Nov. 27
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh war criminals on death row win right to final appeal
In a landmark judgment, Bangladesh's Supreme Court has allowed death row
criminals, convicted of committing war crimes during the 1971 independence war
against Pakistan, to seek review of their capital punishment, setting aside the
government???s view on the issue.
"The (convicts) review petitions are maintainable," read the order released on
the Supreme Court website today, a day after the 5-member bench of the apex
court made the decision.
It, however, added that, "the finality attached to a judgment at the apex level
of the judicial hierarchy upon a full-fledged hearing of the parties should be
re-examined in exceptional cases and a review is not permissible to embark upon
a reiteration of the same points."
The apex court, headed by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, also pointed out "a
review petition should not be equated with an appeal (and) in criminal matters
and the power of review must be limited to an error which has a material, real
ground on the face of the case."
According to the verdict, like the defendants, the state or the prosecution
side will also be entitled to the opportunity of seeking review of any judgment
by the apex court but both sides must seek the review within 15 days after the
publication of the final verdict, though in ordinary cases, the time limit is
60 days.
A total of 11 people were sentenced to death for committing crimes against
humanity while siding with Pakistani troops during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation
War, since the war crimes trials were initiated in 2010.
2 special International Crimes Tribunals were set up, appointing a panel of
judges from the High Court.
Till now only 1 of them has been executed following the Supreme Court's
rejection of his review petition after it upheld the tribunal verdict following
the appeal hearing.
The Supreme Court decision came, even as Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has
consistently said the special law for the war crimes trial in Bangladesh has no
scope for review of the apex court judgments.
He said the convicts under war crimes law do not come under the purview of the
Criminal Procedure Code or the Jail Code, which are applicable for ordinary
death penalty convicts.
(source: NitiCentral.com)
INDIA:
Supreme Court upholds death penalty in 2008 Nagpur murder case
The Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty of a 53-year-old man charged for
raping and killing a 4 year-old girl in Nagpur in 2008, according to reports.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday reportedly stated that it
was a 'barbaric crime against the soul of the society and the offender would
remain a menace'.
As per reports, the accused Vasanta Sampat Dupare, who was married and a
neighbour whom the "helpless child" addressed as an uncle, had lured her on the
pretext of buying chocolates for her, taken her to an isolated place, and had
then assaulted and killed her.
He also reportedly destroyed all the evidence by washing his clothes after the
crime.
(source: Deccan Chronicle)
THAILAND:
Thai Court Sentences 5 Separatists to Death for Armed Attack: Reports
5 Malay Muslim separatists received the death penalty in Thailand for shooting
and killing 4 Thai soldiers and injuring others in 2012, Andalou news agency
reported Thursday.
In the July 2012 attack, 18 gunmen opened fire on 6 military patrol members
amid separatist insurgencies in the Pattani province, mainly in Mayo district.
About 80 percent of the district's population are Malay Muslims.
According to Andalou, police stepped up security around government buildings
and schools in anticipation of protests by sympathizers after the 4-hour trial
came to an end.
Though progress in resolving the secessionist issue is slow, the Thai military,
which currently rules the country, has expressed a willingness to commence a
dialogue with separatist leaders, adding that the talks would be held in secret
and not in view of the press, Anadolu reported.
Since January 2004, a separatist insurgency in Thailand has resulted in over
6,000 deaths, most of them civilian.
(source: Sputnik news)
MALAYSIA:
A Nigerian Sentenced To Death For Drug Trafficking In Malaysia
A Nigerian man has been sentenced to death for trafficking drug suspected to be
Methamphetamine.
A middle aged Nigerian man named Abuchi Ngwoke has been sentenced to death by a
Malaysian court yesterday for drug trafficking.
According to Sahara Reporters, 35-year-old Abuchi was arrested in 2012 at a
Malaysian airport after being caught with 251.66 grams of Methamphetamine.
The execution date is yet to be announced.
(source: pulse.com)
NIGERIA----female juvenile may face death penalty
Nigerian child bride, 14, accused of killing her husband and three others with
rat poison
A 14-year-old Nigerian child bride is accused of murdering 4 people, including
her 35-year-old husband, by lacing food she had prepared for a post-marriage
celebration with rat poison.
The case had outraged human rights activists, who said a girl married to a man
more than twice her age should be treated as a victim, not a criminal.
Wasila Tasi'u, from a poor, rural family in the mainly Muslim north, could face
the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki's first witness was a seven-year-old girl
identified as Hamziyya, who was living in the same house as Tasi'u and her
husband Umar Sani, when the child bride allegedly laced his food with rat
poison.
Hamziyya was identified as the sister of Mr Sani's "co-wife", referring to a
woman the deceased farmer had married previously, in a region where polygamy is
widespread.
The 7-year-old testified that Tasi'u had given her money to buy rat poison from
a local shop on April 5, the day Mr Sani died.
"She said rats were disturbing her in her room," Hamziyya told the court.
The prosecution alleged that Tasi'u instead put the poison in food she had
prepared for a post-marriage celebration, perhaps because she regretted her
decision to marry Mr Sani.
Child bride refused to speak in court
Judge Mohammed Yahaya, sitting at the Gezawa High Court, had entered a plea of
not guilty for Tasi'u, who refused to respond at a previous hearing on October
30 when the charges were put to her.
The judge rejected defence applications for the case to be transferred to a
juvenile court.
Hamziyya's testimony was supported by Abuwa Yusuf, a shopkeeper in the town of
Unguwar Yansoro, who confirmed selling the poison to the child.
Mr Sani's neighbour, 30-year-old farmer Abdulrahim Ibrahim, testified he was
offered the food allegedly prepared by Tasi'u.
"When he brought the food (I) noticed some sandy-like particles, black in
colour," he told the court.
He ate four of the small balls made of bean paste but "was not comfortable with
the taste", he said, adding: "It was only Umar who continued eating."
He said he later saw Mr Sani in the garden, visibly ill, and took him home.
While trying to care for Mr Sani, he learnt that 3 others who ate the food had
died suddenly.
Prosecutors alleged that Tasi'u's poisoned food killed 4 people, and had joined
all the reported deaths into one murder charge.
Nigeria had not executed a juvenile offender since 1997, when the country was
ruled by military dictator Sani Abacha, according to Human Rights Watch.
(source: ABC news)
THE MALDIVES:
Thulusdhoo murder suspect sentenced to death
The Criminal Court has sentenced Mohamed Niyaz of Kaaf Thulusdhoo Redrose to
death after he was found guilty of murdering 35-year-old Ali Shiham at
Thulusdhoo on the night of July 31.
The Criminal Court sentence (Dhivehi) read that Niyaz was proven guilty based
on his confession to investigators and his refusal to defend himself from the
evidence provided to the court by the prosecutors.
Niyaz voluntarily handed himself over to the local police department after
fatally stabbing Shiham in what the police have described as an act of
vengeance after Shiham accused Niyaz of stealing from a construction site under
the supervision of the victim.
The sentence was issued after Shiham's 5 heirs - his wife, 2 children and
grandmother - demanded qisas at the court. The decision of children was made by
Shiham's wife.
While speaking to the press at the time, Chief Inspector Abdulla Satheeh said
that Niyaz had been arrested 10 times previously for theft and drug-related
crimes.
The government has made moves this year to end the country's 60-year moratorium
on the death penalty, introducing regulations in April to oversee the process.
While speaking at a Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) rally this month,
President Abdulla Yameen reiterated the government's resolve to implement the
death penalty for the sake of human rights and dignity.
"I want to say tonight as well in your presence, this government will have no
mercy at all for those who slaughter Maldivian citizens with no mercy," said
Yameen at the 'Successful 365 Days' event held in Male on November 21.
Home Minister Umar Naseer said in April that death penalty can be implemented
in Maldives from April 27 after the procedural regulations were published on
the government's gazette on that day.
"We are not one to shy away from implementing the death penalty by showing
various excuses. Nothing will stop us from implementing the death penalty as
planned," said Naseer told the media.
The last person executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, found guilty of
practicing black magic in 1953. The common practice has since been for the
president to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment through powers
vested in him by Clemency Act.
With the new regulation, the president will no longer have this authority if a
person is sentenced to death for murder by the Supreme Court.
The decision to re-implement the death penalty has received a mixed response at
home and abroad, with some questioning the current state of the judiciary,
while others claimed that the Islamic Sharia dictates a willful murderer should
be put to death if there is sufficient evidence.
(source: Minivan News)
SAUDI ARABIA----execution
Saudi Arabia beheads 9th Pakistani since mid-October
Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a Pakistani for heroin smuggling, bringing to
nine the number of people from his country executed since mid-October. Mohammed
Rahman Mohammed Asghar had been "tried and found guilty of smuggling a large
quantity of heroin into the kingdom," the official Saudi Press Agency said.
The sentence was carried out in the Eastern Province city of Khobar. Asghar was
the latest of 74 people, foreigners and Saudis, to be executed in the kingdom
this year, according to an AFP tally.
The oil-rich Gulf state saw the third highest number of executions in the world
last year after Iran and Iraq, according to Amnesty International whose figures
did not include China.
Mohammed Rahman Mohammed Asghar had been "tried and found guilty of smuggling a
large quantity of heroin into the kingdom," the official Saudi Press Agency
said.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
HONDURAS:
Honduran Party Leader Favors Death Penalty, Military Service
Ex President of National Congress of Honduras (1986-1990), Carlos Montoya,
urged here today to restore conscription and the death penalty in order to
check violence rocking the country.
In opinion of Montoya, who is also a leader of the Liberal Party, eliminating
military service was a mistake because after that, young gang members deported
from the United States started coming to the country, and crime increased.
He explained that his proposal implies to restore military service above all
for those people who are not working or studying. The wave of violence
affecting this nation claims some 20 lives everyday, on average, and is an
essential issue on the country's political and social agenda; therefore, many
proposals have been made to address the phenomenon, including to declare the
state of emergency, as proposed by legislator Oscar Najera, from the National
Party.
Under the state of emergency, carrying weapons in public and workplaces would
be banned, among other steps.
However, the Observatory of Violence of the National Autonomous University of
Honduras (UNAH) considers a priority to promote preventative measures instead.
According to UNAH, fighting crime is not the solution to the problem. Education
and the access to employment should be fostered to achieve greater social
inclusion.
(source: Prensa Latina)
BELIZE:
New report prompts changes to criminal justice system
Earlier this year, English barrister Joseph Middleton, a leading human rights
attorney in the United Kingdom, visited Belize on behalf of the Death Penalty
Project to review conditions at the Belize Central Prison at Hattieville.
That review focused specifically on persons facing death for criminal actions,
mentally ill prisoners, juvenile offenders, and those serving long-term or life
sentences.
There was a round-table discussion earlier in the year for feedback from local
legal and judicial practitioners.
Today the report, titled "Behind the Prison Gates" was released.
In it Middleton outlines several major cases that point to the need for legal
reform to respect the human rights of convicted criminals in special
circumstances.
He called for review of guidelines for sentencing and evaluation of prisoners
and an overview of the role of key stakeholders from the prison to the
courtrooms.
Co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project, Parvais Jabbar, says the
report is not intended to blame anyone for the current conditions but to
provide a platform for change.
The recommendations came from a roundtable discussion chaired by Senior Counsel
Godfrey Smith and featuring some of Belize's most formidable human rights
advocates and their counterparts from abroad.
And it appears Belize's Judiciary are listening and in some cases, acting.
Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin, flanked by judges of the criminal jurisdiction
Antoinette Moore and Denis Hanomansingh, today announced several efforts aimed
at renewing and streamlining criminal legal practice going into the 2015 term
of the Supreme Court, including removing the fee to file bail applications
which affects poorer families and speeding up psychiatric reviews for prisoners
remanded at Her Majesty's pleasure.
He reminded however that the work involved is for all to take on. The report is
now publicly available.
(source: patrickjonesbelize.com)
BAHAMAS:
Appeal Court Says There Is Never Going To Be A 'Worst Of The Worst'
"Hanging is over" was the consensus of three Court of Appeal judges presiding
over yesterday's hearing of a man seeking to be exonerated of a conviction and
death sentence for the paid execution of his friend.
The justices overturned Anthony Clarke Sr's death sentence and returned the
matter to the Supreme Court for resentencing.
Clarke's lawyer Romona Farquharson-Seymour was unable to convince Justices
Anita Allen, Stanley John and Abdulai Conteh the trial judge was wrong - in law
- to allow 4 alleged confessions to be admitted into evidence before a jury.
However, the justices did agree with Mrs Farquharson-Seymour that the
circumstances of the September 16, 2011 murder of Aleus Tilus came nowhere
close to that of Maxo Tido, whose death sentence for the brutal murder of a
16-year-old girl was ultimately overturned by the London-based Privy Council
because it was not "the worst of the worst."
Moments before dismissing Clarke's appeal against his conviction, but squashing
his death sentence, the appellate court asked Franklyn Williams, deputy
director of public prosecutions, if he believed the case to be the "worst of
the worst."
"It was a contract killing," Mr Williams answered, adding that it was open to
the trial judge to come to this conclusion in light of previous rulings by the
Privy Council.
"The contract itself, they said, does not make it so," Justice Conteh said.
"It may be considered though," the prosecutor said, adding that Clarke,
according to the confession, had stalked Tilus for the entire day on his
bicycle before riding up to him.
The lawyer said Clarke fired 8 shots in Tilus' direction, 3 of which hit him in
the heart and liver.
"Does that in of itself make it the worst of the worst?" Justice Allen asked.
"In the case of Maxo Tido, there was evidence of torture of a 16-year-old girl
(who) was taken from her home, tortured and even partially burned."
Mr Williams asked the court to take into consideration that Clarke had shown no
remorse upon his conviction or when interviewed by a psychiatrist of the
Department of Rehabilitative Welfare Services.
"I empathise with you because there is never going to be a worst of the worst,
because you're never going to reach that threshold given that there will always
be a worse case to follow," Justice Allen said.
The point was conceded by Justices John and Conteh.
"So the death penalty shouldn't have been on the table," Justice Conteh said.
"Hanging is over," Justice John said.
"Hanging is over," Justice Allen added before the court, for reasons to be
provided at a later date, squashed the death sentence and remitted the matter
to Supreme Court for resentencing.
Clarke's conviction was upheld.
Both Mrs Farquharson-Seymour and Mr Williams offered no comment on the outcome
of the appeal.
Evidence
During Clarke's trial, the prosecution produced a confession statement in which
Clarke purportedly owned up to the murder.
He allegedly told police that he was paid "a lot of money" by a "white man",
who was not named or prosecuted, to kill Tilus because of an ongoing dispute
before the Labour Board concerning Tilus' employer.
The convict's then-attorney, Shaka Serville, submitted that the statement was
obtained through force and brutality against his client.
The jury returned an unanimous guilty verdict and the prosecutor, Ambrose
Armbrister, indicated the Crown's intent to seek the death penalty.
On October 10, 2013, then-Senior Justice Jon Isaacs, having taken into account
submissions from the prosecution, defence attorneys, probation and psychiatric
reports, agreed to the Crown's request to sentence Clarke to death.
Yesterday's almost 3-hour long substantive hearing began with Mrs
Farquharson-Seymour making arguments against the conviction.
She argued that the judge had allowed the confessions to be entered into
evidence, notwithstanding that Clarke, who alleged brutality at the hands of
the police, had not been properly cautioned on possibly incriminating himself
following the 1st record of the interview that he gave to police. Questioning
the police about this, she said, would have been in accordance with the Judge's
Rules.
Justice Allen asked the lawyer about the differences between each of the
confessions admitted into evidence.
The 1st and 2nd respective confessions, taken on October 4, 2011, had been a
record of interview and a video recording of police being taken to the scene of
the crime.
The 3rd and 4th confessions, taken on October 6, 2011, came from further
questioning about the weapon used and a final confirmation of what Clarke had
earlier told police.
The defence lawyer's response prompted Mr Williams to rebut her claim. He said
that there were not 4 confessions as each inquiry was a continuum.
The prosecutor also asked the court to bear in mind that the officers had only
72 hours to work with for their inquiries of Clarke.
Clarke's lawyer asked the court to be mindful that an entire day separated the
Crown's only evidence brought against her client in the Supreme Court.
She said this lent credence to her client's claim of oppression when also
considering the medical evidence presented that a physician had found soft
tissue injury on his right side when he was examined 4 days after the last of
the alleged confessions were given.
Justice Allen noted that Clarke had answered "yes" when asked by the examining
physician if he sustained injury during arrest.
Mrs Farquharson-Seymour submitted that the physician was not probed for clarity
by either side in the court below.
The appellate president said the physician would still not be able to give
evidence of how and when the injuries occurred because there were no visible
bruises and the injury itself was medically diagnosed as subjective.
Justice Allen further noted that the medical report noted that the soft tissue
injury could have been caused from stretching or trauma.
Mrs Farquharson-Seymour said the latter of the 2 still gave credence to his
claims of police brutality.
Mr Williams, in response, said that the Supreme Court judge still came to the
conclusion that in watching the video recorded interviews, he saw no signs of
force or coercion.
The judge had further noted that the injury did not match Clarke's description
of him being beaten while facedown on the floor.
On the issue of sentencing, Mrs Farquharson-Seymour noted that the Crown had
not provided their grounds for seeking the death penalty when giving notice on
the day of conviction.
Justice Allen noted that as long as the latter was adhered to, the rest was
procedural and at the direction of the judge.
The lawyer then submitted that the commission of the offences came in September
2011, 2 months before the law was amended to reflect the Privy Council's
rulings on which cases of murder could attract the death penalty.
When asked by the court if this was a "worst of the worst" case, the lawyer
said it was not.
She explained that there was no evidence of lurking or even torture.
Mr Williams interjected, noting that Clarke was a friend of Tilus and had
killed him after the 2 had lunch in Gambier Village.
(source: tribune242.com)
IRAN----executions
7 more hanged as executions soar under Hassan Rouhani
7 more prisoners have been hanged in public in Iran as executions continue to
soar under Hassan Rouhani's rule.
More than 1,000 men, women and youths have now been put to death her the
so-called 'moderate' leader who came to power 18 months ago.
On Wednesday, 2 men named as Ali M and Ali Q were hanged in public for
'mischief' in north-eastern city of Mashhad.
A group of 5 inmates were hanged in Gohardasht prison in city of Karaj. They
were part of a group of 9 that had been transferred to isolation on Tuesday. 4
others they were returned to their cells after their execution had been
delayed.
The 2 men were also hanged in the Ghasem Abbad district of the city of Mashhad
at 9.30am local time today.
A video distributed on the internet this week shows the grief-stricken family
members of 8 executed prisoners mourning their loved-ones, whose bodies in
black bags are lined up before them in a mortuary.
The video was secretly recorded on a mobile phone by an eyewitness who said a
group of people are hanged secretly every Thursday in the city of Kerman.
The eyewitness said: "Many of the executions in this city are for possession of
drugs offences. Usually these are young people who have grown up as orphans and
due to poverty are now the sole breadwinner for their families."
Soaring human rights abuses in Iran, including an unprecedented rise in
executions, the wave of state-organized acid attacks against women, and the
continuing repression of religious and ethnic minorities, bloggers, reporters
and activists are all taking place amid growing public discontent with the
regime, but also in the absence of international action regarding the ongoing
violation of human rights.
***************
19 more prisoners await immediate hanging as executions soar under Rouhani
Prison authorities in the Iranian city of Karaj have transferred 19 men to
isolation to await their execution.
At Gohardasht prison, 0 men were placed in solitary confinement, and another 10
were placed in isolation at Ghezelhasar prison, according to the information
from inside the regime.
2 more prisoners - 1 a 23-year-old man - were also hanged at dawn on Wednesday
in the main prison in the city of Qazvin, according to reports.
Since so-called 'moderate' Hassan Rouhani came to power, more than 1,000
prisoners including juvenile offenders and political prisoners have been
executed - although the true figure may is much higher.
A video distributed on the internet this week shows the grief-stricken family
members of 8 executed prisoners mourning their loved-ones, whose bodies in
black bags are lined up before them in a mortuary.
The video was secretly recorded on a mobile phone by an eyewitness who said a
group of people are hanged secretly every Thursday in the city of Kerman.
The eyewitness said: "Many of the executions in this city are for possession of
drugs offences. Usually these are young people who have grown up as orphans and
due to poverty are now the sole breadwinner for their families."
Soaring human rights abuses in Iran, including an unprecedented rise in
executions, the wave of state-organized acid attacks against women, and the
continuing repression of religious and ethnic minorities, bloggers, reporters
and activists are all taking place amid growing public discontent with the
regime, but also in the absence of international action regarding the ongoing
violation of human rights.
(source for both: NCR-Iran)
*********************
Young Man (20) Hanged in Public for "Immoral Acts" in Iran Today
3 prisoners were hanged in public 2 different cities of Khorasan-Razavi
Province today. 1 of the prisoners was hanged charged with the vague charges of
"immoral acts". Iran Human Rights calls for international condemnation of the
recent wave of public executions in Iran.
3 prisoners were hanged publicly in the cities of Mashhad and Joghatai today,
reported the Iranian state media. According to the state run Iranian news
agency Fars the prisoner who was hanged in Joghatai (a town near Mashhad) was
identified as "M. Gh." (20 year old), originally sentenced to death for murder
(Qesas- retribution) and for immoral acts. The prisoner was later pardoned by
the family of the murder victim, but he was executed for "immoral acts". The
report added that "M. Gh". has sent request of pardon for immoral acts but his
request was not granted by the Province Commission. There are no further
specifications of what "immoral acts" the prisoner was sentenced to death for.
2 other prisoners identified as "Ali M." and "Ali Gh." were hanged in Mashhad
at 9.15 AM this morning, reported Asr-e-Iran news site. The prisoners were
charged with "offences like theft, murder, disruption of order and spreading
fear among the people' said the report. Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly
condemns the new execution wave in Iran. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the
spokesperson of IHR said: "The international community must react to the wave
of the executions in Iran. Besides being barbaric and inhumane, the charges
used by the Iranian authorities are often vague and many of the executions are
arbitrary".
(source: Iran Human Rights)
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