April 9
INDIA:
1993 Mumbai blasts: Supreme Court junks Yakub Memon's plea, confirms death
penalty
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the death penalty for 1993 Mumbai
serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, and junked his plea to
reconsider the previous verdict.
A 3-judge bench led by Justice Anil R Dave dismissed the review petition by
Memon after holding there was no ground to interfere with the judgement to hand
out capital punishment to him. Memon is left with the only legal remedy of
filing a curative petition against this judgement.
Memon had sought the recall of March 21, 2013 apex court order upholding his
death sentence on the grounds that he may be held guilty of a conspiracy to
commit terrorist acts but he was not actually involved in executing the blasts
that led to death of people.
According to his counsel Jaspal Singh, evidence could prove only an involvement
of Memon in the conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and the punishment
prescribed under the now repealed-Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act did not entail a death sentence.
The court was told that under TADA, a person attracts death sentence only when
he is actually involved in committing the terror strikes resulting in deaths of
people. He also pointed out an alleged error by the trial court in relying upon
certain documents which were otherwise not admissible as evidence. Singh
further contended that the judgement was not ready when Memon was heard on the
quantum of punishment and hence he had no occasion to know grounds of his
conviction.
The top court had in June stayed the execution of Memon, who is the brother of
Ibrahim Memon, better known as Tiger Memon, the alleged mastermind and the
prime accused who is absconding in the blast case. President Pranab Mukherjee
had in April rejected Memon's mercy petition of Memon and the decision was left
to the Maharashtra government for fixing the execution date. Memon is lodged in
Nagpur jail.
In March last year, the SC had confirmed the death sentence awarded to Memon,
holding him guilty of being the "driving spirit" behind the blasts that killed
257 people, while commuting the death sentence awarded to 10 others to life
imprisonment till their death. The court had said that Memon's "commanding
position and the crime of utmost gravity" warranted capital punishment.
Memon's review petition was heard in the open court in accordance with the
Supreme Court's landmark ruling, which held that review petitions against the
verdict upholding the death sentence must be heard by a 3-judges bench in open
court.
A Constitution bench had said that all the death row convicts, whose review
petitions have already been rejected but their sentence has not been executed,
may file fresh petitions for an open court hearing of their review pleas within
a month and they will be heard for at least half-an-hour.
However, in the cases, where the curative petition has already been decided,
the death row convict will not have this opportunity to avail.
(source: Indian Express)
*************************
SC declines to stay death penalty of 1993 serial blasts convict Yakub Memon
PTI reported that a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AR Dave rejected the
review of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon's death penalty, after having stayed his
execution on 2 June 2014 and upholding the sentence on 21 March 2013.
Memon had planted explosives in cars in Mumbai, with 10 of his accomplices
having had their death sentences commuted to life terms.
(source: legallyindia.com)
INDONESIA:
Bali 9: Legal team files constitutional challenge questioning president's
refusal to pardon Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan
Lawyer Inneke Kusuma arrives at the Indonesian constitutional court with
evidence to support latest challenge on Thursday April 9, 2015. Photo: Lawyer
Inneke Kusuma arrives at the constitutional court with evidence to support the
latest challenge in the Bali 9 case.
A lawyer for 2 Australian drug smugglers has filed for a constitutional court
challenge questioning the Indonesian president's process of refusing to pardon
them from the death penalty.
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were denied a chance to appeal against their
death sentences in the country's administrative court, so their lawyers are
trying another tactic.
Inneke Kusuma from the Indonesian law firm representing the pair has filed 2
boxes of papers to the constitutional court.
What mercy and justice demand
The Hon Ken Crispin Q C, writing for ABC Religion and Ethics, on why Indonesia
should spare the lives of Bali 9 ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
She said the legal team were filing 2 cases 1 challenging a rule that prevents
foreigners launching cases in the constitutional court and another questioning
the president's obligation to adequately consider clemency cases.
President Joko Widodo struck out Chan's and Sukumaran's requests for a pardon
from the death penalty, seemingly without considering their cases.
Ms Kusuma said one of the challenges seeks to clarify what the president is
required to do in considering clemency, and may be able to force a
reconsideration.
She said they would ask the government to delay the execution until the cases
were resolved.
Earlier this week Indonesia's attorney-general said the appeal to the
constitutional court would not stop their executions.
Muhammad Prasetyo said they had run out of legal options, and a constitutional
court decision would only apply to future cases.
"We are not going to wait anymore. [We are] not going to stop the execution,"
he said.
Indonesia originally planned to carry out the executions in February, but
following an international outcry, agreed to let legal appeals run their
course.
Indonesia resumed executions in 2013 after a 5-year hiatus.
It did not put anyone to death in 2014 but executed 6 drug convicts in January
this year.
(source: ABC news)
****************************
Family of Filipino maid on death row appeals for Jokowi's clemency
Family members of Filipino domestic worker Mary Jane Veloso have made a
last-minute appeal for clemency to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, following
her conviction for drug trafficking in Indonesia that incurred the death
penalty.
On Wednesday (Apr 8), the family submitted an open letter to the Indonesian
Embassy in Manila, appealing for mercy. They have also joined members of the
public in rallies for her release.
In 2010, the 30-year-old single mother was sentenced to death for attempting to
smuggle 2.6kg of heroin from Malaysia to Yogyakarta in Central Java. Her family
claimed that she was framed by her friend, and was a victim of drug syndicates.
They said Veloso travelled to Indonesia on promises that a job as a domestic
worker was waiting for her. However, she was allegedly provided with a suitcase
containing heroin.
In March, Veloso lost her appeal in the Supreme Court, after her plea for
clemency had been rejected by President Widodo. She is now expected to be
transferred from Yogyakarta to the maximum security prison in Nusa Kambangan
Island, where she will await execution by firing squad.
Meanwhile, the rallies in her support have begun with the hope that this extra
pressure may be sufficient to sway the final outcome before time runs out.
(source: ChannelNewsAsia)
VIETNAM:
Court upholds death penalty for corrupt bank executive
The Ho Chi Minh People's Court yesterday (April 8) upheld a death sentence
handed down to the former director of Finance Leasing Company No. 2 (ACL II),
who was involved in a major corruption case in 2007.
At the appeal's court, which ended yesterday (April 8) after three days of
discussion, the court upheld the death sentence given to Vu Quoc Hao, former
director of ACL II, a subsidiary of the State-owned Viet Nam Bank for
Agricultural and Rural Development.
Hao, 60, was found guilty of embezzling US$3.7 million. In 2007, he ordered the
establishment of Long Hai Sand Joint Stock Company, an affiliate of ACL II.
Then he directed his subordinates at the new company to buy an old submarine
for VND100 million ($4,700). Hao colluded with members of the Viet Nam
Verification and Appraisal Joint Stock Company (VIVACO) to falsely value the
old ship at VND130 billion ($6.15 million).
He later appropriated VND78 billion (nearly $3.7 million) to buy 90,000sq.m in
Tien Giang Province.
The court also upheld the death sentence given to Pham Minh Tuan, former
chairman of Long Hai Sand Company.
2 other high-ranking members of the Long Hai Sand Company and Nguyen Van Tai,
former deputy director of ACL II, were sentenced to life in prison.
The former director of VIVACO, Hoang Loc, was also sentenced to death in the
first hearing, but the punishment was reduced to life in prison at his appeal.
In another case related to ACLII in 2013, Hao was also charged with embezzling
VND531 billion ($25.3 million) worth of State property, abusing his position
and power while on duty and deliberately violating State regulations on
economic management. It also resulted in a death sentence.
(source: VietNamNet)
PAKISTAN:
Execution of 2 death row prisoners halted in Mach
The execution of 2 death row prisoners was halted on Thursday at the Mach
central jail in Balochistan, Express News reported.
According to jail authorities, the 2 brothers - Meero Gul and Ali Gul - were
convicted of a murder in 2001 and were scheduled to be hanged early morning.
"The hanging did not take place as the convicts settled the dispute with the
aggrieved party," the authorities added.
On March 10, the interior ministry had lifted a moratorium on death penalty in
all capital cases after restarting executions for terrorism offences in the
wake of Peshawar school massacre.
Over 50 convicts have been hanged since the ban on executions was lifted.
(source: The Express Tribune)
EGYPT:
Citizens 'may be executed any minute': Anti-death penalty group
An anti-death penalty group called on the National Council for Human Rights to
"urgently intervene" and "to bear the political and moral responsibility in
preventing the death of possibly innocent citizens", in specific reference to
the "Arab Sharkas" case on Wednesday.
A military court rejected the appeal on the death sentences of 7 people on the
24 March in the case. Authorities can hence execute the defendants' death
sentences at any time.
The Supreme Military Court had initially sentenced in October 2014 7 defendants
to death and 2 to life in prison. The sessions were held in the military area
in the Hikestep military camp on the Ismailia-Cairo road.
1 of the 9 men was tried and convicted in absentia, while 2 others were
sentenced to life; the 6 men remaining in custody "are at risk of execution any
time", Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
The execution process is secretive, while families are supposed to receive a
warning a day in advance to receive the dead bodies, "but that is not always
respected in practice," according to Humans Rights Watch.
Sara Said, 1 of the defendants' sister, said her brother and the remaining
defendants had been "kidnapped" or forcibly disappeared. She added that last
May her family and "6 or 7 more families went and filed a report to the
Prosecutor General after they had seen their children's names in an Ansar Beit
Al-Maqdis membership list that the Ministry of Interior had released."
All of the families had no idea where their children were, she said. The
defendants "were all kidnapped and they all experienced the worst types of
torture."
According to HRW and local rights organisations, 2 of the defendants were
already in detention when the alleged 'Arab Sharkas' events took place.
The Arab Sharkas case includes a group of 9 men on military trial for allegedly
taking part in attacks on security forces and killing 2 security personnel in a
shoot out in March 2014.
Security forces had allegedly been carrying out a "terrorist cell" in a village
in the Qaliubiya governorate, north of Cairo. The interior ministry later
reported 6 militants dead, and 8 arrested. The gunfight allegedly took place on
19 March, 2014.
2 of the defendants, Mohamed Bakry and Hani Amer, were arrested and detained in
Azouly Prison three months before the alleged incident took place, rights
groups and families confirmed to Daily News Egypt.
Sara Said added that her now 20-year-old brother was at a travel agency with
his friend Islam in 6th of October City when they were both arrested on 16
March, 2014, 3 days before the alleged incident took place.
Said and her family only learned of her brother's detention whereabouts later
in May, when they got a phone call from the family that was visiting their son
in the same prison Abdel Rahman was kept in. "He had lost a lot of weight and
it was then that he told us how he got arrested," she said.
"Usually, when you want to punish someone, it is because there is something you
don't want them to do again. Therefore, any punishment that is death is not a
punishment it is political revenge," Aida Seif Al-Dawla, co-founder of the El
Nadeem Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, told Daily News
Egypt. "This is not a punishment, this is murder."
"This trial is unfair. It's a military court and there is only one witness who
is a national security officer. He's the one who supposedly arrested them,"
said Said. "In the trial session, the officer was saying what happened, and my
mother got up and called him a liar. Of course, they told her to sit down, but
after that he couldn't remember what he was saying ... because he was lying."
(source: Daily News)
ZIMBABWE:
Death penalty abolition gathers momentum----Lovemore Majaranji was sentenced to
death in 2004 after he had murdered 3 members of the same family in Gokwe's
Chief Sai area.
When he committed the crime he was moving around Gokwe pretending to be a
traditional healer who could exorcise evil spirits. He would camp at the
homesteads of his clients and investigate where they kept their money.
At this particular family he stayed for three days trying to steal the money.
He had seen where it was being kept. When he failed to steal it he killed the 3
family members, took the money and disappeared.
He was later tracked down, arrested and sentenced to death. Since then he has
been living in single cell at Chikurubi Maximum Prison where prisoners on death
row await execution.
Every time he hears the footsteps of prison guards in the corridors Majaranji
thinks the hangman is coming for him.
"I wish they could have killed me when they convicted me because since then I
have had no rest. Being on the death row is torture. It traumatises me, because
I am always thinking that I could die any time and this causes psychological
stress," he said during a recent prison tour that followed the riot by
prisoners at Chikurubi.
He said he had heard from the prison authorities that the country's new
constitution provided for pardon for inmates on death row and hopes that one
day he might get out of jail.
"I am told by officers that we now have a constitution which does not allow
executions. But what I want to know is whether we are going to be considered,
or are we going to be pardoned?" he asked eagerly.
The new constitution, adopted almost two years ago now, excludes women from the
death penalty. It also exempts males under the age of 21 and those over 70.
Zimbabwe last had executions in 2005 and since then has not executed any
prisoners.
According to Amnesty International Zimbabwe there are 95 prisoners currently on
death row. The spokesperson, Cousin Zilala, said "We recorded 10 death
sentences in 2014 although there were no executions carried out. Among the 95
inmates who are on the death row there is one foreign national from Mozambique,
a male adult aged 27".
Defacto abolitionist
Zilala said by not executing prisoners for 10 years now it means that the
country is defacto death penalty abolitionist
Zilala, whose organisation has been lobbying government for the total abolition
of the death penalty, said they were going to host a big event commemorating
the country's defacto death penalty abolitionist status so as to encourage
government to cancel the death penalty from the statute books.
"In July we are planning to have a big event to commemorate Zimbabwe's defacto
abolitionist status as we campaign for complete abolition in Zimbabwe," said
Zilala. "We also intend to take human rights education to government, political
parties, all policy making bodies and the general public."
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, himself a survivor of the death penalty
during the liberation struggle, recently said he was not going to sign any more
death penalty warrants.
Simeon Mawanza, the Amnesty International specialist for Southern Africa, said
they had been promised that Mnangagwa would be part of their July event.
"We have been engaging the government of Zimbabwe since 2009. We decided so to
take a cross party approach so that the death penalty does not come a victim of
inter-party competitions. We want all parties to commit to abolition.
"We have done so through engaging all parties and targeting key government
actors. There is a broad movement of people, including parliamentarians, who
have openly supported across the political divide the call by Amnesty for the
abolition of the death penalty," said Mawanza.
(source: The Zimbabwean)
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