Nov. 11
AFRICA:
Africa and the Death Penalty - Time to Let Go
On Tuesday, 6 June 1995, over a year after electing the late Nelson Mandela as
its President, South Africa ended the use of the death penalty, with a ruling
of its constitutional court.
Mandela's personal involvement in this outcome has been significant: 5 years
earlier, freshly out of prison, he had successfully pressed his predecessor -
then President F W De Klerk - to announce a moratorium on executions. At the
inauguration of the court 4 months before the ruling, President Mandela had
opened his speech with telling words, referring to the 1963-64 trial in which
he and his comrades had feared for their lives: "The last time I appeared in
court was to hear whether I would be sentenced to death," he had said.
For decades, South Africa had executed thousands of its citizens,
overwhelmingly among its Black population, earning a top ranking among
countries with the highest rates of capital punishment in the world.
Announcing the court's decision, Arthur Chaskalson, its president, noted:
"Everyone, including the most abominable of human beings, has a right to life,
and capital punishment is therefore unconstitutional." Remarkably, each of the
court's 11 judges issued a written opinion backing the ruling.
With that ruling, the new South Africa stood at a turning point of what was to
follow across the continent. It heralded a momentous shift in the use of the
death penalty in Africa, as more countries joined the global trend away from
it. Once common, the practice was now being abandoned.
By 1999, 21 African countries were abolitionists in law or practice. Of those,
10 had abolished capital punishment and 11 had de-facto moratoriums.
Today, 20 years since South Africa's ruling, 37 out of 54 countries on the
continent are abolitionists in law or practice, according to the International
Federation for Human Rights. Among them, 18 have abolished the death penalty,
19 have de-facto moratoriums.
Last December, at the United Nations General Assembly, 27 African countries
joined 90 others from around the world in voting in favour of a resolution
calling for a progressive end to the use of the death penalty. 5 months
earlier, in July 2014 in Cotonou, Benin's capital, the continent had adopted a
declaration urging countries still imposing it to "consider abolishing the
death penalty."
The African Union is now considering an additional protocol to the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the abolition of the death penalty, a
major development that will further put the continent on the footsteps of
Mandela, one of its most illustrious sons.
Yet, as Africa makes major strides away from the death penalty, worrying
developments cloud the horizon. Among them, the continued imposition of
mandatory death sentences for some crimes in a handful of countries such as
Kenya and Nigeria. Uganda, thankfully, has recently taken steps to repel
similar provisions from its criminal code.
Another persisting problem is the lack of fair trial guarantees. In March 2014,
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concerns that
the hasty judicial process in Somalia, in which there were only nine days
between the alleged killings and the executions, deprived the suspects of their
rights to legal representation and appeal.
More visible in recent months is the resurgence of the death penalty in
contexts marked by a significant deterioration of the security climate.
Faced with the mounting threat of violent extremism by Boko Haram, Nigeria has
joined the list of countries prescribing the death penalty for vaguely defined
"terrorist" activities. More strikingly, Egypt has resorted to mass trial. In
2013, a court imposed death sentences on more than 1,000 people in two such
trials for the alleged killing of a police officer and other violent
activities.
All these developments point to the need for a stronger advocacy against the
use of the death penalty. Across Africa, much like on the global stage, the
direction is now clear, but the mobilisation must continue.
Leaders should be part of the debate. Civil society actors and academic
institutions must join in too. And everyone should know the facts, starting
with those that are no longer in dispute.
First, there is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters crime, as
researchers in various countries have shown. Countries where the death penalty
has been abandoned did not, in general, record a rise in crimes.
Second, and most unfortunately, the death penalty is a most final punishment.
Even the best justice systems have sentenced innocent people to die. In the
United States 20 persons on death row have been exonerated through DNA testing,
according to the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organisation based in
New York.
Third, those who end up executed are almost always and everywhere vulnerable
because of poverty, minority status or mental disability.
These are just some of the many reasons why, at the United Nations, we strongly
believe that, as the Secretary-General puts it, "the death penalty has no place
in the 21st century." Or, in the simple words of the great Madiba himself: "The
death sentence is a barbaric act." It is time to let it go!
(source: Ivan Simonovic is the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for
Human Rights----All Africa News)
SOMALIA:
Somali Military Tribunal Sentences 2 Soldiers to Death Over Killings
The military tribunal of Somalia has sentenced 2 soldiers of the country's
armed forces to death penalty after they were found guilty of killing innocent
people in Mogadishu.
Hassan Mohamed Nur Shuute, military court Chief read the verdict to the
reporters in Mogadishu, and he said that both soldiers had committed the crime
that they had been accused for.
The defendants were identified as Isack Mohamed Hashi and Muhaydin Mohamud
Alasow, who were members of Somali army.
Meanwhile, the judge said that the court has ruled to release 2 other soldiers
after finding no guilty on the alleged murder crime. Death penalty is legal in
Somalia, a mostly anarchic state in East Africa.
(source: All Africa News)
SINGAPORE/MALAYSIA:
Adenan to write to Singapore Embassy to appeal for clemency for Kho
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem will write to the Singapore
Embassy to appeal for clemency for Sarawakian Kho Jabing who has been sentenced
to death for murder in Singapore.
The Chief Minister???s Office had responded to an appeal by Minister in Prime
Minister's Department Nancy Shukri yesterday to the state government to
intervene when she met Adenan to save the 31-year-old convicted murderer.
Nancy sought the help from the state because the federal government had
exhausted all avenues to plead for leniency on Kho's behalf.
Kho was to be hanged last Friday but was given a stay of execution on Thursday
after his newly appointed lawyer Chandra Mohan K. Nair convinced the court to
give him more time to prepare another appeal.
The lawyer has until Nov 23 to present a Motion of Crisis for his case to be
re-submitted.
In 2008, Kho and another Sarawakian Galing Kujat attacked Chinese nationals Wu
Jun, 44 and Cao Ruyin, 40 along Geylang Drive, Singapore. Wu survived while
Cao, who was hit on the head with a tree branch died of head injuries 6 days
later.
Both Kho and Galing were sentenced to death in 2010. On appeal, Galing escaped
the gallows in 2011 while Kho's appeal was denied.
However, he was given a reprieve by Singapore High Court and sentenced to life
imprisonment in 2013 but the prosecution appealed against it, arguing that his
savage actions warranted a death penalty.
A court had heard then that the multiple fractures on Cao's head were as severe
as those suffered by victims in high-impact traffic collisions.
In January, Kho was sentenced to death again by a 5-judge court and his appeal
for clemency was rejected by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on cabinet's advice.
Meanwhile, Land Development Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing had earlier
commented on the case that the Sarawak government would not interfere as Kho
was not convicted of the crime in Malaysia.
Masing held the view that it was inappropriate for any Malaysian authorities to
interfere in the Singapore court system as Malaysia would not want other
countries to interfere in its justice system.
(source: theborneopost.com)
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