Nov. 15
BANGLADESH:
Death Sentence on Quader Mollah----Pressure being created for quick execution
Barrister Abdur Razzaq, chief defence counsel for the war crimes accused,
yesterday said pressure was being created for quick execution of the Supreme
Court’s death penalty verdict against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader
Mollah for crimes in 1971.
He raised the allegation while briefing reporters at Supreme Court Bar
Association, but refused to say who were putting and facing the “pressure”. “No
further comments on that,” he said.
Razzaq said Quader Mollah would file a review petition with the SC against the
verdict in 30 days after getting the certified copy of the judgement. Law will
run its own course after the adjudication of the review petition, he added.
If the SC rejects the review petition, the verdict cannot be executed before 21
days from the day of rejection, Razzaq said. “We hope to get all legal
facilities.”
On September 17, the SC awarded death penalty to Quader Mollah for committing
crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. The court is yet to release
the full verdict.
Yesterday, Razzaq also termed “unprecedented” a tribunal’s move to conclude the
proceedings of the war crimes case against Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami.
The order was against the rule of law and inconsistent with law, he said.
Against the backdrop of continuous failure of the defence counsels to appear in
court, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Wednesday wrapped up the case
against Nizami and kept it waiting for verdict any day, rejecting a petition
for a further adjournment.
(source: The Daily Star)
IRAN:
Director Ghobadi urge Iran to end executions of Kurds
Kurdish director Bahman Ghobadi has written an open letter to Iran’s president
Hassan Rouhani, urging him to stop the execution of Kurds.
The letter, posted on Ghobadi’s official Facebook page, warns the Iranian
leader that the on-going hangings could lead to more acts of violence. “Your
election posters still hung on city walls when news of the hangings reached us,
and the people’s hope turned to despair. The recent hangings have opened old
wounds that come from years of torture,” writes Ghobadi.
According to Kurdish media, Iranian authorities have hanged more than ten
Kurdish political prisoners in just a few weeks, this has lead to international
condemnation. “It feels like yesterday that you wished for the jails to be
emptied of prisoners. But it seems that the process of emptying the jails was
not on the basis of freeing the prisoners, but on sending them to the hanging
ropes. Your talks about ending the question of ‘national security’ have turned
out to be the same empty talks, rooted in publicity and harmful to the already
damaged Iranian.” Ghobadi concluded his appeal by saying: “I ask you to stop
the hangings and instead provide possibility for a just trial for all political
prisoners. Do not mark an ambiguous and dangerous future for Iran through
suppression and violence.” The independent filmmaker sought refuge in Iraq and
then Turkey, three and a half years ago, and has been in exile since. Several
actors and directors have had to flee Iran in order to pursue their art
undisturbed.
Ghobadi's first feature film was A Time for Drunken Horses (2000), the first
Kurdish film produced in Iran. The film won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film
Festival. His second feature was Marooned in Iraq (2002), which brought him the
Gold Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival. His third feature,
Turtles Can Fly, followed in 2004, winning the Glass Bear and Peace Film Award
at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Golden Shell at the San
Sebastian International Film Festival.
In 2006, Ghobadi's Half Moon won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian
International Film Festival. Iran's renowned actors Golshifteh Farahani, Hassan
Poorshirazi and Hedyeh Tehrani acted in this movie. The music of the movie was
made by Iran's musician Hossein Alizadeh. The film, which was a collaborative
project by Iran, France, Austria and Iraq, was shot fully in Iranian Kurdistan.
However, it narrates the story of a group of Iranian Kurdish musicians who
would like to travel to Iraqi Kurdistan and organize a concert there.
In 2006, Index on Censorship gave Ghobadi an Index Film Award for making a
significant contribution to freedom of expression through his film Turtles Can
Fly.
In May 2009, his film No One Knows About Persian Cats won an Un Certain Regard
Special Jury Prize ex-aequo when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This
film chronicles the hardships facing young Iranian musicians seeking to evade
censorship.
(source: Firat News)
EGYPT:
Egypt to resume trials on December 11
The trial of the Muslim Brotherhood chief and his deputies on charges related
to protest deaths will resume on December 11, judicial sources said yesterday,
after the previous judges withdrew.
The 3 judges who had presided over the trial of Mohamed Badie and 34
co-defendants, including his two deputies, recused themselves on October 29 for
what they said were “reasons of conscience”.
Badie and his two deputies, Khairat al Shater and Rashad al Bayoumi, face
charges of inciting the murders of nine protesters who stormed the
Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters on June 30.
If found guilty, they could face the death penalty.
3 other accused also face murder charges while 29 are charged with
participating in acts of violence.
Millions of protesters on June 30 called for the ouster of president Mohamed
Mursi, accusing him of working for the sole benefit of the Brotherhood, ruining
an already dilapidated economy and monopolising power following the 2011
overthrow of long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.
Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was ousted by the army
on July 3.
His supporters deny such allegations and point to the Muslim Brotherhood’s
victories in elections held after Mubarak’s overthrow.
Mursi himself was put on trial on November 4.
Badie also faces another trial starting on December 9 on new “incitement to
murder” charges.
Badie and other leaders of the grouping including Essam al Erian and Mohammed
al Beltagui face charges of inciting violence in the Cairo neighbourhood of
Bahr al Aazam that led to deadly clashes in July.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
MALAYSIA:
TIME FOR M'SIA TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY: Learn from Vui Kong's case & emulate
S'pore
After a lengthy 4 year appeal, Sabahan Yong Vui Kong today escaped the gallows
to have his death penalty commuted to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the
cane. 25 year old Yong formerly acted as a drug mule to smuggle drugs from
Malaysia to Singapore.
He was 18 and a half years old when he committed the offense, barely falling
within Singapore's mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking. Last November
Singapore amended its Misuse of Drugs Act to allow the judge discretion in
sentencing if particular conditions are met, i.e. the offender was only a
courier, cooperation substantially with investigations.
How now, M'sia?
Yong is a beneficiary of this change to the Singaporean law.
Yong's high profile case has put the death penalty in the spotlight once again.
Malaysia is one of the 58 countries in the world that still practice corporal
punishment, an issue which I have raised in Parliament several times.
From the Parliamentary replies which I have received, as of 10 June 2013, there
are 964 offenders who have been sentenced under the death penalty. This shows a
marked increase from the 696 death row prisoners as of 22 February 2011.
Between 1960 and February 2011, Malaysia has executed 441 persons.
The Singaporean court in the case of Yong Vui Kong acknowledged that the
mandatory death sentence is considered a cruel, degrading and inhuman
punishment. It is time that this is also recognised by the Malaysian court.
I call upon the Malaysian government to emulate Singapore and amend our laws to
allow discretionary sentencing in cases of mandatory death sentences with a
long term view to abolish the death penalty.
The government must make good its promise in October 2012 when then de facto
Law Minister Nazri Aziz announced that the Attorney General's Chambers would
consider imposing jail terms for drug offenses, instead of the death penalty.
(source: Malaysia Chronicle)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Events at LJMU
An introduction to the US Death Penalty
Date: 18 November 2013
Time: 11:00 am
Venue: LJMU Redmonds Building, Large Lecture Theatre, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool
Amicus University Lecture Series 2013
An introduction to the US Death Penalty and how Amicus Interns can help with
Mark George QC.
There are over 3,000 people currently on death row in the United States.
They are universally poor, many have serious mental health issues, and others
were victims of racial bias during their trial. Large numbers are represented
by inadequate counsel. Many will be innocent; since 1973, 142 people have been
exonerated.
For more information visit www.amicus-alj.org or email ad...@amicus-alj.org
Amicus is a charity a relies of donations to continue its work.
Contact email: ad...@amicus-alj.org
Contact number for further information: 0151 231 5000
Postcode for sat nav/maps: L3 5UG
Website: http://www.amicus-alj.org/index.php
Venue website: http://www.ljmu.ac.uk
(source: Liverpool John Moores University)
CHINA:
Japan city politician arrested on China drugs charges
A Japanese politican faces the death sentence in China after he was arrested on
drug charges. — AFP picTOKYO, Nov 15 — A 70-year-old local Japanese politician
has been arrested in China on drugs charges, officials said today, in a case
that could draw the death penalty.
The septuagenarian, who was detained in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou,
had three kilos of what are suspected to be illegal stimulants, Japanese
officials said, citing Chinese authorities.
Today, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei confirmed that Takuma
Sakuragi was detained on October 31 at Baiyun airport “for carrying drugs with
him”.
“He is now being detained in the detention centre of Guangdong province,” Hong
added.
Officials in the central Japanese city of Inazawa said Sakuragi is city
councillor who was in China for his private trading business.
A council spokesman said Sakuragi has denied the charges.
The case comes after four Japanese nationals were executed in China in 2010 for
carrying illegal drugs.
Possession of 50 or more grammes of so-called stimulant drugs such as
methamphetamine can draw the death penalty in China, which is known for its
harsh drug laws.
Japanese media quoted a longtime associate of Sakuragi as saying the five-term
city politician may have been framed due to his hardline stance on diplomacy
with neighbours China and South Korea.
Tokyo is embroiled in separate territorial rows with Beijing and Seoul which
routinely accuse Japan of failing to atone for its military aggression during
the first half of the 20th Century.
“I am very surprised (at the arrest)”, the suspect's associate Kenji Sasaki
told Japan's Jiji Press news agency.
“There might be some political angle to this case.”
(source: The Malay Mail Online)
*************
China to reduce capital punishment "step by step"
China will reduce the number of crimes subject to death penalty "step by step,"
said a key policy document of the Communist Party of China (CPC) published
Friday.
The decision on major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reforms was
approved by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee on
Tuesday and its full text was published Friday.
(source: Xinhua)
SINGAPORE:
Many laud decision to commute death sentence
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman is thrilled with the Singapore court
decision to spare Yong Vui Kong the death sentence.
“I am really happy to hear the good news. His case is a lesson to all our
youngsters to stay away from bad company and not be tempted into getting
involved in drugs and other illegal activities,” Anifah said yesterday.
Anifah had brought up the issue of Vui Kong with his counterparts in Singapore
on several occasions but had maintained that Malaysia respected the laws of
Singapore.
In Kuala Lumpur, groups which campaigned to save Yong also hailed the decision.
Amnesty International (Asia-Pacific) director Isabelle Arradon, in a statement,
said the group was still concerned because it opposed the death penalty.
“Furthermore, Amnesty International is concerned about reports that the
verdict stated that Yong would receive 15 strokes of the cane,” said Arradon,
adding that Amnesty was strongly opposed to judicial caning.
A brief message was also posted on the “Save Vui Kong” Facebook page.
“Good news that Vui Kong is now off death row, but we are troubled by the
caning.
“Thanks everyone who supported us in this campaign, it is a small victory worth
celebrating,” the message read.
(source: The Star)
INDONESIA:
British Ex-Cop Andrea Waldeck, 43, Faces Death Penalty In Indonesia After
Admitting She Brought Meth Into Country
For the second time in a year, a middle-aged British woman faces the death
penalty for smuggling drugs into Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country with some
of the world’s most severe anti-drug laws.
Gloucestershire native Andrea Waldeck, 43, is a former police community support
officer. She was arrested in a Surabaya, East Java, hotel room in April after
Indonesian police followed her from the airport on a tip that she was carrying
drugs.
They found her carrying about 52 ounces of methamphetamine, with an estimated
value of just under $5,000, in her underwear.
Appearing in court earlier this week, Waldeck admitted bringing the drugs into
the country. Indonesian prosecutors say that she is part of an “evil
conspiracy” involving Indonesian drug gangs. They asked for Waldeck to die by
firing squad.
Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 25.
Waldeck left the Gloucestershire police force in February of 2012. She claimed
that she was coerced into carrying the drugs from China.
An earlier report in the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper said that Waldeck had
declared bankruptcy in 2009, claiming debts of £120,000, or just over $190,000.
She has said that her boyfriend, who lives in China, forced her to bring the
methamphetamine, known as Shabu Shabu in Indonesia, into the country where they
would be sold to a particular individual.
Another British woman, 56-year-old grandmother Lindsay June Sandiford lost an
appeal of her death sentence in August. Sandiford was convicted of transporting
more than 10 pounds of cocaine — worth over $2 million — into the popular
resort island of Bali, which is part of Indonesia.
There are currently 140 death row inmates in Indonesian prisons, many of them
sentenced on drug charges. Indonesia has executed five foreigners for drug
offenses since 1998.
Death row inmates often languish in prison for years before being quietly
transported to some remote location and shot.
(source: Opposing Views)
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