives
prosecutors excessive power in deciding whether accused persons face the death
penalty.
Mr. Yong was convicted in 2008 of trafficking 47.27 grams of heroin, following
his arrest a year earlier at age 19. Under Singapore law, people convicted of
trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin can be punished by death, and before
January, the death penalty was mandatory.
Mr. Yong's family and anti-death penalty activists subsequently mounted a
high-profile campaign to get him spared from the hangman. His lawyer, M. Ravi,
filed several appeals and legal challenges to his conviction and sentence,
which were unsuccessful but helped stay Mr. Yong's execution until the relaxed
sentencing guidelines were announced.
Mr. Subashkaran was arrested in 2008 and convicted in 2011 of trafficking at
least 186.62 grams of heroin. He lost an appeal against his conviction in
March, according to his lawyer, Tan Chuan Thye.
Lawyers for Messrs. Yong and Subashkaran said they were scheduled to appear in
court on Oct. 9 to discuss their clients' cases. It wasn't immediately clear
when the court would formally hear their resentencing applications.
Wednesday's decision came after a similar case in April, when a drug courier
was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, the 1st capital case to be
tried under the newly relaxed death-penalty regime. In that case, prosecutors
ruled that 29-year-old Abdul Haleem Abdul Karim had provided "substantive
assistance" to authorities, helping him qualify for a discretionary penalty.
Singapore inherited the death penalty from its former British colonial rulers
and first used capital punishment to control the spread of drugs in the 1970s.
Capital punishment also is applicable for murder, kidnapping and firearms
offenses, among other crimes.
Despite criticism from human-rights watchdogs, the ruling People's Action Party
has consistently defended its strong stance on crime and the death penalty,
arguing that capital punishment has helped keep Singapore's drug usage and
homicide rates among the lowest in the world.
Apart from drug-related offenses, Singapore also has revised mandatory death
sentences for murder cases, allowing judges the discretion to impose life
imprisonment on a person found guilty of murder if the individual was found
"not to have intended to cause death."
According to Attorney-General's Chambers, there are currently 26 persons on
death row for drug offenses who can apply to be resentenced under the new
penalty regime.
(source: Wall Street Journal)
**************************
2 convicted drug traffickers may be spared death penalty; Subashkaran Pragasam
and Yong Vui Kong, on death row for drug trafficking, may be spared the death
penalty after they were deemed to have substantively helped the CNB in
disrupting drug trafficking activities within and outside Singapore.
2 men currently on death row for drug trafficking may be spared the death
penalty after they were deemed to have substantively helped the Central
Narcotics Bureau in disrupting drug trafficking activities within and outside
Singapore.
Yong Vui Kong was convicted by the High Court in 2008 of trafficking 42.27
grammes of heroin and given the death sentence, which is mandatory for offences
involving more than 15 grammes of the drug.
Subashkaran Pragasam was sentenced to death in October last year for
trafficking 186.62 grammes of heroin.
The Public Prosecutor will now certify to the High Court that the men have
substantively assisted the authorities.
This means the court can hand down a life sentence with caning, instead of
hanging, if the men are able to prove they only played the role of couriers.
Yong and Subashkaran are the first 2 drug offenders on death row to be issued
the certificates of substantive assistance - under the amended Misuse of Drugs
Act.
In a statement, M Ravi, the lawyer who is acting for Yong, said that he will be
applying to the courts for his client to be re-sentenced.
"This news comes as a tremendous relief to me," he said.
There are currently 26 people who have been sentenced to death for drug
offences who can apply to be re-sentenced under the new regime.
The Attorney-General's Chambers said it will review every case where the person
wishes to apply to be re-sentenced under the new regime.
Amendments to the Act, as well as to the Penal Code, came into effect this
year.
The changes to the law removed the death penalty for certain types of homicide
and drug trafficking offences, in a move to temper justice with mercy.
Those who have been sentenced to death for such offences can apply to be
re-sentenced under the revised regime.
(source: ChannelNewsAsia)
PAKISTAN:
'Fear of Taliban' stops executions
The execution of three Taliban men ordered by the courts has been kept on hold
not because the Pakistani government opposes the death penalty but because it
fears the Taliban, political leaders say.
"Stoppage of executions by the government means that it has succumbed to
Taliban pressure," Awami National Party (ANP) leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain told
Inter Press Service. The government, he said, had "not been listening to the
demand of civil society organizations."
The ANP has long been targeted by the Taliban. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) killed about 800 ANP leaders and workers when the party was in government
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan (2008-2013) because of the party's
tough stand against them.
Hussain, a staunch opponent of the Taliban says that the militants have not
hesitated to carry out their own executions of innocent people in bomb and
suicide attacks, but now want to stop legal executions of their men.
"The Taliban have killed hundreds of people without trial but are now making a
hue and cry over the execution of their men who were convicted by courts,"
Hussain told IPS.
Three convicted terrorists from the extremist group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ)
were given the death sentence after the moratorium on the death sentence
brought in by former president Asif Ali Zardari ended on June 30 this year.
Attaullah Khan was awarded the death sentence in six cases by an anti-terrorism
court in Karachi on July 6, 2004. Mohammad Azam was sentenced to death in 4
cases by the same court on August 21. Jalal Shah was given the death sentence
for related offences.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has been urging the government to
extend the moratorium on the death penalty, but the government has not accepted
that demand. Pakistan has about 8,000 prisoners sentenced to death by hanging.
"The government scheduled executions of the 3 jihadists on August 20, 21 and 22
but deferred the decision at the last moment," Muhammad Irfan from the NGO
Freedom for All told IPS.
"The PML-N [the ruling Pakistan Muslim League] government is afraid of the TTP
due to which it has stopped the execution," he said.
Militant outfits under the umbrella of the TTP have been killing people and
forces in all provinces except Punjab. In the face of the execution order, the
Punjab chapter of the Taliban issued warnings for the 1st time that it would
carry out attacks in Punjab.
TTP spokesman Maulana Asmatullah Muavia said in a 1-page statement August 12
that the PML-N government "will have to pay a price" for execution of the
Taliban prisoners. "We have waged war against those political parties which
have become puppets in the hands of the military. Some elements in secret
agencies are trying to pitch the PML-N against Taliban," he said.
The TTP alleged that the government had issued the death warrant for TTP
prisoners under US pressure, and urged the government not to execute the men.
ANP leaders say the government is being soft on the Taliban because the Taliban
have been soft on Punjab. "Punjab has always been spared by the militants, who
targeted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh province because of the
Punjab's government's soft corner for militants," Senator Muhammad Adeel from
the Awami National Party told IPS.
"The TTP has warned the PML-N of ANP-like attacks if it went ahead with planned
executions of militants. Let's wait and see. So far, the Punjab government has
been in Taliban's good books."
Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is chief
minister of Punjab province. The LeJ, the Lashkar Toiba, Jamatu Dawa and other
militants' organizations are based in Punjab.
"Over the years, we have been demanding the Punjab government act against the
militants but instead of acting against these terrorist outfits, Punjab is
supporting them," Adeel said.
Ruling party leaders say the men were convicted by the courts, and the decision
lies with the courts. But few doubt that any decision will be politically
influenced.
The files for the execution orders of five more condemned prisoners from the
TTP had been forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office to be sent to the
president so that the death warrants could be issued, Interior Minister
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said.
Present indications are that the executions will not be carried out - but for
the wrong reasons, ANP leaders say.
(source: Inter Press Service)
***************
2 get death penalty for killing minor
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday awarded 3 times death sentence to 2
persons for kidnapping and killing a minor a year back. Judge Shoaib Khan of
the Anti-Terrorism Court, Swat, also imposed a fine of Rs0.1 million on each
culprit. Alam Khan and Sher Ahmad kidnapped 8-year-old Ahmad, son of Muhammad
Rashid, on April 23, 2012 and demanded a huge amount for the safe release of
the minor but the child had died in captivity of the kidnappers.
(source: The News)
BANGLADESH:
How the Bangladesh Supreme Court sentenced Jamaat leader to death; Law on war
crimes trial was amended after protests in major cities
The tribunal verdict against Abdul Qader Mollah in February had triggered
protracted street protests by 1971 veterans and youngsters who believed the
punishment was too lenient compared to the crimes he had committed.
The protests by the youths, who had staged round-the-clock, sit-in vigils for
weeks at the Shahbagh Ganojagaran Manch in the capital and protests in other
major cities, prompted the government to amend a law on war crimes trial which
earlier allowed the defence alone to challenge the tribunal verdicts at the
Supreme Court.
But Mollah's lawyers too challenged the amendment before the apex court, saying
the amended law would not be applicable in their client's case as it was made
after the tribunal verdict was delivered.
The verdict was delivered when Jamaat-e-Islami activists waged violent street
campaigns across the country and in pockets known to be their stronghold. Over
150 people were killed in the violence over the war crimes trial since February
this year.
During the course of the hearing, the apex court appointed seven senior lawyers
as amici curiae or "impartial advisers to a court in a particular case" to
suggest if the recent amendment to the law related to the war crimes trial
would be applicable in Mollah's case.
Jury's view
5 of the 7 jurists observed that the recent amendment to the International
Crimes Tribunal Act, which gives the government the right to appeal against any
verdict, should be applicable in Mollah's case as well.
Bangladesh witnessed the launch of the war crimes trial in 2010 in line with
the ruling Awami League's election pledges and so far, 2 International Crimes
Tribunals indicted over a dozen people, most of them Jamaat leaders.
2 of the accused were from Jamaat's crucial ally, the opposition party BNP, and
1 being a junior leader of the ruling Awami League. Prosecutors said
investigations were under way against a dozen more high-profile suspects.
The 2 tribunals have already handed down the death penalty to 4 suspects and
long-term or life imprisonments to 2 others, with all of them being Jamaat
stalwarts and one being an expelled Jamaat leader.
The trials were welcomed by tens of thousands who wanted justice for the
atrocities committed during the Liberation War on students and anti-war
protesters.
But the verdicts against Jamaat stalwarts plunged the country into political
violence, pitting the party activists with police and paramilitary forces since
the 1st sentence was awarded in January this year.
Officially, 3 million people were killed while the fundamentalist party
allegedly masterminded the murders of the country's leading intelligentsia,
including professors, doctors and journalists.
(source: Gulf News)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
Hunt for bandits who attacked trekking party in PNG
In Papua New Guinea's Morobe Province, police are still searching for two men
after an attack on a trekking group left three porters dead and six more in
hospital. 4 men have been arrested in connection with the attack on the popular
Black Cat track last week.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: ABC's PNG correspondent Liam Fox
FOX: Well the latest development in the whole spree was the movement of the
injured porters from the rundown and shabby Angoe Public Hospital in Lae to the
Private International, Lae International Private Hospital in Lae, that happened
not yesterday, the day before. I got back from Lae to Port Moresby late last
night and that was the latest development.
The injured porters, very badly injured, had really nasty gashes to their legs,
forearms, backs. They have been wallowing in this rundown public hospital for
nearly a week. Both they and their families and others who had gone to a lot of
effort to rescue them after the attack on the Black Cat Track last week were
really very unhappy that they had been left there and the treatment was pretty
poor. Like all hospitals in PNG, it's facilities, it's dark, it's medicine
stocks were pretty limited, it took several days before the porters were able
to undergo surgery just to clean their wounds, not treat their wounds, just
clean them. So lots of people very unhappy that they had been left there.
The trekking company, PNG Trekking Adventures, their employer finally moved
them to the private hospital and as of yesterday, I went into the private
hospital and saw them and was told by PNG Trekking Adventures that 2 underwent
surgery yesterday and the rest were expected to quickly follow. So that was
some good news in what has been a tragic story.
COUTTS: And are all the others injured, are they are all likely to survive?
FOX: That's hard to say at this stage. The two, speaking to Mark Hitchcock from
PNG Trekking Adventures, he believes that will be the case. He said that this
private hospital, the Lae International, has the facilities and the staff that
can not only treat their wounds, but also provide the rehabilitation they're
going to need to be able to walk again. These are guys that have had their calf
muscles slashed, deep, deep gashes in their calf muscles, their ankle tendons,
the achilles tendon slashed as well. They're not going to need just surgery.
They're going to need months and months of rehabilitation just to walk again.
And Mark Hitchcock from PNG Trekking Adventures believes that this hospital
does have those facilities.
COUTTS: Now, the relatives and friends of the porters that have died and who
are injured and still in hospital say there's a bit of a racist element to it
and that the company should have treated everyone the same, so they say they
treated 'the whities', and that was the expression that I heard on television
last night, better than the porters and the company now is defending their
response to the tragedy?
FOX: That's right, that certainly was the feelings of the locals, particularly
their families when they were wallowing in the public hospital in Lae, that the
trekkers, the Australians who were, compared to the porters relatively minor,
sustained relatively minor injuries. The porters really bore the brunt of the
attack. 2 were killed at the time and one died in hospital later, while the
Australians only sustained bruises and lacerations, not to say that what they
didn't go through was not traumatic. It must have been, but the porters bore
the brunt of the physical injuries. Yet from the viewpoint of the locals, the
Australians were quickly whisked back to Australia. They've been able to
receive Australian-standard medical attention. I think it was on Sunday night,
Saturday or Sunday night there was a contrast in the stories on the ABC News
that night between one of the trekkers who'd gone back and was in hospital. He
had what appeared to be sitting in a king size hospital bed in a very clean
room with nice clean bandages, while these guys in the Angoe Hospital in Lae
had dirty bandages, sitting in filthy rooms, and people were very angry about
the difference in the treatment between the Australians and the locals and from
what I saw in that hospital, you can fully understand why they felt that.
COUTTS: Now the 2 still at large, police obviously know who they are. Are they
any closer to getting hold of them?
FOX: Well, throughout this ordeal, we travelled to both Wau at the start of the
Black Cat Track and to Lae, of course, to see how things were on the ground.
By and large, everyone has been happy to speak to us, all except the Provincial
Police Commander in Lae, Mr Lame. He shouted at us twice to leave him alone and
not to speak to him. Despite us ringing the Police Commissioner in Port
Moresby's office and asking if we can speak to the PPC and being told that yes
we can speak to the Provincial Police Commander, we've been shouted to leave
him alone when we've gone to try and do an interview. So look, it's pretty hard
to find out what the police are up to, other than statements coming out of the
Police Commissioner in Moresby's office. We simply weren't able to find out
officially what was going on, because the Provincial Police Commander in Lae
apparently, doesn't like the media and doesn't want to talk to us. What we do
know is that they believe that there are 2 suspects still at large, 4 have been
arrested. We've been told through the Police Commission in Port Moresby's
office that there are 30 officers from the Police Mobile Squad still hunting
for those two suspects believed to be still at large. The 4 that have been
arrested have been interviewed in Lae and we understand from talking to PNG
Trekking Adventures that the police have requested that they provide them with
lists of all the items that were stolen during the attack. So it appears that
no charges have yet been laid. But because the police hierarchy in Lae won't
talk to us, we haven't been able to find out whether police have been able to
determine a motive to the attack, whether those suspects who are in custody
have admitted to it and other details like that.
COUTTS: Now Liam, Prime Minister O'Neill has called for the death penalty if
these attackers are found guilty. Is that still on the table?
FOX: Look, it's definitely it's still on the table. Parliament has passed laws
that have effectively reinstated the death penalty and increased the number of
crimes that can be punished by the death penalty, those include murder and
aggravated robbery. The only issue is that PNG is yet to determine how it's
actually going to carry out the death penalty. Perhaps given that the wheels of
justice can turn pretty slowly in PNG, perhaps that might happen by the time
these guys go to a trial and that trial is resolved. But at this stage, PNG's
yet to determine how it's actually going to carry out an execution whether that
be firing squad or by hanging or by electrocution. They simply don't have the
means that right now to be able to carry out the death penalty.
COUTTS: Well, everyone is still preoccupied with the tragedy and the
viciousness of this attack. I'm wondering yet has attention turned to what
impact it might have on tourism?
FOX: Oh look, everyone in the trekking industry, not only in those companies
that go along the Black Cat Track, but other operators, but operators on the
Kokoda Track, which is far, far more popular and sees far, far more people walk
along it. They're all worried that they're going to feel the impact.
I spoke to one trekking company shortly after the attack last week. They're
very worried and they're very worried with good reason, after the plane crash
in 2009 on the Kokoda Track in which 13 people were killed, including 9
Australian trekkers, there was a massive slump in the number of people who came
to Kokoda to walk the track, huge numbers of cancellations. And, in fact, those
numbers haven't, the numbers haven't recovered back to the state that they were
before 2009, even today. So people are very worried. It's one of those
incidents that just reinforce stereotype that people have worked out hard to
counter, that is PNG is a dangerous, lawless land - so people are very worried,
yes.
(source: Radio Australia)
INDIA:
Rapists and mass rape instigators; India's Dastardly Double Standards
None but the most myopic or Hindu chauvinists could have failed to note the
supreme irony in the 2 major events that took place in New Delhi on Friday, 13
September 2013: the sentencing to death of 4 men for the rape and murder of a
woman on 16 December 2012 and the anointing as prime ministerial candidate of
the man who is accused of orchestrating mass rapes and massacres of Muslims in
Gujarat in February 2002.
While sentencing the 4, Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna defended the
application of the Supreme Court's "rarest of rare" test as set out in Bachan
Singh vs State of Punjab (1983), by saying it "largely depends on the
perception of society". In other words the judge was saying courts would be
swayed by public opinion. Incidentally, in Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, the same
day, Special Judge Devendra Singh sentenced 3 people to death finding them
guilty of setting fire to a bus in 2011 in which 15 people were killed. There
are said to be 477 people on death row as of now. That is how rare the
application of the death penalty has been.
The sentencing came a day ahead of the eighth anniversary, so to speak, of the
last time a man was executed in India for rape and murder - Dhananjoy
Chatterjee. Following his hanging on 14 August 2004, there was a hiatus until
21 November 2012 when the Pakistani militant Ajmal Kasab was executed for his
role in the 2008 attacks in Bombay in which more than 160 people were killed.
On 9 February 2013 Afzal Guru, the Kashmiri who was convicted of the 2001
Parliament attack, was executed. The highly dubious trial and appeal process in
the Afzal Guru case has been rightly condemned. In its order the Supreme Court
of India said "the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if
the capital punishment is awarded to the offender".
That collective conscience was invoked by Judge Khanna too: "The subjecting of
the prosecutrix to inhuman acts of torture before her death had not only
shocked the collective conscience, but calls for the withdrawal of the
protective arm of the community around the convicts."
Indian collective conscience, however, tends to remain relatively unperturbed
when men, including members of the armed forces, the paramilitaries and the
police, rape women from Dalit, Muslim, Adivasi, Christian and Northeast Indian
communities.
As recently as on 24 August 2013, a 20-year-old Dalit woman was raped and
murdered. After agitations led by the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch, a
special investigation was ordered but it seems to be getting nowhere.
Meanwhile, self-styled guru Asaram Bapu, 72, who was taken into custody after
widespread campaigns over allegations that he had raped a 16-year-old girl in
his Jodhpur ashram recently, has moved for bail.
Indian soldiers who gang-raped at least 53 women at Kunan Poshpura, Kashmir, in
February 1991 have not stood trial. In fact the Indian state is in denial on
that incident and civil society has mostly gone along with the official stance.
Soni Sori, an Adivasi school teacher in Chattisgarh, was allegedly tortured and
sexually abused in 2011. The police officer who oversaw her ill-treatment
received a "gallantry award". In August 2008, Hindu fanatics targeted
Christians in Orissa after the killing of a Hindu leader. Scores of people were
killed and a number of women subject to sexual assaults. The state government
has not bothered to address the grievances of the survivors.
Large-scale rapes and killings by Indian armed forces in Manipur have gone
unnoticed by courts of law despite the fact that two panels headed by noted
judges - Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy and Justice Santosh Hegde - have looked into
the massive human rights violations taking place in the state and recommended
scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The Justice J.S. Verma
Committee which was constituted in the wake of the December 16 incident also
recommended review of the Act.
These examples are but a mere tiny sample of the horrendous and daily instances
of atrocities against women, not to speak of children and men too, taking place
in India.
What of the man anointed as prime ministerial candidate by the Hindu chauvinist
Bharatiya Janata Party?
A number of human rights activists and NGOs have documented details of the
anti-Muslim pogrom unleashed under Modi's chief ministership in Gujarat in
2002. Just one quote from one of those reports might suffice to hint at the
horror of those days: 'Community leaders, NGO activists and journalists report
an increase in their own fear and insecurity about being targeted next. In many
villages women activists are being told, "We know where you live, we know you
go to the field alone, what happened to the Muslim women can also happen to
you."
Even a television personality of perhaps a similar caste-class background as
Modi's, namely Karan Thapar, failed to draw him out as regards the 2002 events.
When the questions got uncomfortable for Modi, he simply took off his mike and
left. Modi's cowardly exit from the interview is, to say the least, an
embarrassing spectacle of the ability of a man who would be prime minister to
handle pressures.
Gujarat 2002 was hardly the 1st of India's pogroms and mass rape incidents. In
1984, following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her 2 Sikh
bodyguards, there were many more killings and rapes. Some of the main
organisers - Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath and Sajjan Kumar - have yet to face
justice.
Some of the vitriol dispensed by upper caste Hindus since the 13 September
verdict in the case of the 16 December 2012 gang rape makes for depressing
reading. It is highly likely that there is a close correlation between those
favouring the death penalty for the Delhi rape-cum-murder convicts and the
supporters of Modi's anointment as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
A much closer correlation could no doubt be discerned between the pro-Modi
crowd and those who rejoiced following the hangings of Ajmal Kasab and Afzal
Guru.
The ruling Congress party seems to feel itself to be under some compulsion to
appear more robust compared to the BJP in matters of internal security. And the
current occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan clearly has a penchant for signing the
death warrants put up to him by the home ministry. Given this trend, the
numbers on death row might only grow exponentially.
It will require major mobilisations on the part of human rights activists in
the country and international pressure to make the regime see reason.
(source: Opinion, N. Jayaram; The author is a journalist and writes a blog:
http://walkerjay.wordpress.com/-----The Kashmir Times)
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