Oct. 20
CHINA:
China Executed 2,400 People in 2013, Dui Hua
The Dui Hua Foundation estimates that China executed approximately 2,400 people
in 2013 and will execute roughly the same number of people in 2014. Annual
declines in executions recorded in recent years are likely to be offset in 2014
by the use of capital punishment in anti-terrorism campaigns in Xinjiang and
the anti-corruption campaign nationwide.
Dui Hua bases its 2013 estimate on data points published in Southern Weekly
that are consistent with information provided to Dui Hua by a judicial official
earlier this year.
The mainland magazine reported that a former senior judge of the Supreme
People's Court (SPC) stated at a seminar in July that the number of executions
had reached 1/10 of the highest number recorded since 1979. In 1983 - the 1st
year of the Strike Hard campaign during which the power to approve capital
punishment was given to provincial high courts - 24,000 people were sentenced
to death, according to a report by southcn.com citing The Communist Party of
China: 40 Years in Power (Zhongguo gongchandang zhizheng sishi nian). The book
called the 1st year of the Strike Hard campaign the largest centralized attack
since the campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries in 1950.
A judicial official with access to the number of executions carried out each
year, which is a state secret, told Dui Hua Executive Director John Kamm in
early 2014 that the number of executions dropped by around 20 % in 2013
compared to the previous year. Dui Hua previously estimated that China executed
3,000 people in 2012.
China currently executes more people every year than the rest of the world
combined, but it has executed far fewer people since the power of final review
of death sentences was returned to the SPC in 2007. Since then, the number of
executions nationwide may have dropped by more than 1/3 with declines of nearly
50 % in some locales, Southern Weekly reported citing an expert familiar with
the court system. Other experts have said that the national figure dropped by
50 % 4 years after 2007.
In 2013, 39 percent of all death penalty cases reviewed by the SPC were sent
back to provincial high courts for additional evidence, Southern Weekly
reported citing an SPC official speaking at a legal seminar. Domestic violence
survivor Li Yan was among the defendants whose cases lacked sufficient
evidence; the verdict against her was ultimately overturned.
The SPC currently overturns fewer than 10 % of death penalty verdicts, a former
SPC senior judge told Southern Weekly. In the years immediately after 2007, the
rate was about 15 %. (This percentage varies considerably by province.)
Between July 2, 2013, and September 30, 2014, the SPC published 152 death
penalty review decisions online, Southern Weekly reported in a separate
article. The 152 decisions involved 129 murder cases and 17 drug cases. Only 5
verdicts were fully or partially overturned, and defense lawyers participated
in just 13 % of death penalty reviews. Amendments to Article 240 of the
Criminal Procedure Law, effective January 1, 2013, state that if the defense
attorney requests, the SPC shall listen to the opinion of the defense attorney
during its review.
Provinces with the most review decisions were Yunnan (14), Xinjiang (13),
Zhejiang (11), Guangdong (8), and Henan (8). The average time for reviewing a
death penalty verdict was 6 months, with 2 years as the longest period.
(source: duihua.org)
BANGLADESH:
Rais, we need you here -- We need people like Rais Bhuiyan right here in
Bangladesh in order to spread the message of love, forgiveness, friendliness,
kindness, and empathy
Rais Bhuiyan was an ordinary dreamer when he left Bangladesh for America at the
age of 27. He went there when the US government was offering immigrant visas to
foreign citizens. He was trained both in a cadet college and in the air force.
However, he wanted to be an IT professional in the land of possibilities.
First, he went to Manhattan, and then he ended up in Texas. Rais started
working at a gas station as well as in a mini-mart. Things were pretty much
okay on the way to his dreams.
But things didn't exactly go as he wished. 9/11 attacks changed America and
some of its people for good. After the attacks, a day labourer named Mark
Anthony Stroman went on a killing spree against people who he viewed as Arab.
His intention was to seek revenge for the attacks. On September 15, 2001, he
killed Pakistani immigrant Waqar Hasan inside a Dallas grocery store.
On September 21, he walked into the mini-mart where Rais was working. Rais
thought he was a simple robber, and was ready to hand over all the money that
was in his counter. But Stroman asked: "Where are you from?" Before Rais could
answer, Stroman shot him in the face. Stroman left thinking that he was dead.
Rais, bleeding from his head, ran to the barbershop next door, and a man in the
shop called 911.
During the police investigation, Stroman shot another man named Vasudev Patel
on October 4. Stroman was arrested soon, but he called American TV stations
from his jail cell and talked about how proud he was for killing those men. He
thought he was the most patriotic American and started calling himself "the
Arab Slayer."
Rais had to go through several surgeries, and finally the doctor could save his
eye, but the vision was gone. He was carrying more than 35 pellets on the right
side of his face. It took several years to go through all these painful
surgeries, one after the other.
This is when Rais showed the most amazing gesture that any human can ever show.
He forgave his shooter and took up the cause of preventing Stroman's execution.
Rais organised the Muslim community behind his cause. And that changed the
psychology of Stroman. He said in an interview with the New York Times: "I have
the Islamic community joining in [my legal defence] ... spearheaded by one very
remarkable man named Rais Bhuiyan, who is a survivor of my hate. His deep
Islamic beliefs have given him the strength to forgive the unforgiveable ...
that is truly inspiring to me, and should be an example for us all. The hate
has to stop, we are all in this world together."
Rais reconciled with Stroman before his death. A few hours before Stroman's
execution, Rais spoke to Stroman over the phone, saying: "I forgive you, and I
do not hate you." Stroman responded: "Thank you from my heart! I love you, bro
... You touched my heart. I would have never expected this." Rais replied: "You
touched mine too." Stroman was executed on July 20, 2011. On that day, Rais's
lawyers had lost a final appeal in federal court to stop Stroman's execution.
Now, what else could be the best example of forgiveness in the present-day
tumultuous world? Isn't it amazing that a person forgave another person who
wanted to kill him? Indeed, this is remarkable.
Later on, Rais formed an organisation named World Without Hate and is presently
running a USA-wide campaign against hatred. Anand Giridharadas wrote Rais's
story in his work The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, which is now to
become a Hollywood movie.
The reason I focus on Rais Bhuiyan is because he became an extraordinary
dreamer from an ordinary one. We, as a Bengali nation, have much to learn from
our own countryman who, after suffering the severest blow, could turn around
and forgive his aggressor. The extent of hatred that is currently being
practised in our socio-political life is phenomenal.
Our hatred towards one another, to my mind, seems to be the only stumbling
block on the way to our true future. We need people like Rais Bhuiyan right
here in Bangladesh in order to spread the message of love, forgiveness,
friendliness, kindness, and empathy.
Come home and do something, Rais Bhuiyan.
(source: Ekram Kabir, Dhaka Tribune)
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