Dec. 9
MONGOLIA:
Mongolia praised for scrapping death penalty
The United Nations' top human rights official praised Mongolia on Wednesday for
abolishing the death penalty.
A new criminal code eliminating executions was passed by the State Great Hural,
the parliament, last week after extended debate.
"This development is very encouraging and a clear example of positive progress
in the fight for human rights for all - including people convicted of terrible
crimes," UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.
"We must not allow even the most atrocious acts to strip us of our fundamental
humanity," he added.
Justice Minister Khishigdemberel Temuujin told the official news agency
Montsame that the law was "long anticipated", adding, "There is no significant
increase of crimes where countries have no death penalty."
Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is an abolitionist and halted
executions after he came to power in 2010, using his presidential authority to
commute condemned prisoners' sentences.
Mongolia is the 105th country to abolish the death penalty in law, according to
Al Hussein. Another 60 states either have moratoriums in place or have not
executed anyone in the last 10 years.
Mongolia has not carried out an execution since 2008, according to rights group
Amnesty International, whose East Asia research director, Roseann Rife, said,
"The death penalty is becoming a thing of the past across the world."
(source: enca.com)
MALAYSIA:
2 MBPP staff nabbed over alleged drug offence
2 Penang Island City Council (MBPP) workers, including an assistant health
officer, were nabbed for allegedly possessing drugs worth RM130,000.
Police found a packet allegedly containing ganja at a house in Jalan Rawang,
Lintang P. Ramlee.
Further interrogation of the 28-year-old officer and his friend, a 38-year-old
general worker, led to the discovery of 26 slabs of ganja in the boot of a car
parked outside the house at 2.30am yesterday.
Police also found 30 Ecstasy pills and seized a Toyota Vios, a Kia Sportage, a
motorcycle and RM3,850 in cash believed to be derived from earnings from the
sale of drugs.
George Town OCPD Asst Comm Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said the suspects were
believed to have been in the business for about a year.
"We monitored them for months before moving in," he said at a press conference
yesterday.
"Initial investigations showed that the drugs were for local distribution. We
are still investigating where they came from," he added.
He said the suspects also tested positive for drugs, adding that the case was
being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act, which carries
the mandatory death penalty.
MBPP Management Services director Mohamed Akhbar Mustapha said the council
would let the police complete their probe before deciding on action against the
duo.
"Only then can we refer their cases to the council's disciplinary and
establishment committee for further action," he said.
(source: The Star)
SINGAPORE:
Suspected drug syndicate leader arrested, more than $103,000 worth of drugs
seized by CNB
A suspected drug syndicate leader was arrested following an operation mounted
by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on Tuesday evening.
3 other suspected drug offenders were also arrested and more than $103,000
worth of drugs were seized, including about 400g of Ice and ketamine, more than
900g of heroin, more than 800 Erimin-5 tablets and 90 Ecstasy tablets.
A small amount of cannabis and opium, 3 digital weighing scales and improvised
drug-smoking apparatus were also recovered.
On Tuesday evening, CNB officers observed a rider of a Malaysia-registered
motorcyle entering a unit along Hamilton Road and leaving 15 minutes later.
Officers tailed the 43-year-old Malaysian and intercepted his motorcycle at the
junction of Jalan Besar and Lavender Street. They recovered Erimin-5 tablets
and $6,000 cash after conducting a search of his bag.
Meanwhile, another group of CNB officers raided the Hamilton Road unit, where
they arrested a 55-year-old Singaporean man, believed to be the drug syndicate
leader.
The same evening, officers nabbed a 37-year-old Singaporean man, suspected of
being associate of the drug syndicate leader, and a 55-year-old Singaporean man
suspected of being drug abuser.
Investigations into the drug activities of the 4 suspects are ongoing.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, those found guilty of trafficking more than 15g
of diamorphine (or pure heroin) face the death penalty. The amount is
equivalent to 1,250 straws, enough to feed the addiction of about 180 abusers
for a week.
(source: Straits Times)
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh seizes S$8.7 million of cocaine at airport, arrests Spaniard for
alleged smuggling
Bangladesh anti-drugs officers seized US$6.2 million (S$8.72 million) of
cocaine at Dhaka airport and arrested a Spanish national on suspicion of
smuggling, officials said on Wednesday (Dec 9), the country's second-biggest
haul of the substance.
P.J. Julian, 47, was arrested at the Bangladeshi capital's airport on Tuesday
evening with 3kg of cocaine hidden inside the lid of his suitcase, the
Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) said.
Cocaine is not a popular drug in Bangladesh, but international cartels use it
as a "safe route" for smuggling it into Europe and South-east Asia, seeing the
country as less likely to come under suspicion.
Julian had travelled to Dhaka from Brazil's Sao Paulo via Dubai, before being
arrested by officials acting on a tip-off from the United States about a
suspected trafficker.
"The drugs in the suitcase could not be traced in the scanner, but we knew the
tag of the suspected luggage," DNC director Towfique Uddin told AFP.
Julian is expected to appear in court later and could face the death penalty if
found guilty of drug smuggling.
"If his involvement is proved with the drug trafficking, he may get a death
sentence irrespective of his nationality," Mr Nadim Miah, public prosecutor for
a special drug crimes court in Dhaka, told AFP.
The prosecutor said it was the 2nd-biggest cocaine haul in the Muslim-majority
nation after US$14 million of liquid cocaine was found mixed in barrels
containing sunflower oil in the port city of Chittagong in June.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
PAKISTAN:
2 condemned brothers acquitted in abduction, murder case
A division bench of the Lahore High Court Tuesday acquitted 2 real brothers-
Ali Abbas and Nadeem Abbas- who were convicted for killing a woman after
abduction.
The bench comprising Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Ch Mushtaq
Ahmad acquitted the convicts while accepting their appeals against the
sentence.
During the course of proceedings, the defendants' counsel submitted that there
was no solid evidence which showed that the convicts were responsible for or
associated with the murder. He pleaded the bench to acquit them after setting
aside their death sentence.
In 2011, an addition district and sessions judge had awarded death penalty to
Ali Abbas and Nadeem Abbas for kidnapping Naseem Sharif, wife of late brigadier
Muhammad Sharif and killing her after getting signatures on the property
documents.
(source: Pakistan Today)
************
COAS signs death warrants of 4 terrorists
The United Kingdom Prime Minister's Special Representative for Afghanistan and
Pakistan Owen Jenkins called on the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel
Sharif at the army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, according
to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Army Chief has signed the deaths warrants of Murad Khan s/o Sarfraz Khan,
Inayatullah s/o Khakhay Khan, Israruddin alias Abu LASE S/O Hussain Ahmad and
Noor Saeed alias Hafiz Saheb s/o Muhammad Saeed.
The army chief today endorsed the sentencing of these terrorists.
The ISPR said the convicts were involved in manslaughter, suicide bombing,
abduction for ransom, funding terrorist organisations and causing colossal
damage to life and property.
More than 300 death convicts have been sent to the gallows in the country after
the government lifted a six-year moratorium on death penalty in the wake of the
attack on Peshawar's Army Public School in December last year which left 150
people dead, majority schoolchildren.
Last week, the warrants of Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and
Sabeel alias Yahya were signed by the army chief, and they were hanged days
later in a Kohat jail.
(source: nanonews.org)
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