Aug. 3
EGYPT:
Lawyers for Ibrahim Halawa are warning he could receive the death penalty if
he's not released from jail in Egypt.
The Dublin-born teenager, who's been in prison in Cairo since his arrest 2
years ago, was told yesterday his trial had been adjourned again until October.
Today the Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan released a statement
saying he's 'disappointed' the trial was postponed for the 10th time - but the
Irish Government has been criticised for its failure to take a hard enough
stance with Egypt on the matter.
Ibrahim's now spent 716 days behind bars - amid reports that he's been tortured
while in jail.
His lawyer is Mark Winters.
(source: todayfm.com)
PAKISTAN----impending juvenile execution
Sindh govt requests interior ministry to halt Shafqat Hussain's execution
The Sindh government has forwarded a request to the federal government seeking
to halt Shafqat Hussain's execution, which is scheduled to take place in the
early hours of August 4 (tomorrow).
If accepted, Shafqat's execution will be halted for the 5th time.
The request was sent by the Sindh Home Department to the Ministry of Interior
seeking a probe into this case by the Supreme Court.
The Sindh Human Rights Commission, headed by Justice (Retd) Majida Rizvi, sent
the request to the home department of Sindh, following which the Home
Department forwarded this request to the federal government.
The interior minister is currently looking into the request and will decide
whether it should be forwarded to the premier or not by tonight. The prime
minister has the ultimate authority to decide Shafqat's fate.
His execution was previously halted on June 9 for the 4th time - not by the
Supreme Court or the federal government or the president, but, in fact, by the
superintendent of the Central Jail Karachi, Kazi Nazir Ahmed.
Justifying his decision, Ahmed had said, "Executions can take place anytime.
But a man's life once taken can't be returned." His reason for deferring the
hanging was in light of a Supreme Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning -
4 hours after Shafqat was to be executed.
On July 7, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) once again issued death warrants for
the murder convict for August 4.
This was the 5th time the ATC has issued death warrants for Shafqat.
Shafqat has been a subject on controversy, with his family and many human
rights activists calling for his execution to be stayed, arguing that he was a
juvenile when convicted.
They insist he was aged 14 when he had allegedly murdered a child in 2001. He
had been sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in 2004.
However, an inquiry last month concluded that he was 23-years-old at the time
of his sentencing.
United Nations rights experts have said his trial "fell short of international
standards" and called on Islamabad to reinstate a moratorium on the death
penalty.
Maya Foa of the British anti-death penalty campaign group Reprieve codemned the
plan to hang ShafqatHussain as an "absolute disgrace".
The European Union last week said it was "deeply concerned" by the resumption
of hangings and warned that a prized tariff status granted to Pakistan could be
threatened unless it stuck to international conventions on fair trials, child
rights and preventing torture.
Shafqat's age has proved difficult to determine with any certainty. His
supporters say he was 14 or 15 at the time of the killing but police insist he
was over 20.
AJK president asks President Mamnoon Hussain to postpone Shafqat's execution
Meanwhile, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Yaqoob Khan in a
letter has requested President Mamnoon Hussain to postpone the execution of
Shafqat Hussain.
He has also ordered an inquiry to asses the age of the condemned prisoner, an
AJK citizen, who is being hanged Tuesday morning.
(source: The Express Tribune)
****************
SC stays execution of 4 death-row convicts
A 2 member bench of the Supreme Court has stayed execution of 4 convicts on the
charges of murder awarded by Anti-Terrorists Courts of Sargodha and Lahore who
were scheduled to be hanged in Mianwali jail and Kot Lakhpat jail Lahore on
August 5.
The bench comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Dost Muhammad on
Monday heard review petitions of the convicts Kareem Nawaz Khan,
Attiq-ur-Rehman, Azhar Basheer, Shabbir Bashir and stayed their execution.
According to details, Kareem Nawaz Khan killed his brother, sister and
sister-in-law over a family dispute and was awarded death penalty by the trial
court and upheld by the superior courts.
An Anti-Terrorism Court of Sargodha had awarded death penalty to Kareem Nawaz
Khan under section 302 of CrPc and Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act. The Lahore
High Court and Supreme Court had upheld his conviction.
Later, the heirs of the deceased pardoned Kareem Nawaz and he was acquitted of
murder charges under Section 302 CrPc.
During the course of proceedings, Abid Saqi counsel for the petitioner Kareem
Nawaz contented that the pardon was also applicable on other charges since it
has been accepted in the main office. He pleaded the court to set aside the
death warrants issued by ATC.
The bench after hearing the arguments of Abid Saqi counsel for Kareem Nawaz
granted stay against the execution of death sentence and adjourned hearing of
the case to a date in office.
While in another case, the apex court also stayed the execution of
Attiq-ur-Rehman, Azhar Basheer and Shabbir after hearing their review petition.
The ATC Lahore had awarded them death penalty and the superior courts upheld
the conviction.
(source: AAP)
UGANDA:
Re-Examine Validity of the Death Penalty
His Holiness Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Uganda in November 2015. One
thing most Ugandans do not know about him is that he supports the abolition of
the death penalty. On March 20, His Holiness wrote a letter to the
International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) on the matter. As an
individual who supports the abolition of the death penalty, I wanted to
highlight some of the arguments His Holiness put forward in the letter.
In his letter to the ICDP, His Holiness argued that the death penalty
undermines the purpose of punishment. Punishment has five purposes namely:
retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, reconciliation and restorative
justice. The death penalty solely serves a purpose of retribution as vengeance
for the crime that was committed and undermines the wholesome purpose of
punishment. As His Holiness rightly states, "It does not render justice to the
victims, but rather foments revenge". If the death penalty is replaced with
long-term imprisonment, the offender is able to appreciate the wholesome
purpose of punishment by participating in the rehabilitative, reconciliation
and restorative aspect. With regard to the second purpose - deterrence -
proponents of the death penalty have often argued that the death penalty deters
crime. There has, however, been no empirical evidence to support this argument.
In 2009, Micheal L. Radelet and Traci L. Lacock published the results of their
study that revealed; 88 % of leading criminologists believed that the death
penalty does not have a greater deterrent effect than long-term imprisonment.
Our lawmakers should, therefore, consider replacing the death penalty with
long-term imprisonment. Imposition of the death penalty negates the other three
purposes of punishment - rehabilitation, reconciliation and restorative
justice. Indeed, punishment in Uganda has traditionally focused on retribution
and deterrence. More emphasis should be put on rehabilitation, reconciliation
and restorative justice.
Rehabilitation is aimed at reforming the offender to prevent recidivism.
Interactions with the Uganda Prisons Service have revealed that the rate of
recidivism is very low especially for capital offenders. Article 126(2) (d) of
the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 promotes reconciliation
between parties in both civil and criminal cases, which would be curtailed by
the death penalty. The aim of reconciliation and restorative justice is to
bring the offender and victim together to foster healing.
His Holiness further argued in his letter to the ICDP that "the death penalty
loses all legitimacy due to the defective selectivity of the criminal justice
system and in the face of the possibility of judicial error." This is true
because policing and judicial systems around the world are not infallible.
For instance, on December 17, 2004, the High Court of Nakawa sentenced Patrick
Lwanga Zizinga to death for the murder of his alleged wife. Yet in fact, his
wife at the time, Annet Nakibuuka, was still alive and Zizinga had no
connection to the deceased, Annet Nakiwala.
During Zizinga's mitigation hearing in 2013, the court held that there was no
evidence that he participated in the murder and it remained questionable as to
who committed the murder. Zizinga was, therefore, released but not after
spending 11 years and 3 months in prison with 8 1/2 on death row.
If Uganda actively executed people like China or Iraq, an innocent man would
have been killed. As the His Holiness rightly argued in his letter to the ICDP,
"human justice is imperfect and the failure to recognise its fallibility can
transform it into a source of injustice."
In conclusion, the validity of the death penalty in our penal laws needs to be
re-examined. This is not only because it has the potential to affect innocent
people, but it also undermines the purpose of punishment.
Instead, efforts should be geared to ensure that our prisons are rehabilitative
and foster full re-integration of offenders into society.
(source: Opinion; Ms Catherine Komuhangi is a lawyer and human rights
activist----allafrica.com)
BANGLADESH:
Death penalty lowered in 'review'
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has reviewed the death penalty of
Shukur Ali, already in prison for 14 years over the rape and murder of a 7-year
old, and reduced it to life in prison. The youth from Shibrampur Village of
Manikganj district will now spend the rest of his life in jail.
A 4-member bench of the top appeals court led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar
Sinha gave the order on Monday after the resolution of Ali's review appeal.
Ali's lawyer MK Rahman said that, as far as his knowledge went, this was the
1st time a death sentence had been lowered after review in Bangladesh.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam was present in court on behalf of the state. The
trial of the then 14-year-old Ali had started in 1999 for the June 11, 1996
rape and murder of a 7-year-old of the same village. On July 12, 2001,
Manikganj's Women and Children Repression Prevention Court found him guilty and
sentenced him to death.
Rights organisation Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) on his
behalf moved the High Court against the sentence but was turned down on Feb 25,
2004. The Appellate Division also upheld the death sentence on Feb 23, 2005 and
turned down a review plea on May 4 the same year.
However, in 2000, the government had amended the earlier law, adding the scope
of sentencing the guilty to life in prison alongside the death sentence for
rape and murder.
However, Shukur Ali was tried in line with the previous law that only had the
death penalty option.
Pointing that out, Ali and BLAST moved the High Court again on November 2005,
according to bdnews24.com.
NEPAL:
People demand death penalty for child murderer
People of Marchahawa staged demonstration on Monday demanding death penalty for
the child murderer who killed a 10-year-old Jivan Kohar on July 21 by slitting
his throat in the name of appeasing god.
Two hundred locals, including children and elderly, gathered at district
headquarters Parasi and chanted slogans demanding the government execute the
culprit, take action against those promoting superstitions and put an end to
impunity.
They also staged a 2-hour sit-in protest in front of District Police Office and
District Administration Office pressing for stern action against the chief
culprit Kodai Harijan and his 10 other accomplices.
The disgruntled locals demanded death penalty for the perpetrator saying that
the murder was of different nature.
Likewise, they also demanded the administration take necessary action to search
another 14-year old Punarwasi Harijan, also known as Chhora Magaru, of
Marchahawa, who went missing a year ago.
(source: ekantipur.com)
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