Sept. 18
THAILAND:
Bill proposes death for causing airport closure
The National Legislative Assembly yesterday passed the 1st reading of the new
Aviation Safety Bill, which could result in the death penalty for anyone who
causes the closure of an airport.
The government proposed the bill for the National Legislative Assembly's
consideration to replace the 1978 and 1995 laws.
The draft states that a person will face execution or life imprisonment if they
destroy an aircraft in service, damage an aircraft so that it is no longer
operational or put any material in an aircraft that causes it damage.
Forcing the closure of an airport, damaging airport facilities or aircraft at
an airport plus any action that maims or kills someone in an airport would
result in the death penalty or a life sentence, according to Article 19 of the
proposed bill.
A person would also face the death penalty or life imprisonment for murdering
someone in an airport.
NLA member Somchai Sawangkarn said putting someone to death for causing an
airport's closure might be too harsh.
No death penalty elsewhere
Many countries no longer had the death penalty, he said.
"Personally, I don't support the closure of airports. But in some cases an
airport operation needs to be shut down for other reasons such as what happened
in 2008 when protesters shut the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports," he
said, adding that "the law should give the operators some room for decisions".
Klanarong Chantik, an NLA member and a graft buster, said some articles in the
proposed bill were not realistic and might affect the aviation industry.
Klanarong said Article 12 stated that alcohol- or drug-affected passengers who
caused a disturbance on a flight face five years' imprisonment or a Bt500,000
fine or both.
"This article means serving alcohol on board is prohibited," he said.
Klanarong said Article 8 of the bill was also problematic and impractical as it
resulted in a fine of only Bt20,000 - the same fine for people caught smoking
in a restricted area - for any passenger who brought a prohibited substance
aboard a plane, including explosives.
These articles should be amended, he said.
Transport Minister ACM Prajin Juntong said the government would take all the
concerns of lawmakers into consideration and would amend the bill during
meetings of an ad-hoc committee.
The goal of the legislation is to protect passengers and people involved in the
aviation industry, he said.
Also in the aviation bill:
3 years' imprisonment or a Bt120,000 fine for:
l sexual harassment or any sexual offence
l indecency
5 years' imprisonment or a Bt200,000 fine for:
l using force to hurt someone
l damaging the property of someone
l drinking alcohol or using narcotics
l causing chaos on board a flight
(source: The Nastion)
RUSSIA:
Russians support return of death penalty to fight extremism and crime
63 % of Russians think it is acceptable for society to use capital punishment
for crimes such as pedophilia, murder and terrorism, recent research has shown.
According to the poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, 73 % of those
who hold the return of death penalty "acceptable in principle" want to execute
people convicted of pedophilia, 63 % want to execute murderers, 53 % support
capital punishment applied to terrorists and 46 % - to rapists. 28 % replied
that capital punishment could be used to counter drug trafficking, and another
13 % wanted to use it as punishment for high treason.
Researchers note that the number of those who approve of the death penalty has
decreased over the past decade, but still remains fairly high. One year ago, 68
% of Russians thought that death sentences were acceptable in principle, while
24 % answered that the measure was totally inadmissible.
The head of the Political Research Institute, Grigory Dobromelov, has told the
popular business daily Kommersant that the most likely reason behind this
phenomenon was the "generation factor" - the stereotype about the punitive
function of the state was embedded in people's minds during the Soviet period
and now the number of such people is falling.
The death penalty is presently allowed by the Russian Constitution for
especially grave crimes and after a guilty verdict by a jury court. However,
when Russia sought membership in the Council of Europe in 1999, it imposed a
moratorium on capital punishment and this is still in force.
The issue has been raised regularly by Russian politicians and state officials.
In May last year, the head of the country's top federal law enforcement body -
the Investigative Committee - asked parliament to consider the return of
capital punishment in Russian law, but noted he wasn't seeking actual
executions, only the psychological effect that such a threat could have on
potential criminals.
1 year earlier, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said the death penalty
would be "society's normal reaction." He said this while commenting on the
brutal murders of 2 small girls. The top Russian policeman stressed that this
was his personal opinion.
According to Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the Russian
president is more in favor of a total abolition of the death penalty. The press
service of the Prosecutor General's Office has noted that Russia has
obligations to the Council of Europe, and therefore the moratorium would remain
in place.
(source: rt.com)
BANGLADESH:
Man to die for killing sister-in-law, nephews
A district court has sentenced death penalty to a person for killing his
sister-in-law and 2 nephews at Hossainpur in Kishoreganj. The convict is Burhan
Uddin, 43, son of late Sadar Ali of Namsidla village under Hossainpur upazila.
Kishoreganj District and Sessions Judge AMM Sayeed pronounced the verdict on
Thursday afternoon. According to the prosecution, Burhan mercilessly killed his
younger brother Faruk Mia's wife, Nazma Akter and her 2 sons, Shahjahan and
Liman by a locally made arm on August 1, 2013.
He killed them after he was released on bail from life term rigorous
imprisonment for killing his elder brother, Suhrab Uddin.
Later, in the following day of the murders, Burhan's younger brother, Faruk Mia
filed a murder case in connection with the Hossainpur police station.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
INDIA:
Death penalty convict wants to move
A convict, who was awarded capital punishment by the Pune Sessions Court that
was later confirmed by the Supreme Court, has approached the Nagpur bench of
Bombay High Court seeking transfer to Yerawada Jail.
A division bench comprising Justices Bhushan Gavai and Vinay Deshpande issued
notices to the Maharashtra government and Nagpur Central jail superintendent
asking them to file a reply within 2 weeks. Mir Nagaman Ali was counsel for
petitioner Narayan Chaudhary.
According to Ali, when the offence was committed in 1994, Chaudhary was 13
years-old and fell into the category of juvenile. Moreover, his family also
resides in Pune and therefore, it would be easy for him to meet family members
at Yerawada Jail.
The Pune court convicted Chaudhary on February 9, 1998, and sentenced him to
gallows. Even Supreme Court dismissed confirmed his punishment while dismissing
his appeal.
(source: The Times of India)
*********************
Court relied on justice Katju's judgment to award death
Sessions judge RK Sondhi relied on the famous judgment of justice Markandey
Katju in the Bhagwan Dass vs State of Delhi case to award death penalty to
father Shaukeen and uncle Salim for killing 15-year-old Tahira.
Sondhi commented that after going through the principles laid down in Bhagwan
Dass' case, it comes out that Apex Court had held that "once it is proved that
the crime involved in murder of such nature is 'honour killing', for whatever
reasons, comes within the category of rarest of rare cases deserving death
penalty".
"Thus Hon'ble Apex Court has already considered pros and cons of the case,
which involves crime of honour killing and held that in such cases, the trial
court has no discretion but to grant death penalty," says Sondhi in his
judgment.
He commented that Tahira was killed merely on "ill-founded apprehensions" of
loss to "family reputation in society on account of love affair of the
deceased" with a person, who was already engaged with the elder daughter of
Shaukeen and both convicts tried to "create false evidence" to screen
themselves.
"In our opinion honour killings, for whatever reason, come within the category
of rarest of rare cases deserving death punishment. It is time to stamp out
these barbaric, feudal practices which are a slur on our nation.
This is necessary as a deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilised behaviour.
All persons who are planning to perpetrate 'honour' killings should know that
the gallows await them," Justice Katju had said in Bhagwan Dass case where a
father had killed her daughter over adultery. He had also commented that there
is nothing 'honourable' in 'honour' killings, and they were nothing but
barbaric and brutal murders by bigoted, persons with feudal minds.
(source: Hindustan Times)
*******************
View to a kill: Indian hangman prepares for his 1st execution----Pawan Kumar,
who learned his trade from his father and grandfather, is paid 30 pounds a
month as a registered executioner
Pawan Kumar said being a hangman is a duty. 'A criminal is being killed and
crime is going to come down as a result.'
The phone call will come some time in the next few weeks, and when it does
Pawan Kumar will be ready.
"I have already done a test run, with a sack of sand the weight of the
criminal. I have been waiting for this moment all my life," said the part-time
clothes hawker in the northern Indian town of Meerut.
For while selling shirts from the back of a bicycle pays Kumar's rent, his
vocation lies elsewhere: the 52-year-old is one of a handful of officially
registered professional hangmen in India.
So far, however, he has never actually carried out an execution.
Last month, he was called to a jail in the city of Jaipur, 250 miles south of
Meerut, to execute a condemned prisoner. At the last minute though, the man was
reprieved.
In early September, Kumar was scheduled to hang Surinder Koli, one of India's
most notorious murderers. But another last-minute decision meant the execution
was postponed to allow further legal argument, though just until the end of
next month.
"I wouldn't say I was disappointed. That would be a personal thing. I am just
sorry that a man who has committed such heinous acts has not died yet," said
Kumar.
In India, the death sentence is reserved for cases that are deemed "the rarest
of the rare". In the past decade, there have been only 3 executions. The 350
convicted prisoners who theoretically face hanging include 4 men found guilty
of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi in 2012.
Even though they are rarely called on to carry out an execution, hangmen are
paid a monthly stipend by local state governments of about 3,000 rupees or 30
pounds. Even so, prison administrators in this country of 1.2 billion struggle
to find executioners.
At one stage, the north-eastern state of Assam was forced to issue a nationwide
appeal for a hangman. "It is not surprising there are so few. It is a hard
thing for a person just to kill an ant, let alone another human being," said
Kumar, who supports a family of 7.
Following a centuries-old practice on the subcontinent, the post of executioner
is inherited. Kumar's grandfather carried out about 60 hangings in his 40-year
career, including one of the assassins of prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was
shot by her bodyguards in 1984.
Kumar's father, who inherited the post in 1989, conducted half a dozen
executions. Kumar assisted both men, thereby, he explained, learning the
trade's "special techniques".
"They were proud of what they did and I am proud of helping them. It is a duty.
Justice is being done. A criminal is being killed and crime is going to come
down in India as a result. That's why we feel nothing when we kill a man," he
said.
These days the identities of those carrying out politically sensitive
executions - such as that of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving attacker
from the 2008 terrorist attacks on the city of Mumbai (executed in November
2012), or Afzal Guru, an alleged Kashmiri militant who was hanged for the 2001
attack on India's parliament in February 2013 - remains secret.
Kumar, however, has become a minor media star, with the prospect of greater
celebrity if Surinder Koli, the murderer reprieved last week, exhausts all
options to avoid death.
Koli, a 42-year-old domestic help, was arrested in 2005 after human remains
were discovered in a drain near a house on the outskirts of Delhi, the capital,
where he worked.
He was convicted of 5 cases of murder, rape and cannabalism and faces another
14 counts.
Kumar believes he will be the last in his family to practise the trade. His
eldest son, who is 21, has shown little interest.
"If he wanted to, I would train him. But he's studying banking and has just
applied for some post working in the accounts department of Indian railways,"
said the aspirant hangman. "I think his interests lie elsewhere."
(source: The Guardian)
IRAN----executions
4 hanged in public in Shiraz
The Iranian regime henchmen hanged a group of 4 prisoners in public in city of
Shiraz on Thursday.
The 4 men, Bahram Kiani, Edalat Rahimi, Mohammad Jamshidi and Jahanbakhsh
B?roumand were hanged in one of the main squares in the city. Another prisoner
was hanged in city of Marvdasht.
On Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's said in his annual report to
the General Assembly expressed alarm at the recent increase in executions in
Iran.
The report said: the promises made by Hassan Rouhani "have not yet led to
significant improvements, and restrictions on freedom of expression continue to
affect many areas of life."
He also criticized Tehran for carrying out death sentences on juveniles.
"According to information gathered from reliable sources, more than 160
juveniles are currently on death row and at least 2 have been executed in
recent months for crimes that they committed when they were younger than 18,"
Ban's report said.
Under so-called 'moderate' Hassan Rouhani the country has faced highest number
of executions in a year compared to any Iranian regime's president for the past
25 years.
(source: NCR-Iran)
SOUTH AFRICA:
Judge slams illegal deportation of murder accused
Department of Home Affairs officials who played a part in wrongfully deporting
a murder accused to Botswana, where he could face the death penalty, should be
charged with attempted murder, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.
The department was attacked for wrongfully deporting Edwin Samotse from
Polokwane prison last month, despite several attempts to draw its attention to
a non-surrender order from the minister of justice and correctional services.
In addition the department ignored an interdict prohibiting Samotse's
deportation.
On Wednesday Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann on several occasions raised the
question of whether the officials responsible should be charged with attempted
murder.
"If they knew he was facing the death penalty and surrendered him voluntarily,
why should this not surmount to attempted murder," he questioned.
The Constitutional Court has previously ruled, in the Emmanuel Tsebe matter,
that "deportation, extradition or any form of removal" of individuals who could
face the death penalty in their home countries "is wholly unacceptable" since
capital punishment is illegal and unconstitutional in SA.
Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba was cited as the 1st respondent in the
application, which he is opposing. Home affairs immigration officer Samuel
Matlou and the department's chief immigration officer, Madimetja Mojale, were
cited as 2nd and 3rd respondents, while several other government employees were
fingered as possibly contributing to the deportation.
3 home affairs employees have already been suspended and Lawyers for Human
Rights (LHR), which represents Samotse, has called for an investigation into
how the deportation happened.
On Wednesday it emerged that a senior legal advisor at home affairs had failed
to circulate an email which alerted the department to the non-surrender order
granted after Botswana refused to give assurances that Samotse would not be
executed if he was sent back home. The email was only opened 5 days after it
was sent. Another official was responsible for signing off the deportation
authorisation.
The department claims that these were "isolated" incidents, however, LHR said
the department was trying to "insulate" senior officials.
Judge Bertelsmann emphasised the seriousness of the department's actions,
questioning whether any "red lights" went off for the officials involved.
"There is a huge responsibility on the department ... how can (court) orders
that mean life or death lie around and gather dust, while in the meantime the
life of a vulnerable individual is left at risk ... We are dealing with death,"
he said.
Judge Bertelsmann said he was "concerned" that department officials were not
aware that SA does not surrender people to another country if they face the
possibility of the death penalty.
Samotse's lawyer, Adv Maryna Steenekamp, said there was a "culture" at the
department to act contrary to court orders.
LHR said the matter raised serious constitutional issues concerning SA's
obligations around extradition and deportation of a foreign nationals to a
country with the death penalty and government's failure to comply with court
orders
Judgment was reserved.
(source: Business Day)
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