Feb. 4
EGYPT:
Why an Egyptian appeals court overturned 149 death sentences ---- The grounds
for the appeals court ruling are still unclear, but the new trial will be held
in a criminal court.
Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's highest appeals court, on Wednesday
ordered a retrial for 149 activists of the banned Muslim Brotherhood sentenced
to death.
The activists were handed capital sentences for allegedly storming a police
station in 2013 and killing 11 policemen and 2 civilians in a mob attack, a
judicial source said.
The grounds for the appeals court ruling are still unclear, but the new trial
will be held in a criminal court, and the defendants will have the right to
appeal the verdict at the high court.
The initial ruling took place in February 2015, amid a series of death
sentences and mass trials that were criticized internationally, as the
government cracked down on Muslim Brotherhood activists and supporters of
ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Mr. Morsi became Egypt's 1st democratically elected president after the
downfall of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 but was himself overthrown by
the army in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. The overthrow of Morsi
ushered in the worst domestic bloodshed in the country's modern history,
according to human rights observers.
The Egyptian government has long drawn criticism from Western governments and
human rights organizations for cracking down on Morsi supporters. Since the
Egyptian leader was ousted from power in July 2013, hundreds of Morsi's
Islamist supporters have been killed, thousands jailed, and dozens sentenced to
death.
The United Nations has continually condemned the crackdowns and mass trials
that have left thousands of Brotherhood members and supporters jailed, calling
them "unprecedented in recent history."
Despite the outcry from rights advocates, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed
to speed up the legal process to allow for quicker enforcement of death
sentences last June after the assassination of Egypt???s public prosecutor,
Hisham Barakat.
"The hand of justice is shackled by the law. We're not going to wait for this,"
Mr. Sisi said. "We're going to amend the law to allow us to implement justice
as soon as possible."
But since then, things have changed with the court overturning several death
penalties, a move that has been widely welcome by many rights advocates.
Last December, the same court overturned death sentences against Muslim
Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 36 others who were accused of "setting up
an '"operations room'" for the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in organized by Brotherhood
supporters after the military toppled then-President Morsi, according to Al
Jazeera.
Mr. Badie is, however, facing other trials, and has been sentenced to death in
a separate case along with Mr. Morsi for plotting prison breaks and attacks on
police during the 2011 uprising. Last month, the Egyptian Justice Minister
vowed to make sure that Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood members convicted to death
sentence will be executed if the appeal court upholds the sentences, the Middle
East Eye reported.
Under Egyptian law, death sentences are referred to the mufti, the government's
interpreter of Islamic law, who plays an advisory role. If he approves,
convictions are still subject to a lengthy appeals process.
(source: Christian Science Monitor)
NIGERIA:
DPC Supports Death Penalty For Corrupt Officials
The Democratic People's Congress (DPC) has thrown its weight behind the clamour
for death penalty for looters of public treasury.
Speaking in Abuja, yesterday, the national chairman of DPC, Rev. Olusegun
Peters said any public official who stole from the public should not be allowed
to serve only prison time but should face the death penalty. He said this would
serve as deterrent to potential looters of public treasury.
He urged the National Assembly to see how this measure can be incorporated into
the nation's laws.
Peters while hailing President Muhammadu Buhari over his campaign and war
against corruption, said that all patriotic Nigerians should rally round the
president to ensure that the war is not a one man war, but a war supported and
encouraged by all Nigerians.
He said that in the last 8 months President Buhari had succeeded in
repositioning the country for the much needed development . He warned that it
is too early to assess the current government given the enormity of the rot
inherited from the last administration.
He also expressed support for the reforms in the judiciary which he noted was
in order to give the needed impetus to the war against corruption. He added
that the party supports the president in his lamentation that the judiciary
needed to be encouraged more in order to eradicate corruption from the nation's
polity.
He called on the authorities to resuscitate the giving of grants to political
parties which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led administration stopped,
insisting that such grants will ensure a level playing ground at the political
field which is presently dominated by well financed parties.
(source: lealdership.ng)
PAKISTAN:
Awaiting The Gallows
Pakistan has carried out more than 332 executions since lifting the moratorium
in December 2014. Recently, amidst another terror attack on the country, the
Supreme Court has asked the federal government to respond to a petition
requesting that the appeals of the many thousand prisoners on Pakistan's death
row be 'fast tracked'. These proceedings only serve to highlight the chaotic
state of Pakistan's criminal justice system, in particular the handling of
capital cases - arbitrarily and senselessly.
The petition noted that there were '7,124' inmates on Pakistan's death, who
were at various stages of the appeal process and requested the early disposal
of these appeals. The figure also included 532 mercy petitions before the
president, where a number of these have been pending for 19 years while
executions in 78 cases have been stayed on his orders.
Pakistan has the largest death row population in the world, and yet, there are
no credible statistics on the exact number of prisoners sentenced to death in
the country. Whilst it was reported here that there were 7,124 inmates on
Pakistan's death row, recent figures given in a report to the Senate put the
figure at 6,016 - both starkly different from the figure of 8,261 that was
provided by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human rights in December 2014. But
simply fast tracking the petition does nothing to answer the question of who we
are actually executing, for what reason and who are waiting their turn.
In January 2015, the Minister of Interior, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, told the
House that 332 convicted 'terrorists' were executed since December 2014.
However, less than 1 in 6 of those being executed is connected to terrorism. A
further analysis of those executed conducted by the Justice Project Pakistan
has found that the vast majority of those being executed are not the
hard-bitten terrorists that the government would like us to believe. Rather,
the majority are people convicted of ordinary crimes, often in extremely unfair
trials, relying on evidence extracted through torture, and some of them
convicted as children.
As advocated by many activists, the application of the death penalty must be
reconsidered unless the judicial system is overhauled to ensure that those
awaiting the gallows are indeed guilty of the crimes they are charged with.
Fighting the war on terror must not be used as an excuse to forget procedural
safeguards and the entire purpose of the justice system, which is to ensure
that only those that are actually guilty pay the price. The judicial process
desperately needs to be transparent and accountable - in order to correctly use
capital punishment to deter crime and terrorism in the country. Until then, the
appeals of those on death row must be considered with the utmost care.
(source: Editorial, The Nation)
INDIA:
West Bengal: Death sentence to 11 for killing woman in a 2014 case----Among
those who were sentenced to death today is former Krishnaganj Trinamool
Congress leader Lankeswar Ghosh, but the ruling party has said that he was not
its member.
11 people including a former Trinamool Congress leader were awarded death
sentence by Nadia district court in West Bengal on Thursday for killing a woman
to grab government land about 14 months ago.
Judge Partha Sarathi Mukhopadhyay slapped death penalty on the 11 accused for
shooting to death Aparna Bag on November 23, 2014. One accused, Manabesh Biswas
is still absconding.
The 11 were convicted on Wednesday and the punishment was pronounced by the
court on Thursday.
They were charged under sections 9B of Explosive, 27/35 of Arms Act, IPC 307
(attempt to murder) and 302 (murder).
Among those who were sentenced to death today is former Krishnaganj Trinamool
Congress leader Lankeswar Ghosh, but the ruling party has said that he was not
its member.
The woman was killed when Ghosh along with his gang tried to seize land at
Ghungragachhi under Krishnaganj block, which belongs to Refugee and Refugee
Rehabilitation Department of West Bengal Government.
The land was being tilled by 55 families for long and they claimed to have its
possession. Some had even sold portions they claimed were theirs.
On November 23, 2014, Ghosh along with his men appeared on the field on a
tractor and tried to take over the land by force and was faced with resistance
by the tillers.
In the clash that ensued there was firing and 3 women received bullet injuries.
Aparna Bag was hit on her chest and died. 2 other women - Shyamali Tarafdar was
hit on her jaw and Latika Tarafdar on her head. A student Rajiv Mondal too was
hit by a bullet on his leg. The 3, however, recovered later.
A complaint was lodged with the police by Dipankar Biswas of Ghungragachhi and
a case was initiated and 11 out of the 12 accused were arrested and kept in
jail.
Aparna's 2 daughters Devika and Nilima were the main witnesses.
The 11 sentenced to death were Ghosh, Palash Ghosh, Sanat Ghosh, Shyamal Ghosh,
Jhantu Ghosh, Goutam Ghosh, Paresh Ghosh, Joydeb Ghosh, Nepal Ghosh, Rajkumar
Ghosh and Basu Ghosh.
(source: indianexpress.com)
****************
Men convicted for raping, killing BPO staffer in Pune seek mercy
2 men who raped and murdered a BPO employee in Pune in 2007 have moved a mercy
plea before the Maharashtra Governor. The convicts - cab driver Purushottam
Dasharath Borate and his wall-painter friend Pradeep Yashwant Kokade - were
sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in May 2015 for raping and killing
22-year-old Jyotikumari Chaudhary. The apex court had said the 2 were a threat
to the society and deserved no leniency.
Highly placed sources in the home department confirmed that the duo has sought
mercy from the Governor. The department, however, has recommended no mercy plea
for them.
Awarding the punishment, a bench of chief justice H L Dattu and justices S A
Bobde and Arun Mishra had said the manner in which an innocent and helpless
woman was raped and murdered shocked and repulsed the collective conscience of
the community and the court, warranting award of death penalty to deter other
potential offenders from committing such crimes.
"This court has no hesitation in holding that this case falls within the
category of rarest of rare, which merits death penalty and none else. The
collective conscience of the community is so shocked by this crime that
imposing an alternate sentence, ie a sentence of life imprisonment, on the
accused persons would not meet the ends of justice," it had said.
Jyotikumari had boarded the regular cab contracted by the company to report for
night shift on November 1, 2007. Driver Borate and his friend Kokade changed
the route, took her to a remote place and raped her. After sexually assaulting
her, the duo strangled her to death and disfigured her face, inflicting
injuries with a sharp weapon to hide her identity.
The court had expressed concern that such crimes against women were increasing
and particularly against those working in night shifts. It had said there were
a "shockingly" large number of cases where the sentence of punishment awarded
to the accused was not in proportion to the gravity of the offence, thereby
encouraging criminals and making justice suffer by weakening the system's
credibility.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Dattu had said, "Society today has
been infected with a lawlessness that has gravely undermined social order.
Protection of society and stamping out criminal proclivity must be the object
of law, which may be achieved by imposing appropriate sentence."
Borate had pleaded for leniency, saying he was the sole breadwinner for his
family of a young wife, minor children and old parents. The bench had replied,
"With the gruesome act of raping a victim who had reposed her trust in the
accused followed by a cold-blooded and brutal murder coupled with the
calculated and remorseless conduct of the accused after the commission of the
offence, we cannot resist from concluding that depravity of the appellants'
offence would attract no lesser sentence than the death penalty."
(source: dnaindia.com)
***********
2 youths awarded death sentence for brutally killing child
2 youths were today sentenced to death by a local court for kidnapping and
brutally murdering an eight-year-old boy in 2014.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Kishore Sonowane awarded the punishment
to Rajesh Dhanalal Daware (21) and his friend Arvind Abhilash Singh (25) for
killing Yug Chandak.
Convicting them under IPC sections 364 (a) (kidnapping for ransom) and 302
(murder), the judge said it was an act of vengeance and stemmed from their
dream of minting money.
In a packed courtroom where both the convicts and the child's father were
present, Judge Sonowane observed that though the accused were young, they
deserve no leniency or mercy, and found them guilty of the brutal killing of
the Class II student in September 2014.
The judge observed that as per High Court and Supreme Court guidelines to deal
with kidnapping and killing of children, the court was satisfied with the
evidences and motive of both the accused for killing the child.
The judge then ordered them to be hanged till death.
He also awarded life imprisonment to the 2 youths and imposed a penalty of Rs
10,000 for conspiracy, and also sentenced them to another 7 years' imprisonment
along with Rs 5,000 fine for destroying evidences.
The judge observed that both the youths had kidnapped Yug as they wanted to
become rich by demanding ransom, and in the process killed the innocent child
in a brutal manner and hit his face with stones to destroy evidence, and also
buried the body. The perpetrators, both B Com students from a college at
Kamptee Road, were convicted under sections 302 (murder), 364-A (kidnapping for
ransom), 201 (destruction of evidence), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
Daware's 17-year-old younger brother, who assisted them in the conspiracy, has
already been referred to a juvenile remand home.
About 26 injuries were found on Yug's body, including those on the neck.
None of the 50 witnesses examined by the prosecution turned hostile, as per
Additional Public Prosecutor Jyoti Vajani, Chandak family's counsel Rajendra
Daga and Investigation Officer (IO) from Lakadganj Police Station, Satyanarayan
Jaiswal.
According to them, they brought to fore as many as 20 circumstances to prove
complicity of the accused in the crime.
With a view to take revenge from Dr Mukesh Chandak, who runs a nursing home in
eastern part of city, for what Daware claimed as humiliation meted out to him
by the doctor and extract ransom, the accused hatched the conspiracy to kidnap
and kill Yug.
The duo executed their plan and brutally killed the child by strangulating him
on September 1, 2014.
They later buried the body in sand under pipes near a culvert on the desolate
Gumthi-Gumthala Road near Patansawangi village, about 27 kms from Nagpur.
The duo had planned their escape after receiving money, but were arrested the
next day after Chandak's family raised suspicion on Daware.
During interrogation, both the accused confessed to have killed the boy and led
the investigators to the spot where they had buried the child's body.
The incident rattled Nagpur residents and many of them joined hands to condole
Yug's death. Candle marches were taken out in support of the Chandak family and
demand was raised for death sentence to the perpetrators of the innocent
child's killing.
The court relied on a number of factors, apart from strong testimony of 50
witnesses to nail the culprits.
It included CCTV footage at a petrol pump where the accused filled up their
bike tank after kidnapping the child, last seen theory of many witnesses,
recovery of child's clothes from the spot shown by accused and Yug's earring
which was traced to Arvind Singh's home.
Even the call details records and, more importantly, the testimony of Daware's
girlfriend went against them.
2 school students from Patansawangi village, who saw the duo taking Yug on
their bikes, were also made witnesses by the prosecution after requesting their
parents.
According to police, Daware was familiar with the place where the body was
buried as often used to take a break at the spot with his girlfriend while
returning from a religious place.
The prosecution lawyers had earlier cited 3 landmark Supreme Court verdicts to
press for death penalty to the accused, while terming the case as "rarest of
rare" with no signs of reformation of the 2 accused.
(source: Press Trust of India)
THAILAND:
Murder and Rape Reignites Death Penalty Campaign
A horrific murder and rape in southern Thailand has sparked a campaign to
prevent death sentences from being overturned for those convicted of deadly
sexual assaults.
Spearheaded by actress-turned-activist Panadda Wongphudee, its supporters call
for an end to the right of convicted murderer-rapists to seek sentence
reductions or pardons, which campaigners said allow the perpetrators to leave
prison too soon and go on to repeat their crimes.
The petition comes in reaction to a group of men accused of holding a young
woman in a jungle hut in Phatthalung province for 3 days before sexually
assaulting her in front of her boyfriend, who they then killed, and leaving her
for dead.
Although none of the four suspects arrested Monday is known to have been
convicted of such acts or received early release from prison, the horror of the
crime has again tapped into a well of anger over violence against women and the
perception that the law does not take it seriously.
"They confessed and they are minors, so they will certainly get a reduced
sentence, but they don't look repentant [on TV] at all," Panadda said. "So what
can we do to make sure that they will really change their way?"
2 of the 4 suspects at police news conference on Feb. 2 in Phatthalung province
Panadda and her supporters, who are working on obtaining 100,000 signatures in
a petition to forward to the military government, would also like to see minors
given harsher sentences and remove the right to appeal for pardons in such
cases.
But some rights activists urge caution, saying that tougher sentences,
including executions, would not solve the problem of serious crime.
For Jaded Chouwilai, the director of the Women and Men Progressives Foundation,
the most important thing is for prisons to reform sex offenders instead of just
heaping lengthy jail terms on them as a punishment.
"I want society to look at the problem: how to make rapists in prison change
themselves, how to make them acknowledge that they did wrong," Jaded said. "If
we tell them that they are [inherently] bad people, they will just stay the
same in prison. They will stay the same when they are released, because they
are already branded as bad people."
His view is shared by Chamnan Chanruang, chairman of Amnesty International's
chapter in Thailand, which has been campaigning for abolition of the death
sentence in the Kingdom for years.
"They should focus more on the criminology system and society and see what
factors drove people to commit crimes," Chamnan said.
According to Chamnan, tougher sentences would only affect poor and marginalized
people such as migrant workers. As an example, he cited the disproportionately
high rate of incarceration of black Americans in the United States.
"Only poor and marginalized people get the blunt-end of tough punishment. All
the rich and wealthy people manage to get away," Chamnan said.
Voices Against Injustice
This is the 2nd time in as many years a horrific crime has ignited such a
campaign. In July 2014, in the wake of the rape and murder of a 13-year-old
girl on a train in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, Panadda was the most public
face of outrage calling for convicted rapists to be eligible for the death
penalty without possibility of pardon.
Although the death penalty is enshrined under the law for serious offenses -
including deadly sexual assault - Thailand has not executed any prisoner since
2009.
Those behind the current campaign however are pushing to remove opportunities
for convicted offenders to get off the hook and face the full punishment handed
down by judges.
One practical reason, Pannada said, is that many rape victims live in the same
communities as their attackers, and often have to move away if their attackers
are released and return.
"How much fear do victims have to live with? Why do victims have to move their
homes? How long do they have to run? Is it fair for the victims?" she said.
She also wants to take away the legal rights of adult convicts in deadly sexual
assault cases to seek a Royal Pardon from His Majesty the King.
"Rape and murder deserves execution," she said.
Misplaced Anger
Foundation director Jaded said anger over injustice in cases involving violence
against women is understandable.
However the present campaign for tougher sentencing is "misplaced," he said,
because he's unaware of any cases where someone convicted of sexual assault and
murder won an early release and then repeated the crime.
Instead, he said, the society should focus on "real injustices," such as rape
being classified a personal matter which can be settled out of court under the
law, which allows perpetrators to buy their way out of justice, especially when
their victims are from poor backgrounds.
"I am not accusing police of anything, but it's true that many victims were
forced to settle. So many of them. And these cases don't get to the news. The
society should pay more attention to this kind of issues." Jaded said, adding,
"There are so many real injustices that don't make it to the press."
(source: khaosodenglish.com)
PHILIPPINES/MALAYSIA:
Pinoy facing drug charges in Malaysia offered chance to escape death penalty
A Filipino facing possible death sentence in Malaysia for drug trafficking has
been offered the lesser charge of drug possession, an online report said
Wednesday.
If convicted on the lesser charge, Hamid Ali, 34, will likely be sentenced to
life imprisonment or not less than 5 years and a minimum of 10 strokes of the
cane, according to a report on the Daily Express.
Drug trafficking, meanwhile, is punishable by death in Malaysia under Section
39B(1)(a) of its Dangerous Drugs Act, the report said. Ali was charged with
drug trafficking on August 14, 2014 after he was found with 63.06 grams of
shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride in front of a budget hotel in Ranau.
The report said the prosecution offered the alternative charge on Tuesday when
Ali's case was brought for mention before High Court Deputy Registrar Mohd
Zairi Zainal Abidin.
Abidin has set February 18 for Ali's hearing should the suspect pleads guilty
to drug possession.
Ali currently serves a 5-year jail term and was ordered caned twice for taking
drugs .
(source: gmanetwork.com)
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