June 28
GHANA:
Ghanaians advised to participate in national referendum
A member of the Constitution Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) and a
Legislative Drafting Consultant, Mrs Estelle Appiah, has advised Ghanaians to
actively participate in the upcoming national referendum.
The referendum, which will be organised jointly with the district and
metropolitan assemblies, follows a recommendation by the CRIC.
Mrs Appiah was speaking at the Central Regional stakeholders briefing of the
work done by the CRIC at Elmina.
She said at least 40 % of the voting population was expected to vote in the
referendum, of which 75 % out of the 40 % was to vote in favour.
She added that the committee was planning to issue 2 separate questions to deal
specifically with the death penalty and other issues.
Mrs Appiah said the committee had recommended the scrapping of the death
penalty to be replaced with life imprisonment.
She said after the 75 % of the voters had agreed to the amendment, the bill
would be sent to Parliament for it to be passed and then the President would
give his assent for it to become a law.
The Constitution Review Commission (CRC) was set up on January 11, 2010 to
consult with the people of Ghana on the operation of the 1992 constitution and
on any changes that need to be made to the constitution.
In accordance with Article 280 (1) of the constitution, the CRC submitted its
report to the government on December 20, 2011.
Mrs Appiah said the decision in the amendment was arrived at after reviewing
83,000 submissions from the general public and also consulting various
stakeholders.
She said the committee had already dispatched about 4,000 copies of its
recommendations to district assemblies, religious bodies, non-governmental
organisations, schools and professional institutions, among others.
She said the recommendations included granting paternity leave to fathers,
revision of retiring age, non-renewable tenure of executives of independent
constitutional bodies, restricting traditional rulers from taking part in
politics and giving the Media Commission more power to effectively manage the
media.
Presidential pardon
Mrs Appiah, who talked about the amendments to be done to the entrenched and
non-entrenched bills, said the committee had also limited the presidential
prerogative of mercy to certain offences.
She added that the President could not pardon offences such as genocide,
treason, narcotics, murder and armed robbery.
Swearing in of President
Mrs Appiah said the committee recommended that the President-elect should be
sworn in before the constitution of a new Parliament.
She added that the Chief Justice's sole responsibility of swearing in the
president had been widened to include high court judges.
That, she said, would make the swearing in of the President easier even when
the Chief Justice is not around.
Mrs Appiah said under the recommendations, when a president was taken ill, the
Vice-President would be sworn in as the acting President until the President
recovered from his illness.
She added that after the President had been confirmed by a board of medical
team that he or she could not recover from his or her illness, the
Vice-President would be sworn in as the active President.
District elections
Mrs Appiah said the committee had scrapped the system where the President
directly appointed district and metropolitan chief executives and made
provisions for the President to appoint 5 persons to be voted for in elections
in the various assemblies.
She said that would bring trust in the work of the chief executives.
(source: GhanaWeb)
IRAN----executions
Mass execution of 11 prisoners in Ghezelhesar Prison of Iran
On June 26, at least eleven prisoners from Wings 1, 2, 3 and 8 of Cell Block 2
of Ghezelhesar Prison were hanged in Karaj, according to HRDAI. The executed
prisoners were between 25 and 40 years of age.
12 prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement in prison prior to the
execution on Wednesday, June 25. 11 of them were then executed the next
morning, but the execution of 1 of them, named Ghasem, was postponed.
The names of some of the prisoners executed today are as follows:
1. Islam (surname unknown), from Wing 1, Cell Block 2.
2. Mahdi A'layi, 30 years old, was a prisoner of about 2 years in Wing 2, Cell
Block 2.
3. KarimAziz Zadeh, 40 years old, was a prisoner of approximately 4 years in
Wing 2,Cell Block 2.
4. Bahram Rezvan Panah, 40 years old, was a prisoner of more than 2 years in
Wing 2, Cell Block 2.
5. Mohammad Eghbal, 31 years old, was a prisoner of approximately 1 1/2 years
in Wing 2, Cell Block 2.
6. Karim Bagheri, 35 years old, was a prisoner of 2 years in Wing 2, Cell Block
2.
7. Davood Karami, 40 years old, was a prisoner of more than 3 years in Wing 2,
Cell Block 2.
8. Borzoo Khosravi, 28 years old, was a prisoner of approximately 5 years in
Wing 3, Cell Block 2. 9. Kiomars Gholami, 25 years old, was a prisoner of more
than 10 months in Wing 3, Cell Block 2. 10. Siamak Heidari , 27 years old, from
Wing 3 , Cell Block 2.
The official Iranian sources haven't reported these executions yet. The charges
for which the prisoners were sentenced to death have not been confirmed yet.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
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