Sept. 5
PHILIPPINES:
Death penalty should remain dead
Our people are united in sympathizing with and helping Mary Jane Veloso, the
poor Filipino female domestic worker who was convicted of heroin smuggling in
Indonesia. Despite her defense that she was merely duped into carrying the
prohibited drug in her suitcase, she was nonetheless sentenced to death in
October 2010.
Saved from death. Due to a moratorium on the death penalty at that time, the
sentence was not carried out immediately. But newly-elected Indonesian
President Joko Widodo lifted the moratorium. So, together with 8 others, she
was scheduled for execution by firing squad on the evening of April 29 this
year.
At the last moment on that very evening, President Widodo - heeding the plea of
our President Aquino - granted her a reprieve so she could testify at the trial
in the Philippines of her alleged recruiters, Maria Cristina Sergio and
Sergio's live-in partner, Julius Lacanilao. The other 8 convicts were however
executed, despite the ringing protest of many world leaders.
Veloso's heart-wrenching story and the feverish effort to save her from the
Indonesian firing squad is not yet over (she was merely granted a reprieve),
but it reminds me of the grim finality of death as a penalty
According to Amnesty International, the death penalty has been outlawed in 140
countries for being an inhuman and ineffective deterrent to crime.
Our 1987 Constitution has also barred the imposition of the death penalty
"unless for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter
provides for it." Further, the Charter reduced death sentences already imposed
to reclusion perpetua (or life imprisonment).
Death penalty revived. Citing the constitutional exception allowing the death
penalty for "compelling reasons involving heinous crimes," Congress enacted
Republic Act No. 7659 prescribing death as a penalty for certain crimes it
defined as "heinous."
In People vs Echegaray (June 25, 1996 and Feb. 7, 1997), the Supreme Court
upheld the constitutionality of RA 7659, adjudged the accused Leo Echegaray
guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl, and meted out on him the death penalty by
lethal injection, the 1st under RA 7659.
Together with 2 other justices, I dissented from this and all other judgments
imposing the death penalty on the ground that RA 7659 was unconstitutional
because Congress failed (1) to show "compelling reasons" to revive it and (2)
the crimes for which it was prescribed were not "heinous."
Apart from these legal grounds, I also strongly felt that the death penalty
unfairly targeted the poor, the weak and the underprivileged. Though the many
decisions imposing death were per curiam, I have, on many occasions, admitted
my dissenting opinions and votes.
Tilted vs the poor. To contribute to the worldwide clamor to abolish the death
penalty, and to help Mary Jane (and her family) escape the agony and pain of
death by firing squad, may I revisit some of my arguments why the death penalty
is tilted against the poor who are exemplified by Mary Jane.
Truly, the death penalty militates against the poor, the powerless and the
marginalized. The best example to show the sad plight of the underprivileged is
the fact that the counsel for Echegaray (like the one for Mary Jane) was less
than competent and enthusiastic in defending him.
The crucial issue of the constitutionality of the death penalty law was not
raised in the trial court, not even in the Supreme Court, until Echegaray's
counsel was replaced by the Free Legal Assistance Group, which belatedly
brought it up only in the Supplemental Motion for Reconsideration in the high
court.
To the poor and unlettered, it is bad enough that the law is complex and
written in a strange and incomprehensible language. Worse still, judicial
proceedings are themselves complicated, intimidating and damning. The net
effect of having a death penalty that is imposed more often than not upon the
impecunious is to engender in the minds of the latter - unfounded at times, but
unhealthy nevertheless - a sense of the unequal balance of the scales of
justice.
Precisely because the underprivileged are what they are, they require and
deserve a greater degree of protection and assistance from our Constitution,
our laws and our officials, and from the courts, so that in spite of their
situation, they can be empowered to rise above themselves and their poverty.
The basic postulates of such a position are, I think, simply that ultimately we
all want to better ourselves and that we cannot better ourselves individually
to a significant degree if we are unable to advance as an entire people and
nation.
All the glory provisions of the Constitution aim to help the poor. Yet, we were
faced with this penalty that effectively inflicted the ultimate punishment on
none other than the poor and the disadvantaged, a penalty so obviously final
and so irreversibly permanent that it erased all hopes of reform, of change for
the better.
After a long battle in the courts of law and of public opinion, Congress
finally repealed the Death Penalty Law effective June 30, 2006. Had Congress
not abolished the death penalty, President Aquino (and the others who labored
for Mary Jane) would not have had the moral ascendancy to plead for her life.
This is one more reason why the death penalty should remain dead - in deference
to and for the sake of our poor, struggling overseas Filipino workers, many of
whom are virtually and unfairly lined up before firing squads in many countries
of the world.
(source: Opinion, Philippine Inquirer)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan police arrest Christian labourer for blasphemy
Pakistan police said Saturday they have arrested and imprisoned a Christian man
accused of blasphemy in Punjab.
"Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven
allegations often prompting mob violence, and acquittals in court are rare. A
Christian laborer named Pervaiz Masih was arrested earlier this week and sent
on judicial remand for passing derogatory remarks against the prophet of
Islam," a local police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Ali Hussain, a senior police official in the area, confirmed the incident.
He said the accused, a labourer, was working with several Muslim colleagues
when the incident occurred.
"They were working on a small construction site, one Muslim fellow was
listening to religious speech while the accused was working," he said, adding
that when the accused told his colleague to get back to work they had an
argument during which the Christian man made derogatory remarks about the
prophet of Islam.
"We have registered a case under section 295C against the accused."
The alleged incident occurred in Kasur district, around 54 kilometers (34
miles) southeast of Lahore.Under Pakistan's stringent blasphemy laws, insulting
the Prophet Mohammed carries the death penalty, though the country has never
executed anyone for the crime.
But anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent
and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
Bonded labourer Shehzad Masih and his pregnant wife Shama Bibi were beaten by a
mob of 1,500 people then thrown into a furnace last year in a crazed reaction
to rumours they had thrown pages of the Koran into the garbage.
Critics, including European governments, say Pakistan's blasphemy laws are
often misused to settle personal scores.
Christians, who make up around 1.6 % of the country's 200 million people, are
often discriminated against and marginalized by the Muslim majority.
(source: The Jakarta Post)
INDIA:
Afzal Guru, Yakub Memon hangings send signals of weak Government: Justice Ajit
Prakash Shah----Sudden decision on Guru was purely political, says former Delhi
High Chief Justice.
Less than a week after after he demitted office as Chairman of the Law
Commission of India after submitting a landmark report recommending abolition
of death penalty except in cases of terror attacks, former Delhi High Court
Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah Friday said the sudden and "secretive" hanging
of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was a mistake by the government.
"I don't understand why it had to be done so secretly and so suddenly. In my
opinion, it was a sign of weakness and caused great setback to attempts to
resolve the Kashmir issue. The decision was completely political," Justice Shah
told The Indian Express.
Incidentally, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had also
said Guru had been hanged for "political reasons", and that even he had been
informed just hours before the execution.
Asked if he agreed with the way in which the government and the Supreme Court
handled the mercy plea and the petition filed by 1993 Mumbai blasts convict
Yakub Memon, the jurist said, "Both the Executive and the Judiciary didn't
perform their duty completely and transparently.
"I have so far refrained from speaking on this issue as I was holding this
post. But now I can speak freely. I don't know what was the great hurry to hang
him. This is not the sign of a vibrant democracy. The manner in which the
Supreme Court handled the case, holding a hearing pre-dawn, also was not good.
It was almost as if the Judiciary was trying to stick to the deadline to hang
him. This hanging has alienated an entire community. Look at the crowd that
came to attend his burial. Unfortunately, the signal that has gone out is that
there are 2 sets of rules for dealing with such cases - 1 for killers like
Rajiv Gandhi's and another for those from the minority community like Yakub
Memon. This is very unfortunate," he added.
Elaborating on the role of the judiciary, he pointed out that several important
reasons were ignored while deciding Memon's case as well as the mercy petition.
"The governments may have an ideology but it should have absolutely no impact
on the judiciary. Were all grounds taken into consideration while deciding his
mercy plea? My feeling is that the due process was not followed," he said.
To a question on whether he thought the entire mercy petition process was
flawed, Justice Shah said, "It is provided for in the Constitution. But, yes,
it is the decision of the Executive and not the President. Earlier, we had tall
leaders as President, people who could put their foot down if they didn't agree
with the viewpoint of the government; look at the number of people whose mercy
pleas were accepted by earlier Presidents like Rajendra Prasad. That is not the
case with recent Presidents."
He also agreed that the manner in which mercy pleas are decided leaves a lot of
room for questions about the lack of transparency. "There are guidelines that
must be followed," he said.
Asked if the NDA government would accept the Commission's recommendations on
abolishing death penalty, Justice Shah said, "I am aware of this government's
views. But, how can I not be hopeful?"
In its report, the Law Commission, while questioning the "rarest of rare"
doctraine, has noted that administration of death penalty, even within the
"restrictive environment of rarest of rare doctraine", was constitutionally
unsustainable.
It also pointed out that in the last decade, the Supreme Court had on "numerous
occasions expressed concern about arbitrary sentencing" in death penalty cases,
adding, "There exists no principled method to remove such arbitrariness from
capital sentencing."
(source: Indian Express)
BARBADOS:
Rights body not happy
THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION On Human Rights (IACHR) is frustrated with
Barbados' non-compliance with its court's order to abolish the death penalty,
and in a hearing Thursday night, queried the delay.
In a video compliance hearing with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
Charles Leacock QC and Solicitor General Jennifer Edwards QC the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights asked why Barbados was not complying with orders made
since 2007 and 2009, what would be the timelines for implementing new
legislation, and whether Section 26 of Barbados' near-50-year-old Constitution
- which maintains the death penalty - was adequate.
The compliance hearing between Costa Rica and Barbados has come after 2
convicted murderers, Lennox Boyce and Tyrone Cadogan, took their cases to the
IACHR in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
The Inter-American court has reminded this country that its orders are binding
here.
"The crux of the matter is that on June 4, 2000, Barbados accepted the
compulsory jurisdiction of the IACHR, so when its court heard the cases of
Boyce and Cadogan, it made the orders that the mandatory death penalty was
contrary to the OAS Convention on Human Rights, and that Section 26, which
protects existing law, including the mandatory death penalty, is contrary to
the convention and should be repealed," Leacock explained yesterday.
(source: Nation News)
SINGAPORE:
Murder suspect 'told victim he loved him'
A witness has told The Straits Times how a murder suspect had sat looking at
his victim's bloodstained body and said: "Please, please, don't let anything
happen to you, I love you."
The 39-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stabbing a 48-year-old man
repeatedly in a covered walkway near Ang Mo Kio MRT station during yesterday's
morning rush hour.
The attack left behind a 10m trail of bloodstains along the walkway, which
links the MRT station with the Cheng San Community Club in Ang Mo Kio Street
53.
It was the 3rd suspected murder in Singapore this week.
Witnesses The Straits Times spoke to did not see the stabbing, but saw the
immediate aftermath.
One of them, Madam Connie Loh, was walking along the walkway at about 8am when
she heard a commotion. "There was a man lying on the floor, covered in blood
and groaning in pain - 'ahh, ahh, ahh'," said the 61-year-old housewife in
Mandarin. "Another man was sitting on the grass patch behind him, with blood on
his hands."
She said she then heard the suspect say in Mandarin: "Please, please, don't let
anything happen to you, I love you."
She later saw the suspect being stretchered into an ambulance with his hands
strapped down.
Another resident, Ms Joanne Wong, 33, was on her way to work when she saw 2
police officers running towards the scene. She was diverted away from the
walkway, which had been cordoned off.
"I saw 2 guys lying there, one motionless in a pool of blood, and another one
being guarded by four policemen," said Ms Wong, who works in a hospital. "He
(the suspect) was lying down, like in a daze, and I thought he was dead at
first. He did not say anything, did not shout or struggle.
"There were quite a lot of people there. It is a popular route because people
use it to get to the MRT, especially during peak period in the morning."
Police said the victim was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he was
pronounced dead at about 9.14am. Both men are believed to be Chinese.
Police said the suspect is expected to appear in court today and charged with
murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
(source: Straits Times)
MALAYSIA:
Cops nab 3 in family for drugs offence
A septuagenarian was among 3 female members of a family detained by the police
in connection with the seizure of a kilogramme of heroin and 690 Eramin 5 pills
in Tampin recently. The suspects, aged between 40 and 72, were picked up from a
house where the drugs, worth about RM50,350 were found.
Negri Sembilan police chief Datuk Jaafar Mohd Yusof said the suspects were
remanded for a week to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the
Dangerous Drugs Act which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
He said the police were monitoring the activities of the women since early this
year.
"During the raid, we found the drugs hidden in a large water pot at the house,"
he told a press conference at the Negri Sembilan police contingent
headquarters. Jaafar said initial investigations revealed the seized drugs were
obtained from Penang for distribution in Malacca and Johor.
(source: The Malaysian Insider)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
