Nov. 14
PAKISTAN:
Release Asia Bibi, Indian rights activists urge Pak
Indian human rights activists and Christian groups have appealed to Pakistan to
release Asia Bibi, the woman who is on the death row in the country after being
convicted for blasphemy.
Dr John Dayal, a member of National Monitoring Committee for Minority
Education, met Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit here and urged that Bibi
should be allowed to come to India, where local groups have volunteered to take
care of her.
"Christian groups have offered to take care of Aisa Bibi, who is ill, and her
family. We in India will be very happy to take care of her medical needs. We
appeal to you to impress upon the government of Pakistan to set her free and to
allow her and her family to travel to India," Dayal said in a letter which he
handed to Basit.
A Pakistan court in October upheld the death penalty on Bibi, who was convicted
of blasphemy in 2010 in a case that triggered global furore over the
controversial law. Bibi, a Christian and a mother of five, was arrested in 2009
under blasphemy charges.
Dayal, an Indian human rights and freedom of faith activist, also expressed
shock over the recent incident in which a Christian couple was burnt alive near
Lahore on claims that they had desecrated the Quran.
"The brutal murder of Shahzad and Shama Masih... Is a case of impunity as it
took place in the presence of police and on the orders of a local panchayat.
"Media in Pakistan have reported how mobs were mobilised to gather at a brick
kiln, and how the couple were beaten, tortured and then burnt to death," Dayal
said in his letter.
These 2 cases, Dayal said, have shocked the world and disturbed the global
Christian community.
"We in India are particularly concerned as we campaign for the full protection
of religious minorities in India - especially Muslims - and their
constitutional and democratic rights. We are also against capital punishment,"
the letter added.
Dayal called upon the Pakistani government to ensure punishment for those
guilty of lynching the couple so that a strong message is sent out about its
commitment to preventing violence against religious minorities.
(source: Business Standard)
BANGLADESH:
Prosecution: Execution after Khokon gets arrested
International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor Mokhlesur Rahman has said the
execution of fugitive BNP leader MA Zahid Hossain Khokon Alias Khokon Razakar
will be held after he gets arrested.
He made the statement while giving reaction before the media on Thursday
morning, immediately after the tribunal had given its verdict.
He said: "The copy of the verdict has been sent to the inspector general of
police and the magistrates of Dhaka and Faridpur. The tribunal has also ordered
the IGP and the magistrates to arrest Khokon Razakar."
"10 out of 11 charges have been proved beyond reasonable doubt against Khokhn.
He was given death penalty in 6 of the charges" says the prosecutor.
Earlier in the day, the International Crimes Tribunal gave death penalty to
Khokon Razakar for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War
of Bangladesh in 1971.
Faridpur's Nagarkanda municipality Chairman Khokon Razakar was traced in the
Swedish capital, Stockholm. His trial has been handed down in absentia.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
CHINA:
Drug dealer dragged for miles by truck----He had passed out after taking
cocaine
A motorist was dragged for 6 miles after tailgating a truck in China's Jiangxi
Province.
Zhen Yin an alleged drug dealer reportedly blacked out at the wheel of his
Porsche Cayenne, which was reportedly 'full of drugs', according to Mirror.com.
The 32-year-old motorist was allegedly on his way to see a contact when he
passed out after taking cocaine and rammed into the back of a truck and got
dragged along for miles on stretch.
The driver of the truck was alerted by passing motorists who honked to call his
attention. However, he initially mistook their sign and increased the truck's
speed, as he thought the car drivers wanted him to speedup up.
Yin now faces death penalty for illegal possession of drugs.
(source: emirates247.com)
ALGERIA:
Death Penalty Enforcement in Algeria Requires Open Debate, Says Louh
Minister of Justice, Tayeb Louh said Thursday in Algiers the enforcement of the
death penalty in Algeria requires an "open and objective" debate involving all
fringes of society away from prejudice and cyclical influences.
In response to an oral question to a member of the National People's Assembly
(Lower House of Parliament) on the causes for non-enforcement of the death
penalty in Algeria for years, despite a surge in crime and abduction
phenomenon, Louh said that in addition to its legal nature, this issue had
political, social and moral implications.
"Algeria's position on this issue must correspond to the specific
characteristics of the Algerian society that many experiences have forged in
this area over time," stated minister.
The minister recalled that the suspension of the enforcement of the death
penalty in Algeria dated back to 1993, adding that a number of other countries
whose legislation provides for the death penalty did not apply this sentence.
Modern societies are faced with the problem of enforcement this penalty because
of its legal, human and social consequences, claiming that this issue "is
controversial even within different intellectual currents, including in
Algeria."
(source: Algerie Presse Service)
ZIMBABWE:
"Aggravating Circumstances" May Have Just Ended The Death Penalty In Zimbabwe
The future of the death penalty in Zimbabwe will come down to the meaning of
these words. Or, perhaps, their lack of clear meaning.
According to the country's 2013 constitution, even while "every person has a
right to life," "a law may permit the death penalty to be imposed only on a
person convicted of murder committed in aggravating circumstances."
According to Zimbabwean High Court Justice Charles Hungwe, this is simply not
enough guidance. Until the country's parliament enacts a law detailing just
what constitutes aggravating circumstances, the country's courts will not be
able to sentence individuals to death.
According to the Justice, the inclusion of the "aggravating circumstances"
standard in the new constitution, something that was not present in the old
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act that previously defined criminal law and
punishment, is meant "to unfetter the exercise of ... discretion??? that
previously existed for sentencing courts.
To Hungwe's point, other than "aggravating circumstances," the conditions under
which capital punishment may be used are remarkably well defined by the
country's constitution.
Section 48(2), the country's article that deals with the fundamental "Right to
Life," ensures that courts are given discretion whether or not to sentence an
individual to death, thus disallowing mandatory death sentences for crimes, the
provision also forbids the death penalty against men under 21 or over 70 and
all women.
The constitution also specifically allows individuals who are sentenced to
death the ability to seek "pardon or commutation from the President" and
maintains that the judgment must only be carried out after a final order by a
Court.
With this level of detail, Hungwe ruled that no Zimbabweans could be sentenced
to death until Parliament further describes exactly what constituted
"aggravating circumstances."
There is extensive disagreement between international criminal systems as to
whether such "aggravating circumstances" or "aggravating factors" should be
spelled out by the code or left to the discretion of the sentencing judge.
According to Dr. Barbora Hola, an Assistant Professor at the VU University of
Amsterdam's Law Faculty and a scholar of sentencing guidelines, "many domestic
jurisdictions provide acceptable factors concerning aggravation of a
sentence..." For instance, the United States Criminal Code includes 16 separate
aggravating factors for homicide, in addition to 11 others that apply to other
crimes that can warrant the death penalty under Federal Law.
However, such specificity is not the case in all circumstances, Hola goes on to
discuss the sentencing regimes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR), which provide no legal framework but prefer the discretionary, judicial
method. The Appeals Chamber for the ICTY noted the wide discretion, saying
"Trial Chambers have some discretion as to the rubric under which they treat
particular factors."
Taking the detail oriented constitutional provision to favor detail over
discretion, Hungwe also wrote that he "interpret[ed] the legal position to be
that in keeping with its international obligations and best practices, Zimbabwe
intends to move away from the death penalty."
There appears to be some support for this idea amongst prominent politicos in
the sub-Saharan state. Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to sign no
"death warrants," the final step in the execution process, during his tenure.
He has said that even while the constitution allows for such a punishment, he
personally finds it unfair.
Mnangagwa is himself intimately familiar with capital punishment, having been
sentenced to death by hanging under the regime of Ian Smith in the 1960???s,
while he was in his teens. Not only did he escape the noose due to his youth,
he has managed to rise to a position where he has immeasurable control over
potential executions.
As we have previously discussed here at AFKInsider, a Zimbabwe that is moving
away from the death penalty fits within the wider trend across the continent.
In the past few years less and less African countries have sentenced
individuals to death or carried out such sentences, but the countries that do
have seemingly doubled down. This has increased the total number of executed
individuals even as the number of countries falls.
While 2013 saw 16 individuals in Zimbabwe sentenced to death, Minister
Mnangagwa's presence ensures that no individuals are executed. Should the
country's parliament not intervene on Hungwe's ruling and it survives appeal,
the country will also no longer sentence individuals to death. This would mean
that despite a constitution that specifically provides for the death penalty,
there would be a de facto ban in the country, a major victory for abolition
advocates even without constitutional or legal change.
(source: Andrew Friedman is a human rights attorney and freelance consultant
who works and writes on legal reform and constitutional law with an emphasis on
Africa----AFK Insider)
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