April 4
BANGLADESH:
Nizami's hearing not this week
Condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami's petition seeking review of his
death penalty has been lined up for hearing at the Appellate Division next week
following a time petition by the defence.
A 3-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar
Sinha set the new date yesterday morning.
Defence lawyer SM Shahjahan said they had sought six-week time for the hearing
due to some personal difficulties of Nizami's principal lawyer Khandaker Mahbub
Hossain.
But the apex court said it would hold the hearing next week, Shahjahan said.
However, the court did not fix any specific day for the hearing.
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami filed the petition on March 29 seeking acquittal
from all the proven charges.
The death penalty of Nizami was upheld by the apex court on January 6 on
charges of masterminding the killing of intellectuals and for his involvement
in two incidents of mass murders of over 500 people in Pabna in 1971.
(source: dhakatribune.com)
SINGAPORE:
Malaysian convicted of murder in Singapore to know his fate Tuesday
The family of Kho Jabing are anxiously waiting to see if the Singapore Court of
Appeal will decide if he will be executed or have his sentence commuted for a
murder he committed 8 years ago.
His mother Lenduk Baling and his sister Jumai Kho arrived in Singapore on
Sunday from Sarawak for the judgement, which is likely to be delivered on
Tuesday.
"We are very anxious. We can only hope for the best," Jumai told The Star
Online in a phone interview on Monday.
Kho Jabing, 31, who is from Ulu Baram, Sarawak faces the gallows for killing a
Chinese construction worker with a tree branch back in 2008 during a robbery
attempt.
He was scheduled to be executed on Nov 6 last year, but received a stay after
his lawyer filed a motion raising points of law about the way the case was
handled.
Jumai said she and her mother had met Jabing earlier on Monday, who also hoped
for his death sentence to be commuted.
Jabing was sentenced to death in 2010, but following revisions to Singapore's
mandatory death penalty laws in August 2013, Singpore's high court sentenced
him to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane instead.
The prosecution challenged the decision before the court of appeal, which
reinstated Jabing death sentence in a 3-2 majority decision earlier last year.
On Oct 19, Singapore president Tony Tan rejected a clemency petition before a
stay of execution by the court of appeal.
In 2013, the Singapore government abolished the mandatory death penalty and
gave judges discretion to choose between a death sentence or life imprisonment
with caning in murder and certain drug trafficking cases.
(source: The Star)
VIETNAM:
14 face charges in Vietnam for trafficking 280 kg of heroin to China
Vietnamese police are urging charges be filed against 14 people for allegedly
trafficking 280 kg of heroin to China on 22 different occasions, earning more
than VND10 billion (US$450,000).
Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security submitted a report to the
prosecutor's office Sunday, naming the suspects led by Chu Van Vien, 33.
The ring members, aged between 25 and 40, carried the drugs from Son La
Province on the Laos border.
Police caught 2 members of the gang in Hanoi and the neighboring Hoa Binh
Province in December 2014 with around 15 kg of heroin.
They told the police they were carrying the drugs for a Chinese woman and Chu
Dinh Tuyen, Vien's brother who acted as his assistant after quitting his job as
a vendor selling agriculture produce across the border.
Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. The production or sale of
100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by
death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin
or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty.
(source: Thanh Nien News)
INDIA:
Need political rights, Indira Jaisingh at JNU
The right to hold a political opinion different from that of a ruling party is
"more endangered" than the right to free speech, said lawyer Indira Jaisingh.
She was addressing students in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), during their
'Azadi' lecture series, on Saturday.
The 1st woman Additional Solicitor General of India gave a lecture on the topic
'What does fidelity to the Constitution mean'.
After the nationalism classes in the university, the JNU Students' Union is
organising 'Azadi' lecture series where noted lawyers, academicians and
activists have been addressing students on a range of topics.
"While I believe that the right to free speech is endangered in today's
context, I feel that the right to hold a political opinion which is different
from that of the ruling party is even more endangered. I reject the
interpretation of the Constitution placed by BJP in its (National Executive
Meeting) resolution. My fidelity to the Constitution does not include the
vision that BJP has of the Constitution of India," Ms. Jaisingh said.
"I have seen 2 moments in the history of this country which are kind mirror or
are parallel to each other. One was the Emergency which was declared on June
26, 1976...Which was both an erosion of the form and substance of the
Constitution because it was done in the name of internal disturbance. And
today, we are seeing a parallel moment where we see the subversion of the form
and content of the Constitution and the abandonment of accountability in the
name of nationalism and anti-nationalism," she said.
Addressing the students at the administration block, which has been the venue
of protests ever since JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in a
sedition case over an event marking the death anniversary of Parliament attack
convict Afzal Guru, Ms. Jaisingh said that it is time for the citizens to focus
on "political rights".
"This Constitution has been amended more than a 100 times since it was granted
and there was nothing subversive in demanding that the Indian Constitution be
changed to guarantee some of these rights, to include some political rights
and, for example, abolish death penalty completely as being against Article 21.
For 67 years, we've been talking about our social and economic rights. I think
it's time for us to now start focusing on our political rights," she added.
While I believe that the right to free speech is endangered in today's context,
I feel that the right to hold a political opinion which is different from that
of the ruling party is even more endangered I think it's time for us to now
start focusing on our political rights.
Indira Jaisingh, Lawyer
(source: Letter, The Hindu)
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