Oct. 12
GUYANA:
Time to abolish the death penalty
The death penalty has not been carried out in Guyana since 1997. While it is
true that there has been a large increase in murders since then, murders have
equally soared in countries which have abolished the death penalty like South
Africa as well as in countries which have not, like Jamaica and Trinidad and
Tobago. The latter 2 and Belize are among the top 10 countries for intentional
homicide that have the death penalty. Three of these top ten countries that do
not have the death penalty are Venezuela, El Salvador and Honduras.
The fact that the death penalty is not a deterrent to intentional homicide has
long been established. For this reason, in recent decades the argument in
relation to the death penalty has never been about the statistics, although
supporters have disregarded them. At the core, the argument has always been
about revenge, the eye for an eye philosophy.
The reducing number of states which support capital punishment continue to
advance the argument that justice requires that the taking a life should
legitimately result in a life being taken in return. The argument of justice is
really the eye for an eye argument. Revenge is being openly touted as a
principle of governance, at least in our region.
(source: Stabroek News)
JAPAN:
Hakamada's lawyer issues call to abolish death penalty
The chief lawyer for a former death row inmate who was freed in March after
nearly 48 years in prison following a court decision to reopen his case said
that Japan needs to abolish capital punishment.
Former boxer Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death for the murder of four
members of a family in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966, but was freed after the
Shizuoka District Court approved DNA test results that showed the blood found
on purported evidence was not Hakamada's.
The court also said there is a possibility that investigative authorities
cooked up incriminating evidence. Hakamada is now 78.
"The Hakamada case is pressing Japan to terminate the death penalty," Katsuhiko
Nishijima, who heads Hakamada's defense team, said at a rally in Tokyo on
Saturday to mark World Day against the Death Penalty on Oct. 10.
Hakamada also attended the rally, hosted by a citizens' group, with his sister,
Hideko. Some 300 people attended the event.
"I believe nobody could say that capital punishment should be maintained" if
they knew about the inadequacies of the investigation and judiciary in the
case, Nishijima said.
Nishijima said investigative authorities first detain a suspect and try to
force him or her to make a confession, regardless of whether it is true.
Calling such a practice "hostage justice," he said, "Mr. Hakamada would not
have made a false confession (following a long detention) if he had not been
put under such a system."
While recordings of interrogations have been discussed as one way of curbing
false accusations, Nishijima said, "Visualization of the interrogation process
alone is not enough. The presence of lawyers during interrogation should be
guaranteed, as is the case in other advanced countries."
During his 48 years in prison, Hakamada developed a psychiatric disorder in the
face of the ceaseless fear of being hanged at any time. Death row inmates in
Japan are only notified on the morning of their execution.
Last month, he underwent a heart catheter operation.
Since his release, Hakamada has been awaiting retrial because prosecutors
appealed the decision to reopen his case, casting doubt on the reliability of
the DNA tests and claiming the court had no grounds for describing the evidence
as fabricated by police.
While urging the abolition of the death penalty, Hakamada was sometimes
incomprehensible.
"My brother is like this, but he is recovering from pneumonia and diabetes,"
said, who toiled for many years to get his case reopened and is now helping him
adjust to daily life.
According to human rights group Amnesty International, 140 countries, or 70 %
of all nations in the world, have abolished the death penalty by law or in
practice. In 2013, only 22 countries, including Japan, executed inmates.
Since the December 2012 launch of the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
Japan has hanged 11 inmates, all authorized by Justice Minister Sadakazu
Tanigaki, who was replaced this summer in a Cabinet reshuffle by Midori
Matsushima. A government survey suggests that more than 80 % of the public
supports the death penalty.
But the U.N. Human Rights Committee urged Japan in July to "give due
consideration to the abolition of the death penalty or, as an alternative,
reduce the number of eligible crimes for capital punishment to the most serious
crimes that result in loss of life."
It also said Japan needs to "immediately strengthen legal safeguards against
wrongful sentencing to death, inter alia, by guaranteeing to give the defense
full access to all prosecution materials and ensuring that confessions obtained
by torture or ill-treatment are not invoked as evidence."
(source: Japan Times)
CHINA:
China Issues Death Penalty in Sect Killing
2 members of a religious sect were sentenced Saturday to die in eastern China
for beating a woman to death at a McDonald's restaurant in May after she
rebuffed their attempts to recruit her, state-run news media reported.
Zhang Fan and her father, Zhang Lidong, were given death sentences after a
trial in the Yantai Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province. 3 other
defendants were given sentences ranging from life to 7 years in prison, the
Xinhua News Agency reported. Images carried by state media showed the
defendants standing in a row before the judge, all in orange vests.
On the evening of May 28, Ms. Zhang and the other defendants were trying to
recruit new members into their sect, the Church of Almighty God, at a
McDonald's in the city of Zhaoyuan, where they were soliciting people's
telephone numbers. 1 woman, Wu Shuoyan, who was with her young son, refused to
give her number, and a quarrel ensued, state television reported when the group
went on trial in August.
Ms. Zhang and another defendant then identified Ms. Wu as an "evil spirit," and
Ms. Zhang hit her on the head with a chair, Xinhua reported on Saturday. When
Ms. Wu fell to the ground, Ms. Zhang stomped on her head. Her father, Mr.
Zhang, hit Ms. Wu with a mop with such force that it broke, and also kicked and
trampled her face, the report said. The blows killed Ms. Wu.
Members of the Church of Almighty God, an offshoot of Christianity, believe
that Jesus Christ has returned as a Chinese woman who will save followers from
apocalyptic destruction. The sect has been labeled an "evil cult" in China and
banned.
The church has pledged to slay what it calls the "Great Red Dragon," the
Chinese Communist Party. As with many other sects that have emerged in China
over the past two decades, the government sees it as a threat; in June it began
a nationwide crackdown on the group, as well as others.
The church was founded in 1989 by Zhao Weishan. It was banned in 1995, and Mr.
Zhao was reported to have fled to the United States.
(source: New York Times)
INDIA:
Death only for well planned murders: Court
The Supreme Court has said that when an accused executes a meticulously planned
diabolic murder, without provocation or acting on the spur of the moment, and
becomes a menace to society, then the crime falls in the category of rarest of
rare cases warranting the death sentence.
"In our considered view, the "rarest of the rare" case exists when an accused
would be a menace, threat and antithetical to harmony in the society," said the
Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu, Justice RK Agrawal and Justice
Arun Mishra in their order.
Holding that the death sentence in such cases was the only appropriate
punishment, Chief Justice Dattu pronouncing the order said: "Especially in
cases where an accused does not act on provocation, acting in spur of the
moment but meticulously executes a deliberately planned crime in spite of
understanding the probable consequence of his act, the death sentence may be
the most appropriate punishment."
The Supreme Court said this while upholding the July 2, 2009 order of the
Jharkhand High Court which had confirmed the August 1, 2008 order of the trial
court convicting 4 accused of murder who had wiped out an entire family of 8 of
their immediate relative over a land dispute.
The trial court awarded all the 4 convicts the death sentence. However, the
high court while confirming the conviction of the four by the trial court
upheld the death sentence of 2 and commuted the death sentence to life
imprisonment of the other 2 - Saddam Khan and Wakil Khan.
"We are mindful that criminal law requires strict adherence to the rule of
proportionality in providing punishment according to the culpability of each
kind of criminal conduct keeping in mind the effect of not awarding just
punishment on the society," the order said.
"Keeping in view the said principle of proportionality of sentence or what it
termed as "just-desert" for the vile act of slaughtering eight lives, including
four innocent minors and a physically infirm child whereby an entire family is
exterminated, we cannot resist from concluding that the depravity of the
appellant's offence would attract no lesser sentence than the death penalty,"
the court said while upholding the order of conviction and sentencing by the
trial court and its being confirmed by the high court with modification.
In the present case on June 6, 2007, one Mofil Khan and others attacked his
brother Haneef Khan when he was offering prayers at a mosque in Makandu village
in Jharkhand with sharp-edged weapons. Haneef died on the spot. Thereafter, the
assailants went to Haneef Khan's house and killed his 6 sons and wife. 1 of the
sons was physically disabled.
(source: Indo-Asian News Service)
VIETNAM:
Woman caught smuggling 5kg of drug from China
A woman was arrested in Quang Ninh Province on Friday for allegedly smuggling 5
kilograms of drug to Hanoi.
Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh was arrested by a combined force of customs and police
officers on while she was taking a bus to Hanoi, according to Quang Ninh
customs.
The drug was put in 16 plastic bags being hidden in a wall clock, they said.
Linh confessed that she was paid VND20 million (US$94) to traffic the drug,
which had been brought into Vietnam from Guangzhou in China through Mong Cai, a
town bordering China in Quang Ninh.
Police are investigating the case.
Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Those convicted of
smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of
methamphetamine face the death penalty.
The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal
narcotics is also punishable by death.
(source: Thanh Nien News)
LIBYA:
Gaddafi Son's Court Hearing Postponed to November: Spokesperson
A Libyan criminal court has postponed the hearing on the case of Saif Islam
Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, to November 2, a court
spokesperson told RIA Novosti Sunday.
"The court has adjourned the process, given the current circumstances in the
country," said Ajmi Uteiri, a spokesman for the court in the Libyan city of
Zintan.
Saif Islam Gaddafi and a number of other former Libyan officials are accused of
committing war crimes during the 2011 unrest that ended in the overthrow of the
country's long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The former politicians are charged with ordering murders of protesters, torture
and crimes against humanity. According to Libyan legislation, such crimes can
be punished by death penalty.
Libya is currently facing its worst wave of violence since the 2011 overthrow.
The country has seen violent clashes between numerous militias, armed with
weapons seized from Gaddafi's governmental ammunition depots. According to
Libya Body Count data, more than 1,800 people have been killed in the country
in 2014.
(source: RIA Novosti)
MALAYSIA:
Japanese-American shutterbug on a journey to call for the end of capital
punishment ---- Photographer Toshi Kazama devotes his time to taking haunting
pictures of deathrow inmates in the hope that his work will prompt governments
to abolish the death penalty.
An encounter with a death row inmate 18 years ago made such an impression on
photographer Toshi Kazama that it charted a new direction in his career. The
New York-based successful fashion photographer for American magazines like
Vogue decided then to give up his life of luxury and dedicate himself to taking
pictures of inmates who were sentenced to death for the heinous crimes they had
committed.
Since then, Toshi, who has 30 years of experience under his belt, has devoted
his time to taking haunting black and white photographs of death row inmates,
as well as travelling to countries that impose the death penalty to call for
its abolishment.
His presentation includes the life story of his subjects, with whom he forms a
rapport by reaching out to them as well as stories of their victims' families.
The premise of his opposition to the death penalty stems from his belief that
life has become cheap.
"The main problem in the US, I feel, is that life is cheap. If you are a
minority, your life is very cheap and if you're poor and uneducated, your life
becomes even cheaper," he told The Malaysian Insider at the Give Life a Second
Chance exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the World Day Against the
Death Penalty on October 10.
The exhibition showcases the photographs of all 22 subjects he had taken in the
US. Toshi recalled an incident when he went to watch a movie in the cinema
shortly after moving to the US in 1974, when he was 15.
"When the good guy killed the bad guy in the movie, people in the cinema
cheered. And I was sitting there, wondering why people were celebrating
killing. Killing someone was not something to celebrate about," he said.
Toshi also touched on the role of executioners, saying that the ones he met
said they did not want to kill another human being.
"The executioners I have met through this project - they go through mental
torture. No one is happy to kill another human being. They tell me, 'Toshi,
please tell this to the whole world so that we don't have to kill anymore'."
Malaysia is 1 of 58 countries in the world which continues to impose the death
penalty with an estimated 964 people on death row as of last year. Most of them
were sentenced for drug trafficking.
"I also hope to meet with lawmakers and those influential to make a difference
in abolishing the death penalty here," Toshi said.
Toshi said he was living the American dream after moving to the US from Japan
when he was 15 to pursue his studies and making it as a successful fashion
photographer but realised he could do much more with his life.
"I started this with a shallow intention of making money but I wanted to do
something beyond that. I became a father and realised there are a lot of social
issues around," he said. "I realised I could do 1 of 3 things - turn a blind
eye to these issues, pack up and go to another country which is more secure for
my children or stay and fight."
That was in 1996. 7 years later, Toshi himself became a victim of an assault as
he was walking in New York with his daughter, who was 9 years old then.
"I nearly died. I was unconscious for 4 days. The doctor said I had very little
chance of surviving. But I woke up. I am now deaf in my right ear and that side
of the face is numb."
Police never caught the suspect and Toshi said the attack was not a robbery but
a random act of violence.
"This happened 11 years ago but luckily, I was already doing this project when
I became a victim of assault.
"If I was not, I would have been really angry with the perpetrator and spent my
life hating the man.
"But I had learnt a lot from the family members of victims whom I met through
my project. Many of them have overcome their fury and anger at losing their
loved ones and have been able to let go of that hate," said the father of 3.
"One Vietnamese girl, whose parents and brother were murdered in their
restaurant, told me: 'Toshi, the scar in my heart will never go away but I can
change how I look at my scar'.
"Some even visited the perpetrator in prison and when the culprits admitted to
killing their loved ones and express remorse, that is the best healing they
could get. So I learnt a lot from them."
However there are others, Toshi said, who let their anger, hatred and fury
towards the killers eat into them. "I didn't want that kind of hatred in my
family. It doesn't help me to hate this guy. If I kept thinking about hating
the man who assaulted me, I would be bringing hate into my family.
"Then he would not only would be taking my physical capabilities away, but also
the good part of our hearts from my family and I won't let that happen," he
added.
Toshi revealed that at least 1/2 of the 22 people he had photographed in the US
have been executed and some have had their sentences commuted to life
imprisonment, which is what he considers a success.
"I don't know how big a role I have played in this but I hoped I made a
difference.
"How is killing someone the answer to the problem? Shouldn't we, instead, focus
on finding out why these issues happen in the first place?" he asked.
The Give Life a Second Chance campaign is jointly organised by the Delegation
of the European Union to Malaysia, the Embassy of Switzerland, British High
Commission, Malaysian Bar Council, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
(Suhakam), Amnesty International Malaysia and the KL and Selangor Chinese
Assembly Hall.
(source: The Malaysian Insider)
KUWAIT:
Kuwait introduces hefty fines for picking flowers, smoking indoors, littering
Importing or storing nuclear substances could lead to the death penalty under a
new environmental law that came into effect in Kuwait on Sunday.
The controversial legislation also includes a KD250 ($860) fine for picking
flowers, while littering or causing the death of marine and land fauna will
incur a KD500 fine for each penalty, and smoking in closed and semi-closed
public areas a KD100 fine.
Other violations include noise and sea pollution.
source: Arabian Business)
GLOBAL:
Death penalty should be abolished worldwide: UN chief
The death penalty has no place in the 21st century and should be abolished,
according to the UN Secretary-General.
Ban Ki-moon delivered this message on the occasion of World Day Against the
Death Penalty, marked every 10 October.
He said the death penalty fails to deter crimes more than other punishments.
Its abolition, he says, contributes to human rights.
The taking of life is too irreversible for one person to inflict on another. We
must continue arguing strongly that the death penalty is unjust and
incompatible with fundamental human rights.
Mr Ban is urging leaders where the death penalty is still used to commute or
pardon death sentences, and to impose moratoriums on executions.
He added that the UN will continue working to end this cruel punishment.
More than 2/3 of the world's countries have reportedly abolished the death
penalty in law or practice
(source: Famagusta Gazette)
**************************
Portugal backs UN death penalty moratorium
Portugal called upon all United Nations member states to back a resolution
calling for a moratorium on the death penalty due to be voted on by the General
Assembly in December in a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
The statement, itself commemorating the European and World Day against the
Death Penalty said such a moratorium would "strengthen and consolidate the vast
worldwide movement that backs this important cause in the defence of human
dignity."
The Portuguese government furthermore referred to how such practices were in
violation of the "right to live consecrated by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of 1948."
The ministerial note also highlighted Portugal's early abolition of the death
penalty and "strongly repudiates the different justifications and motivations
for its existence and its application in whatever the circumstances and
whatever the case."
The statement concluded by praising how 2/3 of United Nations member states had
already abolished the death penalty, praised the African Union for its efforts
on this issue before promising that Portugal would continue to throw its
support behind efforts to end the death penalty.
(source: The Portugal News Online)
IRAN----executions
6 prisoners secretly hanged
The Iranian regime has secretly hanged at least 6 prisoners last week in 3
cities, according to reports received from Iran.
A group of 4 prisoners were hanged in southern city of Bandar-abbas on Tuesday
(October 7, 2014), a report said.
Another prisoner was executed in the main prison in western city of Marivan on
Thursday (October 9, 2014).
A man identified as Mohammad Reza Mazlomi, 28, from the southern city of Bam
was hanged in the city's prison after more than 5 years imprisonment.
Iran under the rule of the clerical dictatorship has the highest number of
executions per capita in the world.
Since Hassan Rouhani has become the president of the regime over 1000 prisoners
have been executed whilst the news on the execution of many prisoners never
gets out.
At least 27 women and 12 prisoners who were juveniles at the time of their
arrest, together with 20 political prisoners, are amongst those executed with
57 of these executions carried out in public. During this period, a number of
prisoners were killed under torture.
In a message on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty
(October 10, 2014), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian
Resistance, stated on Friday that the religious dictatorship ruling Iran is a
government of executions based on its history, ideology, laws and daily
policies.
The head of policy and government affairs at Amnesty International said
recently "Iran is a serial human rights offender" adding "President Rouhani has
attempted to cast himself as a mild-mannered reformist figure, but the brutal
reality is that Iran is hanging an average of 2 prisoners a day, the vast
majority after unfair trials."
(source: NCR-Iran)
***************************
Condemned woman appeals to victim's family for mercy
The head of the Tehran Justice Department has announced that the file of
Reyhaneh Jabbari, a woman sentenced to death for the murder of her attacker, is
in the process of mediation.
Gholmahossein Esmaili told the Etemad daily on Saturday October 11 that they
are in the process of mediating with the family of the deceased and are hopeful
to get their consent to forego Qesas. Iranian Sharia law gives the family of a
murder victim the opportunity to forgive the perpetrator, in which case they
will not be hanged.
Esmaili said if the family agrees, then the Qesas sentence can be cancelled,
but otherwise it has to be carried out. Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was arrested 7
years ago for murdering the 47-year-old Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. She argued
in her defence that the victim had attempted to assault her.
The Shargh daily published a message from Jabbari today in which she pleads
with the Sarbandi family to forgive her and forego the Qesas sentence.
(source: Radio Zamaneh)
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