July 17
ZAMBIA:
Human Rights Commission comments on Commutation of Death Sentences and HH
Attack
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMMUTATION OF SENTENCES FOR DEATH ROW INMATES BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT
OF ZAMBIA MR. EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU
The Human Rights Commission is delighted at the move by His Excellency the
President Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu taken to commute the death sentences of 332
death row inmates to life imprisonment.
The commutation is a clear demonstration that President will not depart from
the direction taken by his predecessors of the de facto moratorium. In light of
this action, the Commission calls upon Government to take the extra step and
accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights which requires State Parties to abolish the death penalty.
Further, Zambia needs to domesticate the Option Protocol to ensure that the
Judiciary do not continue handing down death sentences as a matter of law.
The Commission reiterates its opposition to the maintenance of the death
penalty as submitted to the technical committee on drafting the Zambian
Constitution in 2012. Human Rights practice today guides that a rehabilitative
approach to criminal offenders should be adopted as opposed to the traditional
approaches of retribution, vengeance and punishment under which the death
penalty falls.
The Human Rights Commission has repeatedly raised concerns about over-crowding
in prisons which exposes inmates to inhumane conditions. It is encouraging to
note government's willingness to address the problem of congestion in prisons.
The Commission believes that the legislative and administrative measures
announced by the president to address conditions in prisons across the country
will go a long way in creating the desired environment for inmates in line with
the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners.
ATTACK ON UPND LEADER HAKAINDE HICHILEMA BY PF CADRES
The Human Right Commission condemns in strongest terms the reported violent
acts of Patriotic Front (PF) cadres on the Copperbelt Province who forced their
way into Icengelo Radio on Wednesday evening to stop a radio programme where
the United Party for National Development Party (UPND) President Mr. Hakainde
Hichilema was scheduled to speak.
The Commission is disappointed with PF cadres' attack on Mr. Hakainde Hichilema
and interference with Radio Icengelo's scheduled programme.
It is unfortunate that the cadres have continued to behave violently and
conducting themselves in a manner that is inconsistent with the stance taken by
His Excellency the President Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu's on political violence.
For as long as cadres are not punished for these acts, there will be no end to
political violence. The Commission calls upon the PF party leadership to
translate the commitment to stop political violence in action by sanctioning
the cadres behind the attack so that they understand there are no rewards for
perpetrating such acts.
Issued by:
Florence Chibwesha
DIRECTOR
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
(source: Lusaka Times)
BELIZE:
15 inmates escape death row - 9 freed from prison
It's been a full 30 years since the state of Belize executed anyone for murder,
and this week, the last man on death row, Glenford Baptist, 44, had that
sentence overturned by the Supreme Court, which will either grant him life in
prison or a definitive sentence.
Baptist was convicted in November 2001 along with Gilroy Wade and Oscar Catzim
Mendez of the murder of Ozrin White. In 2006, the Privy Council commuted Wade's
sentence to life, but Wade, whose life had been threatened, was murdered inside
prison the following year. Mendez???s conviction was quashed.
Central Prison CEO, Virgilio Murillo, told Amandala that the last time there
was no one on death row at the prison was back in 2000.
Murillo told us that he has been reviewing the prison records and found that
there are several inmates who were on death row who have either had their
sentences commuted to life in prison or who have been given definitive
sentences and have since been re-released into society.
Former death row inmate, Pasqual Bull, who escaped hanging at the 11th hour in
1995, now spending 6th year on parole
There are currently 36 persons serving life sentences, and 5 of those were
formerly on death row. They are Earlin White, Andrew Kelly, Leslie Pipersburgh,
Patrick Robateau, and Patrick Reyes.
Earlin White's 2003 sentence for the murder of Dwayne Arnold back in 2002 was
quashed and replaced with a life sentence, on the grounds that a psychiatric
evaluation ought to have been done.
Leslie Pipersburgh and Patrick Robateau, who had been convicted in connection
with the 2002 quadruple murder of 2 security guards, as well as a man and a
woman, were subjected to a retrial on orders from the Privy Council, which had
quashed their conviction. They were handed life sentences by the Belize Supreme
Court in 2011.
9 persons formerly on death row have been freed: Adolph Harris, Norman Shaw,
Wilfred Lauriano, Cleon Smith, Pasqual Bull, Alfred Codrington, Aurelio Pop,
Linsford Logan, and Ellis Taibo, Murillo informed us.
In the case of Harris, his sentence was fixed at 20 years back in 2006, minus
11 years he had already served, by then Chief Justice Conteh.
Of all those sentenced to death who have gotten a 2nd chance at life, Bull came
the closest to having been executed - but he is today a free man.
The state intended to execute Bull (and Herman Mejia) in August 25, 1995, but
his attorney Simeon Sampson arrived within 20 minutes of the appointed time
with a stay from the Privy Council. Bull had been charged for the April 15,
1993 double-murder of Juan Natividad and Hipolito Cowo at Mile 1 on the Gracie
Rock Road, Belize District.
His conviction and death sentence had been upheld by the Court of Appeal.
However, in 1998, Pasqual Bull's 1994 death sentence was overturned by the
Privy Council, and his murder conviction replaced by a conviction for
manslaughter, for which he was later given a definitive sentence of 25 years.
According to Murillo, prison CEO, Bull was released on parole on August 28,
2009, and his parole supervision is due to end on October 20, 2019, which will
mark the 25th year since his detention.
Persons sentenced to life in prison are not entitled to parole - a principle
which is currently being challenged with the recent filing by Senior Counsel
Eamon Courtenay at the Caribbean Court of Justice on behalf of Gregory August,
whose case is the first criminal appeal to be heard by the regional court. His
case will likely set a precedent for the other 35 inmates serving life behind
bars.
According to Murillo, it was the challenge filed for Patrick Reyes, whom he
said had been convicted of the double murder of 2 cousins in a land dispute,
which brought the change which has seen several other death row inmates escape
the hangman's noose.
Belize continues to be challenged by the UK to remove the death penalty, the
mandatory sentence for murder, off its law books.
It seems unlikely that Belize will resume hanging 30 years after the execution
of Bowers. Parliament only recently approved an optional protocol for the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment of 1984, which reaffirms "that torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment are prohibited and constitute serious
violations of human rights." Belize acceded to that convention in 1986.
In 2012, a UN Special Rapporteur argued that "the evolving international
standard which considers the death penalty as a violation of the prohibition of
torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and the resulting illegality
of the death penalty under article 1 and 16 of the Convention against Torture
is developing into a norm of customary international law, if it has not already
done so already."
The protocol to the Convention recently approved by Parliament at its last
sitting commits Belize to a regime under which it would grant an independent
body access to persons who believe they are being unfairly deprived of their
liberty and being treated cruelly by the State of Belize.
(source: amandala.com)
INDIA:
Man gets death for murder of 14-year-old maid servant----He confessed to
slicing her body into 3 pieces in 2006
K C Hamza, who is a native of Kerala, had buried the victim in a pit near a
check dam he was building in Goa. His wife has been sentenced to 6 years in
jail for illegally confining the girl and for shielding Hamza
Thiruvananthapuram : A public works contractor, who brutally murdered his
14-year-old maid servant by slicing her body into 3 pieces 8 years ago, was on
Thursday awarded the death penalty by a court in Kerala.
K C Hamza (52), a native of Kasargod district, was found guilty of the brutal
murder of Safiya by the district sessions court based on scientific evidence.
His wife, Maimoona (48), has been sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment for
illegally confining the girl and shielding the accused, while their relative, M
Abdulla (48), was sentenced to 3 years in jail for destroying evidence in the
case.
The murder of Safiya, who hails from Madikeri in Karnataka, had taken place in
December 2006. Hamza had confessed to the police that he had cut the girl into
pieces after she suffered burn injuries while cooking and buried the body in a
pit near a check dam he was building in Goa.
The convict had earlier claimed that Safiya had gone missing from his flat in
Goa. The Kasargod police, which took up the case following a missing complaint
lodged by Safiya???s father in December 2006, could not get any clue about the
girl for more than 2 years.
The Crime Branch, which was handed over the investigation following prolonged
agitations spearheaded by an action committee, unravelled the mystery in 8
months. With the help of forensic experts, they found that the girl was
murdered. The crime branch team later unearthed the chopped skeletal remains of
Safiya from the dam site.
Principal sessions judge, Justice M J Shaktidharan, awarded the maximum
punishment to Hamza with the observation that a man who had murdered a
14-year-old girl so brutally was dangerous to society. The judge has also
imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him. Of this, Rs 8 lakh will go to the family
of the deceased.
The court acquitted Moidu Haji, 59, who supplied the girl to the contractor,
and Kerala police official A. Gopalakrishnan, 57, who allegedly helped in
scuttling the case while he was posted with the Adhur police station, for want
of evidence.
Safiya was handed over to Haji by her parents as he had promised that Hamza
would give them money to marry off their daughter. For the 1st year, Safiya had
worked in Hamza's house at Kasargod and was later taken to Goa after he secured
the contract for building the dam.
According to the prosecution, the girl had sustained brutal torture and burn
injuries for several months before her death. Forensic examinations had proved
that the girl was alive when her body was sliced into 3.
(source: Free Press Journal)
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