July 5
PHILIPPINES:
DOJ reiterates objection to death penalty
The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday reiterated its opposition to the
re-imposition of the death penalty, saying it would not lower crime statistics.
"Justice that kills is not justice. The imposition of capital punishment has no
positive impact on crime prevention or security and does not in any way repair
the harm done to the victims and their families. The department believes that
it cannot and should not exist where the conditions for determining guilt or
innocence is so imperfect," the DOJ said in a recent statement.
"There is no quick or instant solution to this problem," it added.
As far as drug trafficking is concerned, the DOJ assured the public they are
one with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dangerous Drugs Board
in pushing for bold anti-drug initiatives. It cited the need for a new system
of exchange of information, aggressive drug law enforcement activities and
socio-economic programs.
The DOJ said it recognizes the importance of bringing a human rights
perspective to the national drug control regime.
'For life against death'
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also stood firm on
its position "for life and against death" amid calls for the restoration of the
death penalty.
CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said death penalty
is cruel and inhumane in view of the "terrible anxiety and psychological
distress" of a person awaiting execution.
"It has been rightly said that the anticipation of impending death is more
terrible a torture than suffering death itself," he said.
He said the members of the family of condemned persons, including children, are
also stigmatized, "bearing with them the price of a crime they never
committed."
"The Gospel we preach is a Gospel of Life, but the position we take is
defensible even on non-religious grounds," he added.
Villegas said justice does not demand the death penalty, adding that a mature
sense of justice steers as far as possible from retribution.
"There is something terribly self-contradictory about the death penalty, for it
is inflicted precisely in social retaliation to the violence unlawfully wielded
by offenders. But in carrying out the death penalty, the state assumes the very
posture of violence that it condemns," he said.
Villegas also cited the imperfection of the judicial system, citing how some
judges allow extra-legal considerations to taint their judgment.
(source: Philippine Star)
TRINIDAD:
Rowley hits 'dangerous talk' in war on crime
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has said that declaring war in crime fight
was "dangerous talk".
"You see all this talk about war and fighting and so on, that is just so much
talk, in fact it is dangerous talk," said Rowley.
He was speaking as the specially invited guest at a breakfast meeting hosted by
the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC) at Signature Hall,
Longdenville, on Thursday.
CCIC president Richie Sookhai expressed concern about the increasing number of
murders in the country and the unresolved assassination of prominent senior
counsel Dana Seetahal.
He questioned whatever happened to the crime talks between the Government and
the Opposition and called for a re-examination of the death penalty.
Rowley, clearly referring to National Security Minister Gary Griffith's
statements that there is a war against the criminals elements, said the police
have to do their jobs.
"The sensible response will always have to be policing is the response to
law-breaking in Trinidad and Tobago, not war," he said.
He said further that attempts to shoot all persons who police suspect are
criminals will only serve to create distrust in communities against the police.
Rowley said the Opposition had presented a ten-point plan to the Government and
was always fully prepared to cooperate.
He said in that plan was the recommendation to appoint a permanent Commissioner
of Police (CoP) and scrap the cumbersome process that is currently used to make
the appointment
On Sookhai's call for the death penalty, Rowley said that the problem is not
the death penalty but the low crime detection rate.
The death penalty, he said, was the law of the land.
He said if the Opposition had supported the Government's Hanging Bill, no
person would have been hanged in this country.
(source: Trinidad Express)
ETHIOPIA:
Ethiopia Ginbot 7 leader facing death penalty 'extradited from Yemen'
An Ethiopian opposition leader, who was sentenced to death while in exile for
plotting a coup, has been extradited from Yemen to Ethiopia, his group says.
Andargachew Tsege, who is also a British national, is secretary-general of the
banned Ginbot 7 movement.
The Ethiopian government allegedly requested his extradition after he was
arrested in Yemen last month.
European MEP Ana Gomes told the BBC the UK needed to use its political leverage
to ensure his release.
The Ethiopian government has not commented on the alleged extradition.
'Deep concerns'
US-based Ginbot 7 spokesman Ephrem Madebo told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio
programme that Mr Andargachew had been on his way from the United Arab Emirates
to Eritrea when he was detained during a stopover at Sanaa airport.
Mr Ephrem said that he had spoken to Mr Andargachew's family who had been
contacted by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Thursday.
British officials told the family that the Yemeni ambassador to the UK had
informed them that Mr Andargachew had been handed over to Ethiopia, Mr Ephrem
said.
In a statement the UK Foreign Office said it was aware that Mr Andargachew had
been missing in Yemen since 24 June.
"Since then UK officials have pressed the Yemeni authorities at senior levels
to establish his whereabouts, including meeting with the Yemeni ambassador in
London this week," a Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement.
"We are aware of reports that he may now be in Ethiopia and we are urgently
seeking confirmation from the relevant authorities given our deep concerns
about the case. We are continuing to provide consular assistance to his
family."
'Major donor'
Ms Gomes, who led the European Union observer mission to Ethiopia during the
2005 elections, said she had written to UK Foreign Secretary William Hague
about the case.
"If the British government is not complicit with this kidnapping and this
rendition of Mr Andargachew Tsigue to the Ethiopian regime - [which] will
obviously torture him, accuse him of all sorts of things and eventually kill
him - then the British government has to get immediately the release of Mr
Andargachew," she told BBC Focus on Africa.
"If there is a country that is extremely influential in Ethiopia, it is Britain
- it's a major donor and it's a major political backer of the regime in
Ethiopia."
Mr Ephrem said that the UK government should have intervened in the case
earlier.
"The UK government looks like a collaborator because the UK government never
acted," he said, adding that it was ridiculous to consider Mr Andergachew a
terrorist.
"To the Ethiopian government even bloggers are terrorists [and] journalists are
terrorists," he said.
Ginbot 7 (15 May) was named after the date of the 2005 elections, which were
marred by protests over alleged fraud that led to the deaths of about 200
people.
In 2009, the year before the last elections, Mr Andergachew was among a group
of Ginbot 7 leaders sentenced to death in absentia for planning to assassinate
government officials; they denied the charges.
(source: BBC news)
EGYPT:
37 Islamists given life sentences, mufti confirms death penalty for 10----10
out of 48 defendants sentenced to death in June have had their sentences upheld
by Egypt's grand mufti
37 out of 48 defendants accused of inciting violence and blocking the Qalyoub
Highway last year were given life sentences Saturday.
Another 10 defendants, sentenced to death in absentia in June, had their
verdicts approved by the country's grand mufti, who according to Egyptian law
must review all capital punishment verdicts.
1 defendant was given 3 years in jail.
Among those sentenced to life are Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed
Badie, and leading Brotherhood members Mohamed El-Beltagy and Osama Yassin.
The prosecution also accused the defendants of being members in a terrorist
group, vandalising public and private properties, illegal possession of arms,
and disrupting the general peace.
The case centred on clashes that took place where 2 were killed and 13 injured
after Qalyoub Highway was blocked in the wake of the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in
July 2013.
This is not the 1st mass death sentence announced against Morsi loyalists, who
have been arrested in the thousands since last August.
In March, Minya Criminal Court in Upper Egypt sentenced 529 Brotherhood
supporters to death on charges of murdering the deputy commander of the Matay
district police station during riots that erupted in the aftermath of the
forced dispersal in August 2013 of Islamist protest camps in Cairo and Giza
that left hundreds dead.
Militant attacks against security forces escalated since the ouster of Mohamed
Morsi, leaving more than 500 officers and soldiers dead.
The Muslim Brotherhood has repeatedly denied involvement in the violence. The
group was declared a terrorist organisation last December.
(source: Ahram Online)
GLOBAL:
UN Secretary-General Calls For Abolition Of Death Penalty
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has called on UN member states to
abolish the death penalty, saying it has no place in the 21st century.
Ban made the call at a special event hosted here Wednesday by the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Italian Mission to the UN.
The UN General Assembly in 2007 voted 104 to 54 in favour of a resolution which
calls for a global moratorium on the practice, but unlike a Security Council
resolution is not legally binding on countries.
While a General Assembly text in 2007 called for the practice to be
progressively restricted, the UN has long held that the death penalty be
universally abolished.
"I am particularly troubled by the application of the death penalty for
offences that do not meet the threshold under international human rights law of
'most serious crimes', including drug-related offences, consensual sexual acts
and apostasy," Ban said.
"I am also concerned with legislation in 14 states that permit the death
penalty on children as well as the new phenomenon of sentencing large groups of
individuals to death in mass trials."
Last month, an Egyptian Court confirmed death sentences on 183 Muslim
Brotherhood supporters accused of an attack on a police station in 2013.
According to Amnesty International, 140 countries have abolished the practice
while 58 retain it, with 16 in Africa including 3 members of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) - Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Botswana.
"The Global Panel event on Discrimination illustrated how the odds are often
stacked against the poor, ethnic minorities and other minority groups who often
lack access to effective legal representation," said Ban.
"These discriminatory practices in the imposition of the death penalty further
reinforce the calls for its universal abolition," he said.
Ban called on countries retaining the practice to take 3 steps towards complete
eradication.
"First, ratify the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.
Secondly, support the resolution on the moratorium on the use of the death
penalty.
"Thirdly, take concrete steps towards abolishing or no longer practicing this
form of punishment. Together, we can finally end this cruel and inhumane
practice everywhere around the world," he said.
Capital punishment was abolished in South Africa on June 6, 1995 following more
than a 5-year moratorium on the practice.
(source: Bernama)
VIETNAM:
Hanoi cops call ex-con biggest drug dealer in Hanoi history
A Hanoi man with 2 previous drug convictions was arrested with more than a kilo
of meth and over a thousand ecstasy pills in his possession.
Le Minh Thang, 41, was charged Thursday for drug trafficking, although he was
arrested on the street late last month.
The police said Thang was parking his car at an intersection in Hoan Kiem
District on the night of June 25.
When police officers approached and asked for his papers, he attempted to flee
and was arrested down the road.
Police found 19.8 grams of methamphetamine and 200 ecstasy pills in his car.
A subsequent search of his home led to the recovery of another 0.32 gram of
heroin, 6 grams of marijuana and drug paraphenalia.
A search of his cafe led to the recovery of 1.15 kilograms of meth divided into
17 plastic bags and 1,390 ecstasy pills.
Thang said he bought all the drugs on June 22 from a strange man for VND650
million (US$30,500).
Lieutenant Colonel Chu Thi Hoa, head of the district's narcotics division, said
Thang's is the biggest meth and ecstasy supplier ever busted in Hanoi.
Producing or selling 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal
narcotics carries the death penalty in Vietnam.
Smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of meth is
also punishable by death.
(source: Thanh Nien News)
ZIMBABWE:
Granny killing, man gets death sentence
Murderer Bhekinkosi Masilela, 30, from Nkayi has been sentenced to death for
killing his 83-year-old grandmother with an iron bar after setting her hut on
fire.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Andrew Mutema, sitting on circuit in Hwange,
convicted Masilela of Mbunde village in Skopo area of murder with actual intent
after he pleaded not guilty to the crime.
Prosecutors say Masilela used a 68x2cm metal bar weighing about 2kg to strike
the old woman on the head, leading to her death.
"The metal bar produced before the court is a dangerous weapon which caused
fatal head wounds, fracture, depressions, bleeding and brain hemorrhage," said
Justice Mutema in passing the sentence.
"Without reasonable doubt you had premeditated the heinous crime."
The judge, with assessors Elias Ndlovu and Elizabeth Chazanga agreeing,
described the murder as callous and sentenced Masilela to death.
"The force you applied was excessive as envisaged in the deceased's wounds.
You'll be in custody from now until your death," said Justice Mutema.
"You have the right to appeal against this judgment at the Supreme Court. If
the sentence is not revoked you will be given the right to appeal to the
Executive."
For the State, Whisper Mabhaudhi said on October 2 last year, the deceased
Sidandane Masilela retired to bed with her two juvenile grandchildren (names
withheld) in her thatched bedroom hut when an unprovoked Masilela entered her
yard and set it on fire.
Masilela proceeded to hide within the yard.
1 of the juveniles saw the fire and alerted her grandmother who bolted out of
the burning hut to find out what was happening, the court heard.
Mabhaudhi said Linda Mpofu and Methembe Masilela, all cousins to Masilela, were
chatting in the kitchen when they saw the fire and went to the hut to meet
Sidandane and help them escape.
"Masilela sprung out and struck Sidandane once on the head with the metal bar,
causing her to fall down and die a few moments later," he said.
Masilela claimed a powerful evil spirit possessed and overwhelmed him after
smoking dagga, causing him to kill his grandmother before running away from the
scene after dropping the murder weapon.
Methembe and Linda corroborated with the State case when they testified during
trial.
In mitigation, Masilela said he did not intend to murder his ageing
grandmother.
"I was very high and did not intend to do it. I had an argument with my wife,
Sakhekile Ngwenya at around 6PM at her school of employment when she called me
a dog for not securing employment as a man," he said.
"Her insults made me smoke mbanje to alleviate the pain I was feeling so I
decided to go to my grandmother who I needed to confide in about this problem
as I do with all my issues."
Masilela also said upon arrival, he torched her hut with a match stick and
struck her head once with a metal bar he had found lying at the homestead.
"You singled her out from other people around and killed her. It was
premeditated and wicked," said Justice Mutema.
The judge asked Masilela why the death penalty should not be passed and he
replied with an apology.
"Please forgive me, I'll reform and not take mbanje if given another chance.
I've 2 children aged 8 and 3 respectively," pleaded Masilela.
Masilela was represented by Vuyile Mpofu of Marondedze and Mukuku Legal
Practitioners.
(source: Bulawayo24 News)
DR CONGO:
Returned ICC witnesses must not face death penalty or torture----The 3 men
unsuccessfully applied for asylum in the Netherlands after being called as
witnesses to the ICC trial of Germain Katanga.
The Congolese authorities and the International Criminal Court (ICC) must do
everything in their power to ensure that three men due to be returned to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this weekend do not face the death
penalty, torture or other serious human rights violations, Amnesty
International said today.
Amnesty International believes the 3 former ICC witnesses face a real risk of
persecution and reprisals in the DRC because of the testimony they submitted to
the ICC accusing President Kabila of involvement in serious crimes.
"Amnesty International has protested against the return of these detained
witnesses and calls on the ICC and the authorities in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo to ensure that all necessary protective measures are in place when
they arrive in Kinshasa," said Evie Francq, Amnesty International's Researcher
on the DRC.
"The ICC has a duty to monitor the wellbeing of these men when they return home
and to ensure the local authorities live up to their promises to protect the
men from human rights violations. The Congolese justice system must cooperate,"
said Evie Francq.
The 3 Congolese nationals - Floribert Ndjabu Ngabu, Sharif Manda Ndadza Dz'Na,
and Pierre-Celestin Mbodina Iribi - were called to The Hague in 2011 as
witnesses in the ICC prosecution of former Congolese militia leader Germain
Katanga. They are expected to be taken into custody on their arrival in
Kinshasa, having been held in prison in the DRC prior to their transfer to The
Hague in connection with allegations of crimes under international law. They
have been in ICC and Dutch custody since.
They are due to be returned to Kinshasa on Sunday after the Dutch authorities
rejected their request for asylum.
(source: Amnesty International)
INDIA:
Juveniles will not get death, states draft
Contrary to the earlier proposal mooted during the UPA government, juveniles
involved in heinous crimes will not be sentenced to death or life imprisonment
either when tried under provisions of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act or under
provisions of the IPC, the new JJ Act draft says.
Former women and child development minister Krishna Tirath had earlier proposed
that juveniles above 16 years of age, guilty of heinous crimes, be treated at
par with adult offenders. The move was opposed by the National Commission for
Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and various NGOs which said that the
proposal was against child rights. However, in their new draft, the government
has not proposed any change in the punishment. The proposed draft also allows
adoption of a child to "a person irrespective of marital status, or to parents
to adopt a child of same sex irrespective of the number of living biological
sons or daughters, or to a childless couple".
As per the new draft, whoever employs or uses any child for the purpose of
begging or causes any child to beg shall be punishable with imprisonment for a
term which may extend to 5 years and shall also be liable to a fine of Rs 1
lakh or both.
The draft rules also have punishment for those who give any intoxicating liquor
or any narcotic drug or tobacco products or psychotropic substance to any
child, except on the order of a duly qualified medical practitioner. It shall
be punishable with rigorous imprisonment up to 7 years and shall also be liable
to a fine up to Rs 1 lakh or both, it said.
Those found using a child for vending, peddling, carrying, supplying or
smuggling any intoxicating liquor, narcotic drug or psychotropic substance
shall be liable for rigorous imprisonment for up to 7 years and to a fine up to
Rs 1 lakh or both.
Also, for those committing the offence of ragging within or outside an
institution, abetting or propagating ragging, directly or indirectly, shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months or fine or
with both.
The new rules also say that whosoever subjects a child to corporal punishment
causing hurt and emotional distress for the child shall be liable, on the 1st
conviction, for imprisonment up to 6 months or fine or both and for every
subsequent offence the person shall be liable for imprisonment up to 3 years
and a fine or both. Apart from that, the revised version also calls for heavy
penalty for children homes operating without registration and reporting abuse.
(source: Asian Age)
***********************
Pallavi murder: Court reserves order on quantum of sentence
A Mumbai court on Thursday reserved its order on quantum of sentence to be
awarded to a person convicted for killing 25-year-old city-based lawyer Pallavi
Purkayastha in 2012. Sessions Judge Vrushali Joshi said she would pronounce the
sentence on Monday after the prosecution concluded its arguments on sentence
seeking award of death penalty to convict Mughal Ahmed Mughal. However, the
defence counsel sought leniency for his client and pleaded for a life term
instead of death penalty saying that the offence did not fall under the "rarest
of the rare cases". The court earlier this week convicted Mughal, who worked as
a security guard at the building in suburban Wadala where the victim lived, for
murder, molestation and criminal trespass. During the arguments on sentencing,
special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam listed as many as 10 'aggravating
circumstances' to justify death sentence for the accused. Mughal was a security
guard whose job was to protect but he committed a crime. "By committing the
crime the accused betrayed the confidence, faith and trust of Pallavi and if
any lesser punishment is awarded then it will be a mockery of justice," Nikam
said.
(source: Free Press Journal)
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